SYMPATHETIC RESONANCE

John Arch and Jim Matheos are familiar from Fates Warning in which Matheos has been a constant member (present on all of the band's ten studio releases from 1984's Night On Bröcken to 2004's FWX). Arch, on the other hand, left the band (and the music business altogether for a very long time, as far as I understand) after the first three Fates Warning albums and was replaced by Ray Alder. While Fates Warning is better known for the Alder-era albums, many fans apparently have fond memories of the Arch-era albums (?). Personally, I discovered Fates Warning in recent years and I must say that I much prefer the Alder-era albums (particularly Perfect Symmetry, Parallels and A Pleasant Shade Of Gray). But even if I was not too impressed by the Arch-era Fates Warning albums I still decided to check out John Arch's highly regarded solo EP A Twist Of Fate (on which Matheos also played along with Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy) and was very impressed by it. This was Arch's return to music after many years doing other things. The music found on that excellent EP was quite different from the early Fates Warning albums and the present collaborative album is different yet again from both of those. In some ways Sympathetic Resonance is perhaps more similar to some of the Alder-era Fates Warning albums but also different from those in other ways.

Arch's voice is similar to that of Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden and the sound of this album indeed often comes across as Iron Maiden with some piano and acoustic guitars added to the mix. None of this is intended as criticism, Arch is an excellent Metal singer and Matheos provides strong riffs. At first I was a bit disappointed after hearing the excellent Twist Of Fate tracks, but Sympathetic Resonance grew on me with further listens. This is a good album of its kind, but it is not very original or too special for me. The first three or four tracks are great but it does tend to get rather samey toward the end. Fans of Fates Warning should enjoy it, but for newcomers I would certainly recommend to get the much better Twist Of Fate EP and some Alder-era Fates Warning albums before investing in Sympathetic Resonance.

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