FATES WARNING Long Day Good Night | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

 

Released by Metal Blade Records on November 6th, 2020

Quick Background

Formed in 1982 by guitarist Jim Matheos, Fates Warning have been a formidable presence in progressive metal for more than 35 years. A pioneer of the movement, they have been referred to as one of the "Big Three" of the genre, along with Queensrÿche and Dream Theater; namely, the bands who are most responsible for progressive metal's creation, development and popularization. It is one of my favorite bands and I found their previous album Theories of Flight, the best album of 2016. So the wait has been relatively long and the expectations high for their 13th studio album.

Long Day Good Night

They return in 2020 with Long Day Good Night, the longest album of their discography. Featuring diverse 13 songs totaling 72:22 (do the math). So indeed they purposely inflated the album to generate this cool play with the number 13. While that's cool it has some unwanted consequences, but more on that later. There are plenty of progressive and heavy sings on Long Day Good Night to keep old fans happy. In a way the album revisits different stages of the band history while pushing the boundries in new direcations. Track 12, "The Longest Shadow of the Day" is an example of doing it right. An amazing epic 11:30 minute long prog jewel where the band goes into jazz fusion territory while soundin like FW. While the songs are different from each other and explore different avenues, the trademark sound of Matheos guitars and Alder vocals, give the album a consistent feel and sound. In that sense is not a departure from the previous record but a logical next step. The band has aged and matured, the vocals are more contained and while there are also some pretty heavy songs, there's a lot of calmer and mid-tempo songs or passages. There are some songs with electronics and some with a nice ethereal feel, a couple of tricks that are not often if at all used by the band before. And “Under The Sun” sees the band incorporating a full string section for the first time. There are also some pretty heavy songs and they are some of the best on the album such as "Shuttered World" and "Liar". The very good album opener, "The Destination Onward", combines as masterfuly as always progressiveness with heaviness.

Guitarist Jim Matheos wrote the album working closely with Alder. Long time members Joey Vera (bass guitar) and Bobby Jarzombek (drums) complete the line-up. The record also features guest appearances from touring guitarist Mike Abdow who contributed with 5 solos in 3 songs, plus Porcupine Tree/The Pineapple Thief drummer Gavin Harrison plays on "When Snow Falls". Production is top notch as always and it ticks like a clock. Always love the guitar tone from Matheos and the prominent bass from Vera.

The Picky Guy

As I mentioned, reaching 72:22 minutes means it's a very long album. The the mid-session is loaded with very mellow songs. I appreciate the effort and the songs are not bad but a couple of them simply don't appeal to me. I learned how to enjoy "The Way Home" and "Under the Sun", both still progressive and with ups and downs. But the single "Now Comes the Rain" and "When Snow Falls" are way too pop music for my taste. At the end of the day, I ended up with 8 to 9 songs totaling about 45 minutes in my playlist which, in my opinion, is the ideal record length. Of course the track 13, "The Last Song", feels like their wild card they use to complete 13 tracks and adjust the album length. But it worked.

Wrap Up Opinion 

If I am critical to this band is just because I love them and have all of their albums. So putting expectations and history aside, it is a very good album despite the length and some missteps. When Mateos, Alder and comapny hit the ball, it's a home run. There are enough great tracks here to get new and old fans psyched about FW in the new decade. That assuming the album title and the last song title are not foreshadowing the end of the band. Please come back in 3 or 4 years! As an almost very good album, I am giving Long Day Good Night 81 out of 100. Make sure to check it out.

SCORE: 81/100

Genre: Progressive Metal

Released by Metal Blade Records on November 6th, 2020

Rating System*

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

* slightly adapted on May 24th, 2020 due to statistical review
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