NO EXIT

While "Awaken the guardian" was still with one foot firmly rooted in heavy metal, on the simply titled "No exist", the music is elevated to another level, called accessible 80's progressive metal without excesses of the 90's prog-metal. Instrumental playing is robust, tight and heavy. Compositions are rhythmically varied, the drummer excelling in hitting irregular fills here and there. The guitar tandem crafting a lot off riffs, alternating between heavy, prog and trash but fortunately mainly heavy and prog. Unfortunately, the singer who sings as if he were crying at the microphone, ruins the performance. I liked the previous singer more and this one had yet to command his voice. My favourite song is the ultra-heavy "Shades of heavenly death" that really anticipates some dark 90's prog metal. The long epic is solid and remarkable mainly for its instrumental playing, less for the contents itself.

This album belongs to the top prog-metal releases by Fates Warning, however I doubt it would have had so much traction had it been released in the 90's.