I always thought Fates release output was all over the place, not consistent as DT.
But looking back at Paralles and Inside Out, those two albums are either too soft to be considered prog metal, but a bit on the heavy side and prog to be AOR or pop. Comparing it to DT, DT went heavier and got tracking in the metal community. FW did not.
By the way, I love the band to death. Probably my favorite band aside from DT. And Jim M is my favorite musician...hands down (both lyrics and music, including OSI and his solo stuff).