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Fates Warning - FWX CD (album) cover

FWX

Fates Warning

 

Progressive Metal

3.37 | 252 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

The Cerberman
3 stars Let's start saying that FWX is for Fates Warning a great step back! We're very far from their last two masterpieces A Pleasant Shade Of Grey and Disconnected. I think that the main reason of this is the absence of Kevin Moore, who collaborated with them on the last two albums. In fact the role of keyboard player in FWX is entrusted to the guitarist Jim Matheos. And there's a strong difference between giving the keyboards to a professional keyboardist (who also played in the most influent prog-metal band, Dream Theater) and giving them to a guitarist! The consequence is that in this album the keyboards don't play an active role and are used just to produce electronic effects and a few backgrounds (on tracks such as Left Here and Heal Me) and keyboard solos are totally absent. But also the complessive sound of this release is a demonstration of the intention by the band to get back to an easier sound. Most of influences come from nu-metal and alternative metal, more than progressive metal. Songs such as Crawl and Strager (With A Familiar Face) are too simple and banal, and it seems like they're trying to make their sound a bit commercial. But it doesn't mean that it's not a good album; there are some good songs such as the powerful Simple Human, the psychedelic River Wide Ocean Deep and the conclusive Wish with a lovely piano solo in the middle.

I'm sorry but I can't give more than 3 stars... I think they had to recruit Kevin Moore or an other keyboardist as a Fates Warning to go on by walking the way of A Pleasant Shade Of Grey and Disconnected... and maybe they would made another masterpiece!

The Cerberman | 3/5 |

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