FATES WARNING

"No Exit" is the title of a very important album in Fates Warning's history - first of all, it is the first album with Roy Alder on the lead singer's role; it is also the effort in which the FW sound that took a string of three albums to develop and endeavor finally achieved its definitive shape. Regarding the latter factor, this is where the band generated the capitalization of the epic metallic ambitions that the following two studio albums would epitomize in full splendor. The album opens up with a brief exposure of dark doom in the namesake prologue: the Gothic guitar textures and sinister singing properly elaborate a gloomy atmosphere with eerie undertones. Next is the first proper song, 'Anarchy Divine', which serves as the impressive presentation letter from the new kid in the band: Roy Alder shines right from the first sung lines, with the instrumentalists building a complex development of riffs and unusual time signatures. In fact, you can tell that the whole band as a unit shines more brightly than ever. 'Silent Cries' comes next, starting with a solid attack during the first thematic riff, but soon enough the track reveals itself as a more complex exhibition of prog-metal inventiveness. Just by listening to the sequence of these first 3 pieces you can hear the furious birth pains of the genre as a robust musical path, and let's consider that we are talking about material that doesn't even complete an 8 minute span altogether. By all means, it is quite clear that the progressive (and metallic) sub-genre was born as a mature being itself. 'In A Word' instills a more ceremonious mood in the album's framework. This piece is closely related to the band's earlier material, as well as Di'Anno-era Maiden and late 80s Queensryche: the final result bears a distinguished mood to it, although I can't help feel a bit frustrated at the premature arrival of the fade-out. This track surely deserved a more epic delivery? but what do I know anyway? The album's first half ends with 'Shades Of Heavenly Death', the longest piece comprised in it. Now? this is epic! With a sort of speed that equals anything done by Metallica or Megadeth at the time yet with a more polished approach and a more accomplished compositional drive, the FW guys move steadily and enthusiastically through various moods and motifs that merge passion and darkness in a most dynamic way. The dual acoustic guitar interventions some time after the 4 minute mark (plus a mysterious chorale) are spine chilling, not interrupting but complementing the overall explicit energy. Once again, a fade-out settles the score but this time I feel that the piece has been properly completed. The album's second half is occupied by the suite 'The Ivory Gate Of Dreams', which can be tentatively described as the "missing link" between Iron Maiden's 'Ryme Of The Ancient mariner' and Dream Theater's 'A Change Of Seasons'. The opening verses consist of a beautiful prelude on classical guitar. It doesn't take long before the full band stages a clever metallic attack (Zimmermann's finest hour, IMHO) divided in various series and featuring varying levels of rocking power. At the 6'30" mark, a slow section intrudes and states a reflective note for a brief moment before a new electric section gets in ? anyway, the reflective ambience remains intact. The suite's lyrics are also some of the best ever in FW's history: "Ivory towers appear beyond the gate / Invisible fortresses of escape / Traversed by ramparts made of hopes and fears / Impervious to reality" ? poetry!! Want some more poetry? Check this: "When reality obscures the dream / Makes the mind a grave of memories / That wander like the lonely breeze / Whose whispers echo through ruins rust / Of towers torn and dreams turned to dust". Lovely!! The magical introspection of the 'Whispers on the wind' section segued to the previous section's radically abrupt end beautifully signals the image of a person's awakening. There is also poetry in this sort of instrumental arrangements. In fact, at this point, the piece escalades toward an impressive climax that gives enough room to Alder's highlighted singing. The suite ends where it began, a classical guitar epilogue as serene as it is touching. It makes total sense: a lovely closure for a lovely groundbreaking album.

I enjoy both Queensrÿche and Dream Theater but can't really get my head around Fates Warning. The reason for that is probably because their music feels too bland and Perfect Symmetry is not an exception. I have difficulty enjoying these compositions and the reason is that I think that the band lacks a clear sense of direction. The composition that I do enjoy don't come close to the quality that I expect from one of the most influential Progressive Metal bands.

My verdict can't really be anything else than good, but non-essential since I don't really dislike this album. I just don't believe that there is much here for anyone who is not already a fan of the band and their work.

**** star songs: A World Apart (5:03) At Fate's Hands (6:59) The Arena (3:19) Chasing Time (3:38) Nothing Left To Say (8:00)

*** star songs: Part Of The Machine (6:16) Through Different Eyes (4:22) Static Acts (4:28)

With this album Fates Warning finally found their own grial: the perfect communion between their classic influences (Iron Maiden, Rush, Queensrÿche, Marillion, etc.) and their own sound, leaded by the spectacular guitar duo Jim Matheos-Frank Aresti, the clean, beauty and powerful Ray Alder's voice, and the original drum playing by Mark Zonder. Matheos wrote these songs trying to be less complicated than the previous and also excellent Perfect Symmetry. The songs are played in a classic "in crescendo" mode from the first notes to the chorus, the more catchy in all Fates Warning career. The Eleventh Hour, one of the best prog metal songs ever written, it's Parallels hight point, but the rest are all absolutely magnificient. In Paralles Fates Warning shows perfectly how a band can mix their brilliant technical skills with a well structured songs, like Queensrÿche in Operation Mindcrime and Empire.

Listening to music is a subjective experience. There's your individual taste of course but also the kind of music that you already know, the passing of time, the state of mind you're in, the mood of your cats, and so many other things that can be more decisive in your judgement then the actual music. That's why I do often talk more about myself then about the music in my reviews (yes there was a reason for it). And well, that's exactly what I plan to do here as well.

It was back in 1993 that I gave Fates Warning a first go. Being a huge Psychotic Waltz fan I simply had to check out the heroes of my heroes. I quite randomly bought a 2CD package consisting of The Spectre Within/Night on Bröcken, pretty much based on the artwork alone. Such a cool album art could only contain great music right? Well, I didn't like it a bit to say the least.

Flash forward 10 years. OSI hits the shelves and I'm in instant fan. And hey look! It's that guy from Fates Warning again. I checked out Disconnect and this time I liked it better but still it didn't really gel.

Flash forward another 6 years. I find myself reviewing on prog archives (worse things can happen to you) and other reviewers that definitely share some of my favourite artists appear to be totally into this band. So here we go for a third try, with what is recommended here as their best work.

After checking that my cable is properly plugged into my soundcard during the first seconds of Part Of The Machine, I find myself enjoying Matheos's guitar quite a lot on this one. It reminds me of Coroner's Grin. Yes that is a later album of course (subjective experience again). However, the wrought and slightly strained falsetto of Ray Alder doesn't please me much though. At least it didn't frighten me away. I adored King Diamond's 80's albums so this would sure grow right?

Flash forward a few listens and ... still ... hum, so so. This singing style really hasn't aged well over the last 20 years. I can connect with this music on a rational level but for some reason it doesn't entirely get to me. That's why I gave it 4 stars, it's definitely worth it but if I would let my heart speak it would rather be 3 stars.

Had I heard this album back in 1993, I would probably have liked Fates Warning a lot more. In any case I will sure explore and revisit some of their other albums now and let it all grow a bit on me.

To be continued...

John Arch. Those words alone show how amazing this album is. One of the most unique and incredible singers I have ever heard. Sure, he is somewhat annoying at first, he resembles Bruce Dickinson and everything else people say about him is probably true. However, no one can do what he does. I'm not really sure what is it that he does, but he does it, and it sounds amazing. But of course, a singer isn't the only thing that says if an album is good or not. Don't worry though, because "The Spectre Within" is a masterpiece of power/prog metal. Most people prefer "Awaken The Guardian", and while I love that album too, this is their crowning achievement, in my opinion. Here they started to show some hints of prog influence on their sound, but overall it still is US power metal. There is also a thrash influence on the riffs, but more on that later. I still remember the day I bought this album. I had never heard anything from FW before, and I don't have the habit of buying CD's without downloading it and getting my conclusions first. But I trusted MA (more precisely, UltraBoris) reviews and bought it without knowing what to expect. Getting home, I go to my room and put it on my CD player. I press play. The music starts and I think "Yeah, pretty good music". The vocals enter and I think "OMG, who is this idiot raping my ears?" No kidding, that is what I thought at first listen. It has been said on the previous reviews and I agree wholeheartedly: this album is an acquired taste. Is not something you'll listen once and think "What a masterpiece!" No, it takes time. Time not only to understand the music itself, but mostly to get used to John Arch's vocals. Sometimes it will take just a few repeated listens, others it will require much more patience. But in the end, it is worth it.

The music here is unique. The sound can be described as a mix of US power metal with some influence of thrash in the riffage, some characteristics from the N.W.O.B.H.M and an atmosphere completely different from anything I've ever heard. There are some heavier and faster songs like "Kyrie Eleison" and "Without A Trace", some more mid-paced moments like "Orphan Gypsy" and "The Apparition". Then you have the ever-changing nature of the long epics "Traveler In Time" and "Pirates Of The Underground", the first one being the second best song here, after "The Apparition". And to perfectly finish the album, you have "Epitaph", an atmospheric epic with a somewhat creepy performance from Arch. Every song has impressive riffs; some great solos here and then; effective, although simple, drumming and good bass playing to round it up. Thanks to the excellent production we can hear every single instrument, even the bass. Another thing that I must mention is that every song has a memorable chorus, except "Epitaph", but I don't think that song even has a chorus.

While I was writing this review, I thought a little more about what I said before concerning Mr. Arch's vocals (and read the other reviews again), and I think finally understood what is it that makes him so unique. He is MAGIC. Not only he has a huge range, capable of changing notes and pitches in instants and holding them for seconds, he can create melodies with his voice that are trance-inducing. He only does it a few times over the course of the album, but when he does it, you wish he wouldn't stop singing. Most of the times he does it during "Traveler In Time", but also in the beginning of "The Apparition", and on some moments in "Without A Trace". Actually, every song has at least some seconds of trance-inducing vocals.

So that is all I can say about this album. It is a must-have for everyone that likes metal, and for everyone with a fascination for vocal skills. The amount of talent contained here is guaranteed to kick the ass of any Pantera fan in miles. It is a shame that this album is so underrated, even among FW fans, because it is, undoubtedly, their best. All hail Jim Matheos, Victor Arduini, Joe Dibiase, Steve Zimmerman and, especially, John Arch.

(Originally written for Metal-Archives)

Long before Dream Theater were making Progressive Metal as big as it is today, there was one band who took elements of progressive rock and blended it with heavy metal. That band was Fates Warning.

Back in the early 80's when the metal world was going crazy for Metallica and the rise of Thrash Metal, Fates Warning quietly unleashed this gem upon the world, to little or no mainstream recognition.

Although this is far from FW's best work, and nowhere near as complex or mature as albums like 'A Pleasant Shade of Grey', there are some pretty cool tunes here which sadly have been neglected over the years.

In fact, this record probably has more in common with a band like Iron Maiden than it does other Prog Rock acts of the 70's and 80's, only the musicianship doesn't seem as impressive to be honest.

A good album if you're a fan of Fates Warning and if you can find this cheap, but definitely not something to cry about if you can't find.

Music albums are art expressions that somehow manage to assume a definite personality after they are released, and this is certainly a hard thingto achieve when the ears of fans and collectors are still impressed by an amazing concept-album that had been released previously - this was the status of Fates Warning's "Disconnected", to become acknowledged as a musica lwork with its own worth after the paragon incarnated in "A Pleasant Shade of Gray", the defining concept-album that signalled a rebirth for the band. "Disconnected" managed to get a warm reception from fans since it was easy to find the traces of connection (no pun intended) with the preceding master opus, while allowing the band to explore its progressive side a bit further simultaneously with a refurbishment of their most notably metallic side. "Disconnected" bears a more patent sonic power in general (still comparing it with "Pleasant"), but by now let us remember that this is a new FW that is forging its own individual phase. Zonder's impeccable class shines as always, making this album a re-confirmation of hispercussive genius. It is no surprise either that Ray Alder exhibits his energetic emotion through each syllable he sings in tracks 2-6. The album starts with the namesake prologue, eerie and minimalistic, leaving no room to suspect that a whirlwind of architectonic metal is on the brink - I'm referring to 'One', a precise manifesto of anguish and dissatisfaction wrapped in a dynamic musical development. Later on, 'So' will be in charge of reiterating this rocking explosion: this sort of punch works effectively in terms of capturing the listener's attention and securing it for a while. Of course, it is in the longest pieces that the band has the chance to create and ordain more sophisticated ideas, but also we must remember that FW's compositions were never about excessive flashing. 'So', 'Something from Nothing' and 'Still Remains' are the album's tour-de-forces. The former is largely based on a somewhat simplistic chord progression that goes on expanded on a languid rhythmic structure, in this way allowing Alder to describe mental exhaustion with his singing. The second one bears a bigger dose of pomposity, including some industrial-friendly resources that bear family airs with Chroma Key (the presence of Kevin Moore as guest keyboardist should be regarded as relevant here), seasoned with Floydian atmospheres. Even though you won't find your usual metallic frenzy here, this piece manages to be quite splendorous. The latter of the aformentioned three pieces is the album's definitive monster track, which might as well be one of the band's pinnacles in their entire recording career. This piece captures a momentum from itsvery initial passages, developing an amalgam that recapitulates the beats features of the album's integral repertoire, in this way stating a powerful building of pure progressive rock. The melancholic languidity of its last passages makes it easy to connect with the namesake epilogue, which is a solemn instrumental sustained on a monotone reflectiveness expressed by teh guitar-synth's phrases. The background narration issupposed to come from the recording of a dead priest's ghost who was offering his philosophical views about the afterlife. Scary, yes, but also profund and intellectually intriguing - a proper ending for this very special prog metal album by this very special band Fates Warning.

Until the moment this album was released, I knew about Fates Warning and even I had some interest for them, but they wasn't a band of special interest for

me. It was with this album that they took a giant step the become a favorite band for me.The adding of Ray Adler as lead singer is an importat element in

that evolution, since he exceed widely John Arch, not only range of his voice, but in personality and sensibility too, opening for the band huge new

territory. But it's not only the change of the voice, because the musical concept of the band got widened to limits unsuspected in previos records. Was it

the Adler adding the definitive fact in the inspiration of the band to exceed themselves? I can't tell, but for sure this is one of my favorites prog metal

albums ever. Despite the obvious influence of Iron Maiden and the main thrash metal bands of the moment, like Metallica, Testament and even Flotsam And

Jetsam in same moments, Fates Warning turned into a first-rate band. I can't emphasize any track, all of them are wonderful and the full album is a masterwork perfectly balanced, not only the long and epic The Ivory Gates Of Dreams, that took up the full B side in the original vynyl release.

Essential for a full understanding of prog metal evolution.

D; Possibly one of my (brother's) worst blind purchases of prog metal.

It seems that reviewers are overall split pretty evenly on whether this is a quality release or an uninspired flop of an album. While I wouldn't say this is a complete disaster, I definitely belong more in the group of the latter. This was also, unfortunately, my first full fledged Fates Warning experience, which made me think I didn't like this pioneering prog metal band for a bit of time until I discovered more of their discography.

Really, objectively, this is a pretty decent album in terms of how the instruments are together, music theory wise. Many of the instrumental passages are almost up their with that of their earlier work with Parallels and Perfect Symmetry. But there are two major things make this album fall flat on its face. Most prevalent are the fail-tastic vocal melodies, which are some of the worst I've heard so far in prog metal. On many tracks we have an energetic riff from the guitar with long, slow moving vocal parts that seem completely out of place with everything else that's happening with the instruments. Just listen to the chorus of the second song, Simple Human; "yeah ah yeah" lasting almost a full two measures over energetic fast moving part. It just doesn't fit. I don't mind Alder's voice itself, but his singing style sounds more like that of those obnoxious alternative rock bands from the nineties, as do some of the guitar parts. The second big thing that I dislike is the overall predictability and repetitiousness of the music overall. On one hand, the band incorporates many great progressive nuances in this album, but the basic parts are overused at best, and are not very interesting to begin with. Usually a track starts with a nice intro, but once the verse and chorus set in, I feel like I've heard the whole rest of the track already, and usually I actually have.

When doing my recent objective listen before this review, I'd listened to the first three tracks and couldn't figure out what exactly about it made the music as weak as I had remembered it. Then upon hearing Another Perfect Day, the only track I'm really fond of on the album, it became abundantly clear; it really did have to do with the quite terrible vocal melodies. And other than the also decent Heal Me, this was how the rest of the album was. Had they been written differently, this could have been a quite powerful and enjoyable album, and it's too bad such a menial thing should bring down the quality of an entire work, as it does for me. I especially disliked Simple Human, River Wide Ocean Deep, and Crawl, which really did sound like simple alternative rock with slight progressive nuances.

Really this isn't a complete disaster of an album, particularly with some quite competent instrumental sections, but there was little I can say I really enjoyed from the album other than Another Perfect Day (especially that great chorus!). The vocal melodies and predictability just ruin it for me overall. Thus, I simply can't recommend this album to anyone but Fates Warning fans alone.

— First review of this album —

Gray video - flawless performance!

I am not a fan of DVD, video or VHS productions - I almost never buy them and never reviewed any! However, it would be a shame if this VHS is not given the proper attention or at least one review.

The content reached my hands when I bought a Greek metal magazine accompanied by this VHS tape somewhere between 1998 and 2000... Actually, this might have even been free with the magazine... I also have a strange story with APSOG - I have the studio version, the live version in the brilliant ''Still Life'' live album, this VHS and I was lucky enough to see FATES WARNING perform it in its whole live on stage back in 2000. I really can't pick which version I like the most...

Reflecting its title, the video is set on a totally gray background. Apart from the majority of the video which captures the band performing APSOG in its entirety, there are some ''theatrical'', directed cuts, very pleasant to watch. These partly picture a well-dressed man in various scenes of his life, in a house, sitting on a bench or by the sea. The common element in all these scenes I believe is loneliness and that's what the director probably tries to represent. The only colours that are used throughout this video are white and gray (not a surprise), matching exactly the atmosphere of the music.

As mentioned above, the majority is devoted to the band performing the album. The venue is relatively small and creates a very warm atmosphere, with the audience being very enthusiastic and contributing substantially to the show. The sound, even though in VHS form, is very good and all the instruments can be clearly heard in the appropriate amount of detail. The performance of the band is at the highest level - personally I believe they were at their peak during these years. The music of the original album can hardly be differentiated from this live performance, almost to a point that someone could even doubt about the authenticity of this live recording...

The technical skills of the band members are revealed in all their splendour in this video (for those not familiar). Both the individual and team performance is close to perfection, showing the very good collaboration in the band and the chemistry between the musicians. However, this video is not only about the masterful drumming of Mark Zonder (a la Neil Peart) and the flawless deliverance from Kevin Moore and Jim Matheos; the atmosphere still remains the most valuable asset of the live performance.

I don't feel I need to comment on the style of the music or the quality of the recording - please see the reviews for the studio album and the respective live album for this reason. If I had to pick highlights, I would go for the parts 7 and 8 that expose the brilliance of these musicians.

One of the best progressive metal albums performed in a flawless, uplifting manner - if you have never watched them performing APSOG live, this is a very good substitute. Essential to friends of top-level progressive metal.