Avenger wrote:
I don't think that it really would have mattered which Fates Warning album GJ would have ragged on, you would still disagree.
Sometimes I think that you and John Arch were separated at birth, haha...
Hm not at all. John Arch doesn't feature in 'Disconnected'. I also feel their latest release 'X' is a really bad album so there it goes, I actively dislike a FW release.
I just don't see how 'Disconnected' is that much worse than 'A Pleasant Shade of Grey'.
I also don't like and don't really listen to 'Parallels' much because it's too sweet. It's not that it's bad, I'll just get cavities. It's actually an amazingly crafted record and an understandable continuation from 'Perfect Symmetry' (an altogether much more wonderful record, for me) but not one I feel compelled to spin anymore. I did get into Fates Warning due to '
Point of View' video, though! Ahh, frilly shirts! Amazing how US Power Metal came to this at some point, isn't it?
I have these thoughts about progressive metal and how it's a real shame it all culminated to Dream Theater and then spiraled towards irrelevancy. I would agree it's a really 'dickless' sort of Heavy Metal but they had some other things going for them. Ambiguity, a desire for inwards reflection, humanism... oh well, perhaps now that this post-modern bullshit is dying on HM we might see a return to these core values and see what
really came beyond the realms of Arkana...
Here's my listings:
A Night on Broken : perfectly servicable starting point in 80's HM, with one really amazing AMAZING track (the title one). Was a demo, kinda a shame that it was put out as a 'proper release'. 7/10 little Helms
Spectre Within: this is the real debut for me. Amazing, almost perfect if not for 'Kyrie Eleison' which drags on a bit and Epitaph really doesn't do much after a song such as 'The Apparition'. It has my favourite standout track by Fates Warning, 'Orphan Gypsy' in it. Songs about humanity but with 80's HM balls. 9/10 little Helms
Awaken the Guardian : the pinnacle of all 80's HM was hinting towards. Pride and responsibility, an inwards fantastical journey that promises a final release 'at the other side'. No stand-out tracks for me, the whole record is 10/10 little Helms. Well, I could do without the instrumental I think.
No Exit : transitional record towards a more technical and thrashy vein, the fantastic effect is gone, Matheos takes over the lyrical reigns and attempts a more 'mature' direction, in the process showing how much he had himself misunderstood the lyrics of Arch, who were extremely mature, just through a fantastic allegory. Still good, one could only wonder what this record would be like - especially Ivory Gate of Dreams - with Arch singing and writing. 7/10 little Helms.
Perfect Symmetry : Matheos hits his stride as to what he wants his band to be. Alder finally in top shape. Again, highly personal and human material very well juxtaposed to mechanistic and dry, cold music. This is the first official Progressive Metal record, for me. This isn't 80's metal anymore, even if it's 1989. This is the bluprint for what Dream Theater envied and misunderstood too. Stuff like Xerxes or Mayfair just wouldn't exist without this record. 9/10 little Helms. I would give it 10/10 but the echoes of Arch are still missed.
Parallels: Matheos really wants his band to be as successful as Queensryche with their mindcrime record and ostensibly does a better record but of course such ingressive and existentialist music doesn't strike the chord of the millions that misunderstood what progressive metal was about circa Mindcrime. Too sweet and 'perfect' chord progression at times, but at the same time it is also a cold record. I am eternally torn on what the end merit of this is. 8/10 little Helms for the record.
Inside Out: somewhat of a tired retread of 'Parallels'. Has a few standout tracks that I'd rather listen to than to Parallels on the whole like 'Pale Fire', ' Down the Wire' and of course, 'Monument'. 6/10 little Helms on the whole.
A Pleasant Shade of Grey: daring stylistic shift. I really cannot find any fault with anything on this record perhaps besides that the sound quality has dated a bit. 9/10 little Helms
Disconnected: better sound here, the band has really taken to extreme the relatively minimal and bare qualities on display on APSoG and crafted a really involved album. This is where the 'nobody understands me' and 'I have nothing left to offer' Matheos human pessimism starts to outstay its welcome, though. 8/10 little Helms
X: some ok songs, band doesn't sound convincing anymore. Nothing stands out. Band seems ready to pack it in. Every couple of records this band has always changed styles. Look at the couplings: A Spectre and Awaken are a little pack. Spectre sets the form, Awaken perfects it. Then No Exit and Perfect Symmetry. The same. Parallels and Inside Out ok, Parallels is better, but again the better songs on Inside Out are better than Parallels on the whole. APSoG and Disconnected are a pack too. X is just more of the same but worse. It's a shame. 3 little Helms out of 10. A Progressive Metal band either progresses or dies.
