Night on Bröcken (1984) - 7.5
The first studio album from Fates Warning (FW) came out already in 1984 which is surprising to some since FW is often cited together with Dream Theater as precursors of progressive metal. But Dream Theater was not even formed until 1985. The caveat here is that this album is very different from what FW would sound like from the early 90's until today. Heavily influenced by Iron Maiden's The Number of The Beast and NWOBHM in general, Night on Bröcken is essentially a heavy metal album with hints of progressiveness like the track "Damnation". The original vocalist John Arch has a very high-pitched style which did bring some character and uniqueness to this record. He was also highly involved in the song writing together with the main man Jim Matheos. Overall a very capable album for a debut from a band that was still looking for its identity.
The Spectre Within (1985) - 8.0
The second album picks up where the debut left off. No material changes in their sound and style, meaning Maiden influenced traditional metal. However, it's one step further into a more progressive sound. Specially considering the two gems "The Apparition" and the 12-min "Epitaph". Overall longer songs, stronger riffs albeit Maiden-like, and different song structures are the positives. But the vocal approach from Mr. Arch can be tedious at times and takes time to get into it. "Epitaph" breaks this pattern with better vocal lines, stronger melody, epicness and Arch takes more advantage of his vocal range. It's a album closer that kept the high hopes for what FW would really deliver in the albums to come.
Awaken the Guardian (1986) - 8.0
The third album brought the first line-up change: the arrival of guitar player Frank Aresti. This was also the last album with Arch on the vocals and the best of this phase. The characteristics from the previous albums are still here: traditional heavy metal flirting with progressiveness. But compared to the first two albums, the song writing is better, the vocal approach more balanced, and also including backing vocals and more vocal tracks. The album also features keyboards (but low in the mix) and several acoustics guitar passages. All songs were written and composed by Jim Matheos and John Arch, except "Giant's Lore (Heart of Winter)" by Aresti/Arch.The now classics "Sorceress", "Guardian" and "Exodus" are the highlights.
No Exit (1988) - 8.0
The fourth studio album is the first to feature current vocalist Ray Alder. John Arch's departure had a strong impact in FW's sound and style. The first being that the lyrics are less influenced by fantasy themes. Secondly, Alder, while also reaching for high notes with power, doesn't rely on them all the time. He has also great feeling and melody to carry the vocal lines. Another difference from the previous record is that Aresti was highly involved in the writing process. And of course the biggest leap into progressive metal is the 22-min "The Ivory Gate of Dreams" by Matheos. Divided in parts and full of variation, tempo changes and lack of a chorus, this song opened the way forward to FW. In terms of structure, No Exit resembles Rush's 2112, short songs on one side and a 20-plus-minute long song broken down into parts. Among the "short" songs, "Silent Cries" is the highlight.
Perfect Symmetry (1989) - 8.0
With album #5 the band's more modern, progressive direction was established. This was the second effort with vocalist Ray Alder who strengthened his vocal range and dynamic within the band. Mark Zonder took over the drumsticks. A notable credit, Kevin Moore who was with Dream Theater laid down the Keyboards on "At Fates Hands". Actually "At Fates Hands" foreshadows their 1997 masterpiece A Pleasant Shade of Gray. Like in the previous release, besides Matheos, Aresti was a major song writer, with solo credit in 3 songs and participating in other 2. Interestingly, Aresti's songs tended to resemble the earlier albums, meaning more direct and heavy. For example "Static Acts" and "The Arena" both with incredible performance from Ray Alder. On the other hand "At Fates Hands" and "Nothing Left to Say" were much more progressive with acoustic elements, keyboards, and tempo changes. Overall a great album, keeping up at the same level as the last 2, but cementing the transition from traditional metal into progressive metal.
Parallels (1991) - 8.5
Although the 6th album had no line-up changes, all songs were written and composed by Jim Matheos. The albums marks FW as definite progressive metal masters. The music writing is phenomenal and Matheos took down a notch on speed and aggressiveness, adding much more slow tempo session combined with heaviness and great guitar riffs. The melodies and vocal lines on this album are superb and catchy, and Alder limited the high-pitched screams to just a few moments which make them much more special e.g. "Eye to Eye" and "The Eleventh Hour". Many songs feature a goose-bumping build-up e.g. "Life in Still Water" and "The Eleventh Hour". The guitar approach is far from the Maiden-like riffs from the first albums, it's fresh, original and rely much more on arpeggios. On his second album with FW, Mark Zonder is much more loose behind the drums and therefore sounding much better. And finally the bass is very prominent in the mix giving the final touch to this controversial (to the older fans) masterpiece.
Inside Out (1994) - 7.5
3 years after the commercial success of Parallels, FW returned with the same line-up and same sound from the predecessor. Once again Jim Matheos dominated the compositions with exceptions on which Alder and Aresti are co-credited. As the trend in the mid-90's, the album is longer and has more songs than the predecessors. Probably the only differences from Parallels are that the song writing is slightly inferior leading to a bit more simplistic sound than Parallels. The other difference is that Alder doesn't use the high-pitched screams anymore. With that said, Inside Out features good songs such as "Outside Looking In" and "Monument" but also has some weak points in the middle part. The best thing about this album is the fact that the lack of differentiation from Parallels led Matheos to go completely different in the follow-up album.
A Pleasant Shade of Gray (1997) - 9.5
APSoG is a concept album with one song divided into twelve parts. FW's 8th album is emotional, and dark but also heavy at times. This disc is their ultimate progressive masterpiece but a very challenging listen. The album was written and composed by Jim Matheos. Joey Vera from Armored Saint took over the bass. Aresti left the band and instead of adding a new guitar player, Matheos opted to call back Kevin Moore who had participated in Perfect Symmetry (Kevin left Dream Theater in the meantime) became a band member behind the keyboards. Consequently, this is the first album in which the keyboards are as prominent as the guitar. The stars were aligned for FW, all members were at their best. The drum work from Mark Zonder reached new levels, Vera's bass lines, prominent riffs and position in the mix brought a different sound foundation to the band, the guitars followed similar texture and sound developed in Parallels and Alder was as brilliant as in the previous records. The song writing is outstanding with tempo changes, diverse structures, sound samples, great melodies and powerfull. But it's a grower and takes time to sink in, I don't remember the initial reaction, but now almost 20 years later and countless listens, it's my favorite FW album.
Disconnected (2000) - 8.5
Repeating the line-up from APSoG FW returned at the beginning of the century with Disconnected. A theme that 16 years latter is still relevant. Jim Matheos wrote all the music, but Alder wrote two lyrics and co-wrote another one with Matheos. Disconnected builds on the predecessor while being more balanced and bringing some elements from earlier albums. Overall making it a bit easier to digest than APSoG was. For example "One" and "Pieces of Me" are short, heavy and full of guitar riffs. While "So", "Something from Nothing" and the 16-min "Still Remains" are long, progressive and resembling the APSoG sound. The other track is the title track which is dark and slow two-part instrumental that opens and closes the album.
FWX (2004) - 7.5
Reaching a 10th album is an accomplishment. And the band decided to celebrate this event by naming the album simple FWX. The disc is about the same length as the predecessor, but with 10 songs, leading to the longest song being not much longer than 7 minutes. All music and lyrics are by Matheos, with the exception of 3 lyrics that are credited to Alder. With Kevin Moore leaving, the band, FW once again took a different direction. FWX is the most diverse and experimental album to date, it does feature some keyboards by Matheos and a lot of sampling. Every song is "short" but progressive and has a unique feeling. From the moody "River Wide Ocean Deep" with female vocals to the almost punk rock "Stranger (With A Familiar Face)". I appreciate what they did here and it gave the album a unique flavor within FW reach discography. But even with the live favorites "Another Perfect Day" and "Heal Me", overall FWX falls a bit short than any other "Alder era" output.
Darkness In A Different Light (2013) - 8.0
After 9 years without a new record, FW released this great album. It is also their first studio album with Aresti since Inside Out, additionally he co-wrote the opening track. Drummer Bobby Jarzombek also makes his debut with Fates Warning and co-wrote "I Am". Matheos wrote two songs and co-wrote the others with Alder. Kevin Moore is not in this album, but he wrote the lyrics for "O Chloroform". As opposed to the experimental previous album, DIADL has all the elements that a FW fan would expect - progressive melodic metal with catchy songs, big choruses, the well-known guitar style from Jim Matheos and the recognizable vocals from Ray Alder. Most of the songs are on the 5-min mark, so it's a very direct album. Notable exception the 14-min closing track "And Yet It Moves". There are some heavy songs such as "I Am" and "Into The Black" but the album is also marked by emotional songs with slower tempo.
The first studio album from Fates Warning (FW) came out already in 1984 which is surprising to some since FW is often cited together with Dream Theater as precursors of progressive metal. But Dream Theater was not even formed until 1985. The caveat here is that this album is very different from what FW would sound like from the early 90's until today. Heavily influenced by Iron Maiden's The Number of The Beast and NWOBHM in general, Night on Bröcken is essentially a heavy metal album with hints of progressiveness like the track "Damnation". The original vocalist John Arch has a very high-pitched style which did bring some character and uniqueness to this record. He was also highly involved in the song writing together with the main man Jim Matheos. Overall a very capable album for a debut from a band that was still looking for its identity.
The Spectre Within (1985) - 8.0
The second album picks up where the debut left off. No material changes in their sound and style, meaning Maiden influenced traditional metal. However, it's one step further into a more progressive sound. Specially considering the two gems "The Apparition" and the 12-min "Epitaph". Overall longer songs, stronger riffs albeit Maiden-like, and different song structures are the positives. But the vocal approach from Mr. Arch can be tedious at times and takes time to get into it. "Epitaph" breaks this pattern with better vocal lines, stronger melody, epicness and Arch takes more advantage of his vocal range. It's a album closer that kept the high hopes for what FW would really deliver in the albums to come.
Awaken the Guardian (1986) - 8.0
The third album brought the first line-up change: the arrival of guitar player Frank Aresti. This was also the last album with Arch on the vocals and the best of this phase. The characteristics from the previous albums are still here: traditional heavy metal flirting with progressiveness. But compared to the first two albums, the song writing is better, the vocal approach more balanced, and also including backing vocals and more vocal tracks. The album also features keyboards (but low in the mix) and several acoustics guitar passages. All songs were written and composed by Jim Matheos and John Arch, except "Giant's Lore (Heart of Winter)" by Aresti/Arch.The now classics "Sorceress", "Guardian" and "Exodus" are the highlights.
No Exit (1988) - 8.0
The fourth studio album is the first to feature current vocalist Ray Alder. John Arch's departure had a strong impact in FW's sound and style. The first being that the lyrics are less influenced by fantasy themes. Secondly, Alder, while also reaching for high notes with power, doesn't rely on them all the time. He has also great feeling and melody to carry the vocal lines. Another difference from the previous record is that Aresti was highly involved in the writing process. And of course the biggest leap into progressive metal is the 22-min "The Ivory Gate of Dreams" by Matheos. Divided in parts and full of variation, tempo changes and lack of a chorus, this song opened the way forward to FW. In terms of structure, No Exit resembles Rush's 2112, short songs on one side and a 20-plus-minute long song broken down into parts. Among the "short" songs, "Silent Cries" is the highlight.
Perfect Symmetry (1989) - 8.0
With album #5 the band's more modern, progressive direction was established. This was the second effort with vocalist Ray Alder who strengthened his vocal range and dynamic within the band. Mark Zonder took over the drumsticks. A notable credit, Kevin Moore who was with Dream Theater laid down the Keyboards on "At Fates Hands". Actually "At Fates Hands" foreshadows their 1997 masterpiece A Pleasant Shade of Gray. Like in the previous release, besides Matheos, Aresti was a major song writer, with solo credit in 3 songs and participating in other 2. Interestingly, Aresti's songs tended to resemble the earlier albums, meaning more direct and heavy. For example "Static Acts" and "The Arena" both with incredible performance from Ray Alder. On the other hand "At Fates Hands" and "Nothing Left to Say" were much more progressive with acoustic elements, keyboards, and tempo changes. Overall a great album, keeping up at the same level as the last 2, but cementing the transition from traditional metal into progressive metal.
Parallels (1991) - 8.5
Although the 6th album had no line-up changes, all songs were written and composed by Jim Matheos. The albums marks FW as definite progressive metal masters. The music writing is phenomenal and Matheos took down a notch on speed and aggressiveness, adding much more slow tempo session combined with heaviness and great guitar riffs. The melodies and vocal lines on this album are superb and catchy, and Alder limited the high-pitched screams to just a few moments which make them much more special e.g. "Eye to Eye" and "The Eleventh Hour". Many songs feature a goose-bumping build-up e.g. "Life in Still Water" and "The Eleventh Hour". The guitar approach is far from the Maiden-like riffs from the first albums, it's fresh, original and rely much more on arpeggios. On his second album with FW, Mark Zonder is much more loose behind the drums and therefore sounding much better. And finally the bass is very prominent in the mix giving the final touch to this controversial (to the older fans) masterpiece.
3 years after the commercial success of Parallels, FW returned with the same line-up and same sound from the predecessor. Once again Jim Matheos dominated the compositions with exceptions on which Alder and Aresti are co-credited. As the trend in the mid-90's, the album is longer and has more songs than the predecessors. Probably the only differences from Parallels are that the song writing is slightly inferior leading to a bit more simplistic sound than Parallels. The other difference is that Alder doesn't use the high-pitched screams anymore. With that said, Inside Out features good songs such as "Outside Looking In" and "Monument" but also has some weak points in the middle part. The best thing about this album is the fact that the lack of differentiation from Parallels led Matheos to go completely different in the follow-up album.
A Pleasant Shade of Gray (1997) - 9.5
APSoG is a concept album with one song divided into twelve parts. FW's 8th album is emotional, and dark but also heavy at times. This disc is their ultimate progressive masterpiece but a very challenging listen. The album was written and composed by Jim Matheos. Joey Vera from Armored Saint took over the bass. Aresti left the band and instead of adding a new guitar player, Matheos opted to call back Kevin Moore who had participated in Perfect Symmetry (Kevin left Dream Theater in the meantime) became a band member behind the keyboards. Consequently, this is the first album in which the keyboards are as prominent as the guitar. The stars were aligned for FW, all members were at their best. The drum work from Mark Zonder reached new levels, Vera's bass lines, prominent riffs and position in the mix brought a different sound foundation to the band, the guitars followed similar texture and sound developed in Parallels and Alder was as brilliant as in the previous records. The song writing is outstanding with tempo changes, diverse structures, sound samples, great melodies and powerfull. But it's a grower and takes time to sink in, I don't remember the initial reaction, but now almost 20 years later and countless listens, it's my favorite FW album.
Disconnected (2000) - 8.5
Repeating the line-up from APSoG FW returned at the beginning of the century with Disconnected. A theme that 16 years latter is still relevant. Jim Matheos wrote all the music, but Alder wrote two lyrics and co-wrote another one with Matheos. Disconnected builds on the predecessor while being more balanced and bringing some elements from earlier albums. Overall making it a bit easier to digest than APSoG was. For example "One" and "Pieces of Me" are short, heavy and full of guitar riffs. While "So", "Something from Nothing" and the 16-min "Still Remains" are long, progressive and resembling the APSoG sound. The other track is the title track which is dark and slow two-part instrumental that opens and closes the album.
FWX (2004) - 7.5
Reaching a 10th album is an accomplishment. And the band decided to celebrate this event by naming the album simple FWX. The disc is about the same length as the predecessor, but with 10 songs, leading to the longest song being not much longer than 7 minutes. All music and lyrics are by Matheos, with the exception of 3 lyrics that are credited to Alder. With Kevin Moore leaving, the band, FW once again took a different direction. FWX is the most diverse and experimental album to date, it does feature some keyboards by Matheos and a lot of sampling. Every song is "short" but progressive and has a unique feeling. From the moody "River Wide Ocean Deep" with female vocals to the almost punk rock "Stranger (With A Familiar Face)". I appreciate what they did here and it gave the album a unique flavor within FW reach discography. But even with the live favorites "Another Perfect Day" and "Heal Me", overall FWX falls a bit short than any other "Alder era" output.
Darkness In A Different Light (2013) - 8.0
After 9 years without a new record, FW released this great album. It is also their first studio album with Aresti since Inside Out, additionally he co-wrote the opening track. Drummer Bobby Jarzombek also makes his debut with Fates Warning and co-wrote "I Am". Matheos wrote two songs and co-wrote the others with Alder. Kevin Moore is not in this album, but he wrote the lyrics for "O Chloroform". As opposed to the experimental previous album, DIADL has all the elements that a FW fan would expect - progressive melodic metal with catchy songs, big choruses, the well-known guitar style from Jim Matheos and the recognizable vocals from Ray Alder. Most of the songs are on the 5-min mark, so it's a very direct album. Notable exception the 14-min closing track "And Yet It Moves". There are some heavy songs such as "I Am" and "Into The Black" but the album is also marked by emotional songs with slower tempo.
I was really happy to see those guys back in the studio after almost a decade, the new drummer brought so much to the band. I just felt that a couple of songs in the middle and end part loose a bit the power. But overall great comeback album.
Theories of Flight (2016) - 9.0
I was trying to figure out why in just a matter of days this album became one of my all time FW favorite albums. And then it struck me, Theories of Flight basically combines the best of two worlds. The more progressive side of FW is represented in "From the Rooftops", "The Light and Shade of Things" and "The Ghosts of Home" and the more direct style from the earlier albums is in a modern and fresh way coming alive on "Seven Stars", "SOS", "White Flag" and "Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen". And to conclude the album, a nice Easter egg of the album Disconnected: an instrumental title track full of sampling. Actually the title track and "The Ghosts of Home" are almost one song and both remind me a lot of the duo "Still Remains"/"Disconnected part 2". But let me be clear, Theories of Flight is not at all a recycling of old ideas. Quite the opposite, it's FW at its best and upgraded. The first noticeable difference is that the record features one of the best drumming performances I heard in a long time. In his second album with FW, Bobby Jarzombek is simply relentless. The grooves, constant time changes, odd signatures don't ever stop. It will be interesting to watch him playing those live. Aresti, who was playing guitar int he previous album, is not an official band member in this one anymore. And his contribution was limited to two, but great, guitar solos. Of course he did not participate in the song writing. With that said, Matheos stepped up to deliver one of his best guitar work, it is pure art! Most of the songs have at least 3 guitar tracks each doing some very specific riffs and rhythms that intertwine giving such a beautiful texture. All of this without loosing heaviness. And last but not least, Alder is singing better than never, very confident hitting some high notes without sounding forced or exaggerated, I mean his performance in "The light and..." Is simply amazing. By the way, this is the best song I heard this year and one of my favorites of the last few years. Now, if I'd be picky and split hairs, then I'd say that the bass is a bit too low in mix, specially compared to their previous albums with Vera. In sum, it's been just two weeks and Theories of Flight is my second favorite FW album. With time, it could still become my favorite FW album of all. However, it is already the strongest contender to album of the year.
Theories of Flight (2016) - 9.0
I was trying to figure out why in just a matter of days this album became one of my all time FW favorite albums. And then it struck me, Theories of Flight basically combines the best of two worlds. The more progressive side of FW is represented in "From the Rooftops", "The Light and Shade of Things" and "The Ghosts of Home" and the more direct style from the earlier albums is in a modern and fresh way coming alive on "Seven Stars", "SOS", "White Flag" and "Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen". And to conclude the album, a nice Easter egg of the album Disconnected: an instrumental title track full of sampling. Actually the title track and "The Ghosts of Home" are almost one song and both remind me a lot of the duo "Still Remains"/"Disconnected part 2". But let me be clear, Theories of Flight is not at all a recycling of old ideas. Quite the opposite, it's FW at its best and upgraded. The first noticeable difference is that the record features one of the best drumming performances I heard in a long time. In his second album with FW, Bobby Jarzombek is simply relentless. The grooves, constant time changes, odd signatures don't ever stop. It will be interesting to watch him playing those live. Aresti, who was playing guitar int he previous album, is not an official band member in this one anymore. And his contribution was limited to two, but great, guitar solos. Of course he did not participate in the song writing. With that said, Matheos stepped up to deliver one of his best guitar work, it is pure art! Most of the songs have at least 3 guitar tracks each doing some very specific riffs and rhythms that intertwine giving such a beautiful texture. All of this without loosing heaviness. And last but not least, Alder is singing better than never, very confident hitting some high notes without sounding forced or exaggerated, I mean his performance in "The light and..." Is simply amazing. By the way, this is the best song I heard this year and one of my favorites of the last few years. Now, if I'd be picky and split hairs, then I'd say that the bass is a bit too low in mix, specially compared to their previous albums with Vera. In sum, it's been just two weeks and Theories of Flight is my second favorite FW album. With time, it could still become my favorite FW album of all. However, it is already the strongest contender to album of the year.
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