Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!

[pg1067]

Most of APSOG was in my top 15 so I'm sad none of them made it a little higher in the rankings.

So...just looking at all the lists, rankers had the following # of APSOG songs on their countdowns:

A. 10/11
B. 4
C. 6
D. 11 (ranked in spots 1-11)
E. 4
F. 9
G. 6
H. 2
I. 8
J. 8
K. 4
L. 6
M. 2
N. 4
O. 7
P. 10
Q. 2
R. 8

By the way, regarding the two APSOG tracks that didn't make the countdown, "I" made it onto only two lists and finished tied for 87th place (with Scars and Begin again).  "II" came VERY close at #53 (only 5 points behind the three songs that tied for 49th).

I could only find a 20+ year old, anonymous message board post that made that connection.  While plausible, that's hardly definitive.  Does the book (which I bought but haven't read yet) corroborate this?

Yep, it does...

Grazie.

[nick_z]

I didn't comment on it - how cool is it that you got to witness this?

It was really special. That whole roadtrip tour with my buddy, and the access we had those two shows was awesome. On the 2019 tour, I saw them three more times. Twice opening for QR, and the best one was a one-off headline appearance. It was at a bar in Redding, Calif., called "The Dip." I showed up way early at like 4 p.m., had a couple of beers with friends (who drove from UTAH), stayed for soundcheck. They could only fit half of the drum kit on the "stage" in the corner of the bar. During soundcheck, my friend took a picture of me, standing in front of the band playing. It was like our own personal Fates show. I have that photo, and the cool venue poster the bar had up, framed to my right here at my office. Signed by the band. It was really, really cool.

Once the show itself started, the place filled up much more. I was right in front of Jim and Ray for that. Check out a couple vids I took. It was actually too close to film, so it's a little bouncy:

One - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omkBdAZJ790

Another Perfect Day - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hks2ogtcPVw

I just took two. The band doesn't mind people taking a couple, but they were...displeased to see some guy literally standing in the back filming the entire performance. So after those two songs, I put my phone away. But check out the vantage point of Jim's solo in Another Perfect Day. Literally right up against me. So killer.

Those five shows are some of my favorite memories of shows (2018 and 2019). Really hope I get to see Fates again some day.

Absolutely love this stuff. Oh, and your "background vocals" on One are pretty awesome 

There were two Arch songs in the 51-60 group, and we had four lists that included no Arch songs, so I wondered what it would do to the overall countdown to eliminate those four lists.  Interestingly, while it bumped the two songs from the 51-60 group into the 41-50 group, it did not result in any other songs moving into the top 50.  It did bump Guardian into the top 10 and the Apparition into the top 20.  However, it did not impact the top 3 at all and (other than bumping Guardian), it did not otherwise significantly impact the top 10.

Cool info nuggets here...I was actually surprised I ended up having more Arch songs in my top 50 than the aggregate consensus. I've said it before, as I was revisiting the whole catalog before we started the countdown - the one Arch album that benefitted the most from re-listening was Awaken the Guardian, for sure. My favorite "version" of Fates Warning will always have Ray Alder fronting it, but I've upped my appreciation for AtG, and I'm thankful this countdown made me do it.

I could only find a 20+ year old, anonymous message board post that made that connection.  While plausible, that's hardly definitive.  Does the book (which I bought but haven't read yet) corroborate this?

Yep, it does...

Grazie.

 
 

[Samsara]

I'll be honest, I have one of the lists with no Arch era songs.

While I am familiar with the Arch era, it's almost like a completely different band in comparison to the Alder era. In my view, they ARE two distinct bands. So I wasn't going to go through a three-record mini catalog that I don't enjoy as much to find a handful of tracks that may make the 40-50 range in my rankings. Seemed pointless. Even the best Arch era songs to me (Guardian, The Apparition), while cool...I'd rather listen to Ray. Any day. So it was just dumb for me to even try to make a case for an Arch song being in my top-50. They wouldn't be.

I thought about not submitting a list because of that, not wanting to skew results. But then giving it some further thought, I was being honest with how I felt, so I submitted it anyway. It's the truth, for my tastes, so it's accurate.

[wolfking]

I had neither of these ranked too.

[nick_z]

APSOG Part VI - My rank: #29

Agree with pg that this is a great mid-album piece. It takes its time to build up, but when Vera's bass comes in, and is joined by that clean guitar fade-in...that's beautiful stuff right there. Even more so when it's reprised with Kevin Moore's haunting keyboards in the background, after the verse and before the first chorus. That chorus, by the way...just a great payoff - simple and melodic, but very powerful. Short and emotional solo by Matheos too.

Guardian - My rank: #35

My highest-ranked song of the Arch-era. It has all of that early FW "magic" in a package that is epic and accessible at the same time. Part of this is Arch's vocal melodies are easier to wrap your head around than his usual standards  The chorus really is a thing of beauty.

[TAC]

14T A Pleasant Shade of Gray VI (Turn Back All the Years) (APSOG – 9)

Appeared on 13 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 4
Highest Ranking: 1 (SoundscapeMN)


14T Guardian (Awaken the Guardian – 2)

Appeared on 14 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 5
Highest Ranking: 2 (Mister Gold, Puppies_on_Acid)

I had APSOG VI (Turn Back All The Years) at #11. This is a great tune full of emotion. Has a great solo too.


I had Guardian at #9. Seems to be the signature song of the Arch Era.

So…now that we’ve seen the last of the Arch era songs, I’m going to interrupt the main countdown briefly.  Over the weekend, instead of continuing with the main countdown, I’m going to give you the rest of the top 15 Arch era songs (we know that the top 3 are Guardian (14T), The Apparition (32) and Exodus (49T)).

Oh, OK. I'll add them to my list as you do it then. I had a total of 16 Arch Era songs on my list.


50                                                                              NR
49                                                                              Handful Of Doubt
48  APSOG IX (Stayed Up Late One Night)                     Chasing Time
47                                                                              APSOG III
46  APSOG VIII (Instrumental)                                     White Flag
45                                                                              APSOG IV
44                                                                              Firefly
43                                                                              The Destination Onward
42   Pale Fire                                                               Left Here
41                                                                              The Road Goes On Forever
40  Outside Looking In                                                 Island In The Stream
39  The Longest Shadow Of The Day                             APSOG V (Murder In Munich)
38  Face The Fear                                                        Part Of The Machine
37                                                                              Wish
36  Another Perfect Day                                               APSOG VII
35  The Apparition                                                       Seven Stars
34                                                                              Eye To Eye
33                                                                              At Fates Hands
32  Silent Cries                                                            APSOG XII
31  Don't Follow Me
30
29
28
27
26
25
24  And Yet It Moves
23
22  APSOG XI (Do You Think That I)
21
20
19
18
17  Exodus
16
15
14
13  The Strand
12
11 APSOG VI (Turn Back All The Years)
10  Shelter Me
9  Guardian
8
7
6  Down To The Wire
5
4  Something For Nothing
3  We Only Say Goodbye
2
1

[pg1067]

There were two Arch songs in the 51-60 group, and we had four lists that included no Arch songs, so I wondered what it would do to the overall countdown to eliminate those four lists.  Interestingly, while it bumped the two songs from the 51-60 group into the 41-50 group, it did not result in any other songs moving into the top 50.  It did bump Guardian into the top 10 and the Apparition into the top 20.  However, it did not impact the top 3 at all and (other than bumping Guardian), it did not otherwise significantly impact the top 10.

Cool info nuggets here...I was actually surprised I ended up having more Arch songs in my top 50 than the aggregate consensus. I've said it before, as I was revisiting the whole catalog before we started the countdown - the one Arch album that benefitted the most from re-listening was Awaken the Guardian, for sure. My favorite "version" of Fates Warning will always have Ray Alder fronting it, but I've upped my appreciation for AtG, and I'm thankful this countdown made me do it.

So...just because I like numbers:  The average list had 6.05 Arch era songs.  If you only count the 15 lists that had Arch era songs, the number jumps to 7.67 (with 4 of the 15 lists having 7 songs).  TAC had the most Arch songs (16), and 3 others (jammindude, Puppies and Realm) had more than 10 songs.  Nine lists had at least one song from Brocken, while five lists had more than one Brocken song.

I'll be honest, I have one of the lists with no Arch era songs.

....

I thought about not submitting a list because of that, not wanting to skew results. But then giving it some further thought, I was being honest with how I felt, so I submitted it anyway. It's the truth, for my tastes, so it's accurate.

I'm glad you still submitted.  As I mentioned only 7 of the 19 lists had at least one song from every album, which means 12 lists had no songs from at least one album, and 8 of those 12 lists omitted albums other than Arch albums.  My own list had no songs from two albums.  The point being that not being familiar with or not liking a small portion of the catalog (less than 25%) shouldn't be a deterrent to participating.

[The Realm]

14T A Pleasant Shade of Gray VI (Turn Back All the Years) (APSOG – 9)

Appeared on 13 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 4
Highest Ranking: 1 (SoundscapeMN)

14T Guardian (Awaken the Guardian – 2)

Appeared on 14 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 5
Highest Ranking: 2 (Mister Gold, Puppies_on_Acid)

APSOG VI - my number 3. I just love this track and it is a great centre piece of the album. It builds nicely and the vocals are full of emotion.

Guardian - 13 on my list. I ranked 12 Arch songs on my list (so 9 didn't make it....) this was my highest ranking one. I agree wth TAC that this probably is the signature song of the Arch Era. I know Arch's vocals don't work for everyone but there is a more mythical/magical quality about them on this track and along with some fantastic music it all comes together to create a really epic track that I never get tired of hearing.

[TAC]

I did rank one Arch Era track ahead of Guardian. Let's see if it makes this weekend's list.

[Glasser]

I did rank one Arch Era track ahead of Guardian. Let's see if it makes this weekend's list.

The Sorceress!!!!!

[TAC]

I did rank one Arch Era track ahead of Guardian. Let's see if it makes this weekend's list.

The Sorceress!!!!!

Nope..

[pg1067]

I did rank one Arch Era track ahead of Guardian. Let's see if it makes this weekend's list.

The Sorceress!!!!!

Won't find a sorceress at the edge of a river....

Too obscure or too obvious?

[TAC]

I see what you did there.

[WardySI]

Yep, only included 3 Arch era songs in my own list (Apparition my #9) and while do dig plenty of it can appreciate those not including any.  My intro was Parallels and agree with Sam they really can come over like two different bands.  Generally speaking the Alder era will always be superior for me but to each our own all good!

Sidenote, I own and love the two Arch Matheos records, in fact Winter Ethereal made my Top5 albums of 2019 and still blast that one regularly.  Can't express enough how great that album is Arch kills it and it's well up there with the last few Fates records IMO, essential stuff!

Anyway can't be sure but this might be my first at least only second time having 2 non-rankers at once as had neither APSOG VI or Guardian ranked.  Guardian is a fine song just not high on my Arch faves and VI isfar from my preferred APSOG tracks and tbh like Puppies_ am surprised it rated higher overall than XII but there ya go

[jammindude]

I just arrived in Florida and I’ve been traveling all day and I’m exhausted. I’m not gonna do an update tonight, but I just wanted to stop in to say how shocked I am.….deeply jaw on the floor stunned…that Prelude to Ruin is not going to make the list.

The reason they performed that song with Ray probably longer than any other Arch era song is because it was widely regarded as a fan favorite…commonly mentioned in the same breath as Guardian itself. Similar in structure and placement in album order as Apparition, but usually regarded as being superior (if that’s even possible…they are both amazing).  I thought for sure that when Exodus made it, there was no way we weren’t going to see Prelude.  This just doesn’t compute at all.

[Glasser]

I did rank one Arch Era track ahead of Guardian. Let's see if it makes this weekend's list.

The Sorceress!!!!!

Won't find a sorceress at the edge of a river....

Too obscure or too obvious?

Another song for Kade to write. 

[Lethean]

Hey all - I promise I will not spam every thread, but wanted to invite everyone to join LithoJazzoSphere and I in our Katatonia discussion thread.  I mention it here because I think there could be some fan overlap.  And Samsara's soundcheck experience reminded me of my own - I had a meet and greet with Fates Warning that included soundcheck, and I was wearing a Katatonia shirt.  Jim Matheos noticed and said that Katatonia was his favorite band (probably an exaggeration or maybe just his favorite current band) and chatted with me about them for a bit.  Ray said "Katatonia - great band," Bobby started asking me about how far back I go and he had gone back to The Great Cold Distance, and Joey was wearing a Katatonia shirt. 

[pg1067]

Alright...sorry for the late post.

We already know the top 3 Arch era song, which are the only ones that made the countdown.  Here's the first half of the rest of the top 15 Arch songs:

14T. Guardian (408 points) (my rank - 18)
32. The Apparition (309 points) (my rank - 14)
49T. Exodus (220 points) (my rank - 26)
x.
x.
x.
x.
x.
x.
74. Fata Morgana (104 points) (my rank - 30) - I absolutely love this song.  They opened with this song the first time I saw Fates live (after a tape intro of At Fates Hands.

82. Kyrie Eleison (65 points) (my rank - NR)

83. Pirates of the Underground (64 points) (my rank - NR)

84. The Sorceress (58 points) (my rank - NR)

85T. Buried Alive (55 points) (my rank - NR)

90. Orphan Gypsy (46 points) (my rank - NR)


Other than Fata Morgana, I'm not overly fond of any of these songs, but I don't dislike any of them either.

[pg1067]

I just arrived in Florida and I’ve been traveling all day and I’m exhausted. I’m not gonna do an update tonight, but I just wanted to stop in to say how shocked I am.….deeply jaw on the floor stunned…that Prelude to Ruin is not going to make the list.

The reason they performed that song with Ray probably longer than any other Arch era song is because it was widely regarded as a fan favorite…commonly mentioned in the same breath as Guardian itself. Similar in structure and placement in album order as Apparition, but usually regarded as being superior (if that’s even possible…they are both amazing).  I thought for sure that when Exodus made it, there was no way we weren’t going to see Prelude.  This just doesn’t compute at all.

They never played Prelude with Ray until the APSOG tour, and it was only played at 12 shows.  Exodus and The Apparition were played at several No Exit and Perfect Symmetry shows.  Fata Morgana and Damnation were the big holdovers from the Arch era, both sticking around through the Parallels tour.

[TAC]

Added the Arch songs so far...

50                                                                              NR
49                                                                              Handful Of Doubt
48  APSOG IX (Stayed Up Late One Night)                     Chasing Time
47                                                                              APSOG III
46  APSOG VIII (Instrumental)                                     White Flag
45                                                                              APSOG IV
44                                                                              Firefly
43                                                                              The Destination Onward
42  Pale Fire                                                                Left Here
41                                                                              The Road Goes On Forever
40  Outside Looking In                                                 Island In The Stream
39  The Longest Shadow Of The Day                             APSOG V (Murder In Munich)
38  Face The Fear                                                        Part Of The Machine
37                                                                              Wish
36  Another Perfect Day                                               APSOG VII
35  The Apparition                                                       Seven Stars
34                                                                              Eye To Eye
33  Buried Alive                                                           At Fates Hands
32  Silent Cries                                                            APSOG XII
31  Don't Follow Me
30
29
28
27
26
25
24  And Yet It Moves
23
22  APSOG XI (Do You Think That I)
21
20  Pirates Of The Underground
19
18
17  Exodus
16
15
14
13  The Strand
12
11  APSOG VI (Turn Back All The Years)
10  Shelter Me
9  Guardian
8  Kyrie Eleison
7
6  Down To The Wire
5
4  Something For Nothing
3  We Only Say Goodbye
2
1

[Lethean]

I'll be honest, I have one of the lists with no Arch era songs.

While I am familiar with the Arch era, it's almost like a completely different band in comparison to the Alder era. In my view, they ARE two distinct bands. So I wasn't going to go through a three-record mini catalog that I don't enjoy as much to find a handful of tracks that may make the 40-50 range in my rankings. Seemed pointless. Even the best Arch era songs to me (Guardian, The Apparition), while cool...I'd rather listen to Ray. Any day. So it was just dumb for me to even try to make a case for an Arch song being in my top-50. They wouldn't be.

I thought about not submitting a list because of that, not wanting to skew results. But then giving it some further thought, I was being honest with how I felt, so I submitted it anyway. It's the truth, for my tastes, so it's accurate.

I also didn't include any Arch songs, but it's not for lack of giving them a chance.  I own the albums and saw Awaken love.  So I didn't really feel guilty.  I just greatly prefer Ray.  I actually don't think I included any No Exit songs either.

[Glasser]

I'll be honest, I have one of the lists with no Arch era songs.

While I am familiar with the Arch era, it's almost like a completely different band in comparison to the Alder era. In my view, they ARE two distinct bands. So I wasn't going to go through a three-record mini catalog that I don't enjoy as much to find a handful of tracks that may make the 40-50 range in my rankings. Seemed pointless. Even the best Arch era songs to me (Guardian, The Apparition), while cool...I'd rather listen to Ray. Any day. So it was just dumb for me to even try to make a case for an Arch song being in my top-50. They wouldn't be.

I thought about not submitting a list because of that, not wanting to skew results. But then giving it some further thought, I was being honest with how I felt, so I submitted it anyway. It's the truth, for my tastes, so it's accurate.

I also didn't include any Arch songs, but it's not for lack of giving them a chance.  I own the albums and saw Awaken love.  So I didn't really feel guilty.  I just greatly prefer Ray.  I actually don't think I included any No Exit songs either.

 

[WardySI]

Alright...sorry for the late post.

We already know the top 3 Arch era song, which are the only ones that made the countdown.  Here's the first half of the rest of the top 15 Arch songs:

14T. Guardian (408 points) (my rank - 18)
32. The Apparition (309 points) (my rank - 14)
49T. Exodus (220 points) (my rank - 26)
x.
x.
x.
x.
x.
x.
74. Fata Morgana (104 points) (my rank - 30) - I absolutely love this song.  They opened with this song the first time I saw Fates live (after a tape intro of At Fates Hands.

82. Kyrie Eleison (65 points) (my rank - NR)

83. Pirates of the Underground (64 points) (my rank - NR)

84. The Sorceress (58 points) (my rank - NR)

85T. Buried Alive (55 points) (my rank - NR)

90. Orphan Gypsy (46 points) (my rank - NR)


Other than Fata Morgana, I'm not overly fond of any of these songs, but I don't dislike any of them either.

Surprisingly had 2 of the 3 voted in, Exodus at #38 and Apparition #9, and now reviewing my Ranker list properly realize I had in fact 5 Arch-era songs in my 50 not 3 like I had assumed

Anyway so also had Damnation at #36, Valley Of The Dolls at #39, and Buried Alive at #41...

[jammindude]

Alright...sorry for the late post.

We already know the top 3 Arch era song, which are the only ones that made the countdown.  Here's the first half of the rest of the top 15 Arch songs:

14T. Guardian (408 points) (my rank - 18)
32. The Apparition (309 points) (my rank - 14)
49T. Exodus (220 points) (my rank - 26)
x.
x.
x.
x.
x.
x.
74. Fata Morgana (104 points) (my rank - 30) - I absolutely love this song.  They opened with this song the first time I saw Fates live (after a tape intro of At Fates Hands.

82. Kyrie Eleison (65 points) (my rank - NR)

83. Pirates of the Underground (64 points) (my rank - NR)

84. The Sorceress (58 points) (my rank - NR)

85T. Buried Alive (55 points) (my rank - NR)

90. Orphan Gypsy (46 points) (my rank - NR)


Other than Fata Morgana, I'm not overly fond of any of these songs, but I don't dislike any of them either.

Where did Prelude end up at?

[Glasser]

Alright...sorry for the late post.

We already know the top 3 Arch era song, which are the only ones that made the countdown.  Here's the first half of the rest of the top 15 Arch songs:

14T. Guardian (408 points) (my rank - 18)
32. The Apparition (309 points) (my rank - 14)
49T. Exodus (220 points) (my rank - 26)
x.
x.
x.
x.
x.
x.
74. Fata Morgana (104 points) (my rank - 30) - I absolutely love this song.  They opened with this song the first time I saw Fates live (after a tape intro of At Fates Hands.

82. Kyrie Eleison (65 points) (my rank - NR)

83. Pirates of the Underground (64 points) (my rank - NR)

84. The Sorceress (58 points) (my rank - NR)

85T. Buried Alive (55 points) (my rank - NR)

90. Orphan Gypsy (46 points) (my rank - NR)


Other than Fata Morgana, I'm not overly fond of any of these songs, but I don't dislike any of them either.

Where did Prelude end up at?

Prelude To Ruin is a top 5 Fates tune for me!!!!!

[Glasser]

My fave Arch era tune is The Sorceress.


My fave Ray tune is Shades Of Heavenly Death. When I first heard No Exit I thought to myself that this is what Tony Harnell would sound like doing prog metal.

[WardySI]

Where did Prelude end up at?

Maybe one of those remaining spots?

Good song but is clearly another I need reinvest in...

[wolfking]

I had neither of these ranked too.

Must have missed something here.  I had Guardian ranked at number 8.  Best Arch song for me.

[nick_z]

I had neither of these ranked too.

Must have missed something here.  I had Guardian ranked at number 8.  Best Arch song for me.

Yeah, I was surprised to read you hadn't ranked it (only because I thought I remembered you mentioned how much you liked the song)

As I mentioned before, I had 5 Arch-era songs in my top 50. I had the three that made the aggregate top 50, plus Valley of the Dolls and Prelude to Ruin. Here are my rankings for those:

50 Exodus
49 Valley of the Dolls
48 The Apparition
42 Prelude to Ruin
35 Guardian

I was quite surprised too not to see Prelude to Ruin rank...

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Alright, ranking the Arch Era stuff 

Orphan Gypsy - I had this at #25 and am quite sad to not see it in the overall top 50. That opening guitar lead is awesome with the underlying riffs. Then that chorus is amazingly sing-along worthy.

Buried Alive - This was my #87, so close to the consensus. I never really connected with NoB nearly as much as TSW or AtG. This is, however, a really good attempt at some early '80s power metal.

The Sorceress - Landing at #22 and shame on the rest of you for not rating this masterpiece of an album opener higher. Great Arch vocal melodies here and the music shows how much the band had grown in the year since TSW. The second half of the song kind of goes more doomy for a time, showing some similarities to the early Candlemass records.

Pirates of the Underground - This was at #39 for me. What an intro! Some of the vocal melodies and phrasing are a little awkward here, but that doesn't really detract from how good the song is as a whole. The last couple of minutes are also really good.

Kyrie Eleison - Gotta love that opening and even though the song as a whole isn't the best of songs from TSW, I had it at #44, this song still goes hard. That continuous double bass throughout gives the song a very heavy and thrashy feel. Metallica wishes they were this good......I kid, mostly. In hindsight I probably rated this about 10 spots too low.

Fata Morgana - So my #6 song didn't make the list.....Sad times....and shame on the rest of you! This is another one of those classic FW songs. Those opening riffs, the power metal screams from Arch to open the song, more double bass. This takes the formula explored on Kyrie Eleison and perfected it. Everything about this song is great! Metallica wishes they were this good back in '86.......and this time I'm not kidding 

[pg1067]

Where did Prelude end up at?

Excellent question!


The rest of the top 15 Arch era songs:

14T. Guardian (408 points) (my rank - 18)

32. The Apparition (309 points) (my rank - 14)

49T. Exodus (220 points) (my rank - 26)

56. Epitaph (188 points) (my rank - 45) - My opinion about this song and Exodus is the opposite of that of jammindude.  I heard Epitaph first and really like it, but I feel like Exodus was an improvement on the existing model.

57. Traveler in Time (186 points) (my rank - 15) - This was the first Arch song I ever heard.  It remains my all time favorite Arch song, and I was the high ranker (it was on 8 lists).  I was very disappointed that it didn't make the top 50.

62. Prelude to Ruin (161 points) (my rank - somewhere in the 51-60 range) - Here you go, Ben!  Prelude was included on 9 lists and had one top 10 finish.  It's a solid song, but I think it's eclipsed by at least four other songs on ATG.

63. Giant's Lore (Heart of Winter) (160 points) (my rank - 27) - This is another really great song from ATG and might be my favorite Arch lyric.  I feel like it may have been inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird.

70T. Damnation (115 points) (my rank - just missed the top 50) - They played this song the first time I saw them live, and I remember asking people about it and being very excited to find and buy Night on Brocken.  Best song on the debut by a LONG shot.

73. Valley of the Dolls (112 points) (my rank - NR) - Solid song, but probably my least favorite on ATG.

74. Fata Morgana (104 points) (my rank - 30) - I absolutely love this song.  They opened with this song the first time I saw Fates live (after a tape intro of At Fates Hands.

82. Kyrie Eleison (65 points) (my rank - NR)

83. Pirates of the Underground (64 points) (my rank - NR)

84. The Sorceress (58 points) (my rank - NR)

85T. Buried Alive (55 points) (my rank - NR)

90. Orphan Gypsy (46 points) (my rank - NR)

[TAC]

Added the rest of the Arch songs...

50  Prelude To Ruin                                                                            NR
49  Damnation                                                                             Handful Of Doubt
48  APSOG IX (Stayed Up Late One Night)                     Chasing Time
47                                                                              APSOG III
46  APSOG VIII (Instrumental)                                     White Flag
45                                                                              APSOG IV
44  Traveller In Time                                                    Firefly
43                                                                              The Destination Onward
42  Pale Fire                                                                Left Here
41                                                                              The Road Goes On Forever
40  Outside Looking In                                                 Island In The Stream
39  The Longest Shadow Of The Day                             APSOG V (Murder In Munich)
38  Face The Fear                                                        Part Of The Machine
37                                                                              Wish
36  Another Perfect Day                                               APSOG VII
35  The Apparition                                                       Seven Stars
34                                                                              Eye To Eye
33  Buried Alive                                                           At Fates Hands
32  Silent Cries                                                            APSOG XII
31  Don't Follow Me
30  Giant's Lore
29
28
27
26
25  Valley Of The Dolls
24  And Yet It Moves
23
22  APSOG XI (Do You Think That I)
21
20  Pirates Of The Underground
19
18
17  Exodus
16  Epitaph
15
14
13  The Strand
12
11  APSOG VI (Turn Back All The Years)
10  Shelter Me
9  Guardian
8  Kyrie Eleison
7
6  Down To The Wire
5
4  Something For Nothing
3  We Only Say Goodbye
2
1




I had 12 of the 15 Arch Era tracks listed. I ranked 16 overall.
Of the list Paul listed, I didn't rank The Soceress, Fata Morgana, or Ophan Gypsey.
But I did rank Kiss Of Death, Night On Brocken, Shadowfax, and Misfit.


I ranked Epitaph just one space better then Exodus. Yeah, Exodus is a bit cleaner, but I like the vibe of Epitaph. They're pretty much even though.

[pg1067]

But I did rank Kiss Of Death, Night On Brocken, Shadowfax, and Misfit.

For the record, you were the only person to rank Misfit and Shadowfax and the high ranker on the other two.

NOB songs got a total of 18 mentions, 8 of which went to Damnation.

[The Realm]

I ranked 12 Arch era songs. Here are my rankings:

13   Guardian (14 overall)
19   Traveler in Time
23   Prelude to Ruin
24   Giant’s Lore (Heart of Winter)
28   The Apparition (32 overall)
32   Exodus (49 overall)
33   Epitaph
37   Orphan Gypsy
40   Kiss of Death
41   Kyrie Eleison
44   Buried Alive
47   The Sorceress

Personally, I feel there is lots of great stuff in the Arch era but I know Arch's vocals can be very polarising.

[pg1067]

I hope those of you familiar with the Arch era enjoyed the mini countdown and that those not familiar with it will give it a chance based on some of the comments.  And now we’re back to the main countdown.


13 Through Different Eyes (Perfect Symmetry – 4)

Appeared on 15 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 3
Highest Ranking: 3 (wolfking)

Gotta admit that I was VERY surprised to see this song so high in the countdown.  TDE finished at #53 on my countdown, and I think it is the lesser of the two “Eyes” songs that seem to have been written in an attempt to write a “hit single.”  The odd rhythms in the verses are the sort thing that usually appeals to me, but in this case it just doesn’t wok all that well.


12 One (Disconnected – 2)

Appeared on 18 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 3
Highest Ranking: 2 (Samsara, The Realm)

Also surprised with this one.  I had it at #47, and it’s another from Disconnected that I connected with after hearing it done live.  It's a solid, concise song.