Fates Warning

[KevShmev]

After getting three albums of theirs a few years ago, and kind of liking them, but not really going hog wild over any of 'em, I sort of gave up on them, except for the occasional listen of a song here and a song there, but I got a hair up my ass the other day to give them another shot, so I gave A Pleasant Shade of Grey another whirl...and it sounded fantastic!  Far better than it did before.  Gotta love when stuff like that happens.  I spun the other two, as well; Perfect Symmetry sounds pretty cool; No Exit sounds like it will take some work.  Either way, I am happy to be finally "getting" this band.

And from what I remember, this band has a lot of records that are highly-regarded by the fan base, so this could be a new beginning of a somewhat long journey.

[Perpetual Change]

I've been trying to get into them, but for me taking the other road is what has helped. After listening to records like Parallels, Inside Out, and A Pleasant Shade of Grey and *liking* them but not being crazy over 'em, I finally decided to give their older stuff a spin. Awake the Guardian did the trick for me. I'm probably one of the few people who like Arch better than Alder. Right now, I'm guessing my top 3 FW albums would go...

1.) Awake the Guardian
2.) Perfect Symmetry
3. Parallels

[Gadough]

I have the Parallels special edition reissue. It's alright. Not a band I'm crazy over, but they're pretty good.

[ytserush]

After getting three albums of theirs a few years ago, and kind of liking them, but not really going hog wild over any of 'em, I sort of gave up on them, except for the occasional listen of a song here and a song there, but I got a hair up my ass the other day to give them another shot, so I gave A Pleasant Shade of Grey another whirl...and it sounded fantastic!  Far better than it did before.  Gotta love when stuff like that happens.  I spun the other two, as well; Perfect Symmetry sounds pretty cool; No Exit sounds like it will take some work.  Either way, I am happy to be finally "getting" this band.

And from what I remember, this band has a lot of records that are highly-regarded by the fan base, so this could be a new beginning of a somewhat long journey.

Glad you're digging them.

Aside from a song here and there, they do nothing for me.  I might still have Chasing Time and one other that I at least get a little enjoyment from. I sold whatever else I had....

[pogoowner]

I generally enjoy their more recent stuff the most. A Pleasant Shade of Gray is my favorite, but I also enjoy Disconnected, FWX, and Perfect Symmetry a lot. Parallels and Inside Out are a bit weaker, in my opinion, followed by No Exit. I don't really care for the John Arch era at all.

[SoundscapeMN]

so where do we begihhhhnn, and what else can weeeee say? when the lines are allllll drawn. What should weee doooo today?

all these words and memories...still remains..still remains, they still remayyyyyyynnnnn

[SoundscapeMN]

John Arch or rather John   rch

The Spectre Within FTW!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmozVRLZfdg

In the first is a young boy white dove in His hand, in the second is a warrior in armor In the third is the old man gold watch
In his hand fourth and last
No reflection at allllllll
No-reflection-at-all
No-reeeeflection-at-ahhhhhhhhhhllllllllll

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S1coZRDfXE

oh and if all goes well, the next lp will finally come in 2011  

[Perpetual Change]

Guardian and Fata Morgana slay anything on any other FW albums.

[Ben_Jamin]

Was standing in the darkness
I was watching over you
And all those fears came drifting back
To cloud the view and steal the day

[SoundscapeMN]

Gardian and Fata Morgana slay anything on any other FW albums.

wrong.

Gardian.

[wolfking]

I have been a massive fan of them for years.  Truly one of the most underrated prog bands ever.  My favs;

Parallels
Inside Out
Perfect Symmetry

These album are perfect IMO.  A Pleasant Shade of Gray also isn't far behind.  No Exit is classic heavy metal with a nice mix of prog.  

I'd also recommend Disconnected.  It's much more somber and less guitar orientated, but the atmosphere of this album is incredible, and there are some amazing songs on it.  FWX is a great listen also, it's a nice mix between Disconnected and APSOG.

If you want something heavier, try the John Arch era, in particular Awaken the Guardian, amazing record.

[LudwigVan]

Alder-era Fates Warning is certainly a top band for me.  It wavers, but there are times when I believe that Fates is a better prog-metal band than Dream Theater.

I'd also recommend Disconnected.  It's much more somber and less guitar orientated, but the atmosphere of this album is incredible, and there are some amazing songs on it. 

Some of that great atmosphere is created by having Kevin Moore on keyboards.   As a matter of fact, their 2nd guitarist (Frank Aresti) had left the band by the time of A Pleasant Shade of Gray, giving KevMo a bit more space to work on that album and Disconnected as well.

[Seventh Son]

I've been trying to get into them, but for me taking the other road is what has helped. After listening to records like Parallels, Inside Out, and A Pleasant Shade of Grey and *liking* them but not being crazy over 'em, I finally decided to give their older stuff a spin. Awake the Guardian did the trick for me. I'm probably one of the few people who like Arch better than Alder. Right now, I'm guessing my top 3 FW albums would go...

1.) Awake the Guardian
2.) Perfect Symmetry
3. Parallels

This. I don't really like Alder era, but John Arch era is amazing and Awaken the Guardian is a god tier prog album.

[KevShmev]

Opinions really seem all over the place when it comes to this band, but I am thinking that Parallels will be the next one I check out.  I've never heard anything with John Arch, but Awaken the Guardian seems pretty highly-regarded, so I might have to check that one out, too.  Gotta get used to the ones I already have first, though; trying to get into too many CDs at once never works.

[Perpetual Change]

This is definitely the song that got me into Fates...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkvqrCGuS10

[wolfking]

Alder-era Fates Warning is certainly a top band for me.  It wavers, but there are times when I believe that Fates is a better prog-metal band than Dream Theater.

I'd also recommend Disconnected.  It's much more somber and less guitar orientated, but the atmosphere of this album is incredible, and there are some amazing songs on it. 

Some of that great atmosphere is created by having Kevin Moore on keyboards.   As a matter of fact, their 2nd guitarist (Frank Aresti) had left the band by the time of A Pleasant Shade of Gray, giving KevMo a bit more space to work on that album and Disconnected as well.

Yeah, KM did some amazing work on that.  It was a shame when Aresti left the band, he is such an amazing lead player.  Good to see him back the last few years.  The Athens DVD was great but was shot very poorly shot and we are lucky to get 5 closeups of Frank.

I really hope he is recording with them this time for the new album.

[TAC]

Opinions really seem all over the place when it comes to this band, but I am thinking that Parallels will be the next one I check out. 

If I had to pick out one album that represented FW "in their prime" it would be Parallells. It's very accessable almost "not" prog metal. But to me, it's their most focused album.

Opinions are all over the place because the band was all over the place.

[wolfking]

Parallels is indeed by far, their best album.  Perfect from beginning to end.

[Beowulf]

I've got into Redemption since they opened for DT a few years ago.  I am loving their albums!!  "Sapphire" is absolutely amazing, but so are so many others.
  How do they compare with FW, Alder-era?

[SoundscapeMN]

I've got into Redemption since they opened for DT a few years ago.  I am loving their albums!!  "Sapphire" is absolutely amazing, but so are so many others.
  How do they compare with FW, Alder-era?

Terry Brown didn't write the vocal lines.

[Samsara]

LOVE Fates Warning. Much prefer Alder over Arch. Both are talented, but Alder's tone is better to my ears.

I got into them a few years back. They sold me for sure in 2003 after I saw them open for QR and DT. Went out and bought the catalog.

I would agree with TAC that Parallels really is the album that captures them in their prime. The records before show a metal band, and Parallels, like so many albums in that timeframe, really straddles the line between metal and accessible hard rock.

A lot of progheads love A Pleasant Shade of Gray. I admit, it took me a LONG time to get that record and warm up to it. I finally did after reading LudwigVan's review, and sitting down with the headphones. It finally hit me, much like Queensryche's Promised Land back in the day.

It is really funny how Empire and Parallels really are alike, as are APSOG and PL...just in terms of the musical style employed.

Disconnected was a damn good record and so was FWX. I really wish they'd get back and do another FW record. Jim told me in my interview with him -- https://www.breakdownroom.net/fateswarning-310.html -- that it was progressing, but he wasn't really in any hurry. Then OSI got its record deal with Metal Blade and I see that has taken priority.

But I sincerely hope that a progressive band like OSI means that the next Fates record brings a bit of the METAL back with it. Frank Aresti is back in the band, at least from a touring standpoint (the only official members are Matheos and Alder at this point), so if he can bring some heavy riffs and some shredding solos, it would be cool.

Time will tell.

[carl320]

BUMP

I forgot how great FW was until recently when I listened to A Pleasant Shade of Gray.  That and Parallels are equally amazing.

[Nick]

1. A Pleasant Shade of Grey
2. Parallels

And from there who knows. I enjoy the Arch era stuff but there is so much more great Alder era material.

[jsem]

I love Arch.

[TAC]

1. A Pleasant Shade of Grey
2. Parallels

And from there who knows. I enjoy the Arch era stuff but there is so much more great Alder era material.

I think Parallels is easily their best. Kind of like the Journey of prog/hard rock.

[Mebert78]

Metal Blade CEO Brian Slagel tweeted this weekend asking fans for their opinion on what the new Arch/Matheos band should be called.  The top choice appears on be Arch/Matheos.  They are also considering A/M.  I suggested Prelude to Ruin and ARCHMATHEOS.  One word.  He ssaid the band appears to be a longterm thing and they will be doing lots of press in the coming months for a September release.

[wkiml]

Metal Blade CEO Brian Slagel tweeted this weekend asking fans for their opinion on what the new Arch/Matheos band should be called.  The top choice appears on be Arch/Matheos.  They are also considering A/M.  I suggested Prelude to Ruin and ARCHMATHEOS.  One word.  He ssaid the band appears to be a longterm thing and they will be doing lots of press in the coming months for a September release.

[wolfking]

Metal Blade CEO Brian Slagel tweeted this weekend asking fans for their opinion on what the new Arch/Matheos band should be called.  The top choice appears on be Arch/Matheos.  They are also considering A/M.  I suggested Prelude to Ruin and ARCHMATHEOS.  One word.  He ssaid the band appears to be a longterm thing and they will be doing lots of press in the coming months for a September release.

Could this be the beginning of the end for Fates Warning?

[Dublagent66]

No Exit is awesome and The Ivory Gate of Dreams is every bit as epic as any DT epic.  Parallels is probably their most well known but you really can't go wrong with any of their albums.
I have Awaken The Guardian and I like it musically, but I'm not really an Arch fan.  Inside Out took a while but I ended up loving it.  Same with APSOG which is an outstanding prog album.  Disconnected and FWX are pretty good too.  Great band.  Always liked their music a lot.

[LudwigVan]

Somehow, early Fates Warning was the big influence on the obscure, amelodic prog-metal bands like Cynic, Gordian Knot, Power of Omens, Aghora, Zero Hour and Spiral Architect...bands that are kind of the dark underbelly of the sub-genre.   On the flip side, Dream Theater took prog-metal to a more melodic, accessible place. 

[TAC]

Metal Blade CEO Brian Slagel tweeted this weekend asking fans for their opinion on what the new Arch/Matheos band should be called.  The top choice appears on be Arch/Matheos.  They are also considering A/M.  I suggested Prelude to Ruin and ARCHMATHEOS.  One word.  He ssaid the band appears to be a longterm thing and they will be doing lots of press in the coming months for a September release.

Could this be the beginning of the end for Fates Warning?

You mean Fates Warning is still active?

Somehow, early Fates Warning was the big influence on the obscure, amelodic prog-metal bands like Cynic, Gordian Knot, Power of Omens, Aghora, Zero Hour and Spiral Architect...bands that are kind of the dark underbelly of the sub-genre.   On the flip side, Dream Theater took prog-metal to a more melodic, accessible place. 

A great observation. I can definitely see that.

[carl320]

No Exit is awesome and The Ivory Gate of Dreams is every bit as epic as any DT epic.  Parallels is probably their most well known but you really can't go wrong with any of their albums.
I have Awaken The Guardian and I like it musically, but I'm not really an Arch fan.  Inside Out took a while but I ended up loving it.  Same with APSOG which is an outstanding prog album.  Disconnected and FWX are pretty good too.  Great band.  Always liked their music a lot.

I haven't given Inside Out quite the chance I gave Parallels and APSOG.  I need to listen to it again sometime.

[Pantherize]

   This is a band that I revisit periodically. I was first exposed to them from the MTV video for Through Different Eyes and liked that a lot and the whole album. Then fell out of them for a while.

   When I found out that Kevin Moore had done keyboards for them on APSOG and Disconnected, I got both and they just both really clicked for me. Disconnected has the epic Still Remains on it, which remains one of my favorite songs of all time. I guess it was a song Jim wrote about his father. Very moving and emotional song.

   Also the song Disconnected pt 2 has a voice sampling on it from the medium Leslie Flint which caused me to look into the history of him and led me down a path to reading a lot of stuff that shapes my perspective of spirituality.

 Count me firmly in the Ray Alder camp rather than the Arch camp. Arch just really doesn't do anything for me at all. I'm disappointed to hear there was pretty much a full album of stuff written and Arch is doing it rather than Ray. 

[abydos]

This note, just in from Jim:

"I'm happy to say that all the music for FW11 is now written (finally!). Still some lyrics to do, but we're close. Looking forward to sharing this with you in 2013."
https://fateswarning.com/Forum/tabid/269/aft/157/Default.aspx

woot!

[kirksnosehair]

These guys are kind of hit and miss for me, but I do enjoy APSOG, No Exit, Disconnected and their most recent one.  Never could get into the others, although I own all of them.