Most underrated #Band and #Album
#fateswarning a pleasant shade of grey

#daslebenistschoen #lavieestbelle #lifeisgood #heavymetalforever

Excellent prog metal album. 25 years old yet still manages to sound "futuristic".

Artist: Fates Warning
Album: Disconnected (2012)
Release: Original CD pressing
Region: US
Label: Metal Blade Records – 3984-14324-2

#nowspinning #fateswarning #cd #music

Yer Metal Is Olde: Fates Warning – FWX

By Dolphin Whisperer

Thirty-five years ago, Fates Warning solidified their shift from torchbearers of US power metal with 1989’s Perfect Symmetry, forever moving their progressive path away from power metal and into an emotional, twisting fusion of playful and grooving tunes that no one has assembled quite the same way since. Primary songwriter and guitarist Jim Matheos has anchored the Fates Warning playbook throughout all these changes—from wizards and wailing (Night on Bröcken1 to The Spectre Within), to Rushin’ and rollin’, and to the edges of Fates Warning’s technical limits. So then, already twenty-plus years into their career at the launch of FWX, what left had Matheos and co. to explore with the Fates sound?

Leaning into similar ideas with which Matheos had already been exploring with his OSI project, FWX does touch down on organic ambience, pulsing electronic rhythms, and hypnotic guitar loops that pushed the Fates Warning boundaries into an alternative rock-inflected territory. At the turn of the ’00s, it wasn’t uncommon to hear a creeping Portis/Radiohead influence in downcast music, and from a similar timeframe you can hear this same exploration in Porcupine Tree works, Deadwing in particular, so hearing this flair in retrospect doesn’t feel too out of place. But at the time of its release, despite Fates Warning never lacking in overdriven riffs that build great songs in a wide range of progressive manners—eclectic but not particularly experimental—FWX did not land widespread critical acclaim.

The first time FWX graced my ears in full, its lack of progressive grandeur, namely in the histrionic solo department, took me aback. At the tail end of a career loaded with technical highlights and in a scene growing populated-to-bursting with descendants of the Dream Theater/Symphony X school of excess, Fates Warning built with a different kind of virtuosity—meticulous kit grooves, delayed chord loops, recursive and swelling melodies. In that lane, Matheos finds a kind of guitar-driven power that lands both more immediate in force and more playful in counterpoint layering than anything Fates Warning had produced since their landmark Parallels. The primary pattern of “Simple Human” crushes against doubling bass pulses and slinky, scattered high-frequency chord stabs; the doom-weighted drag of “Crawl” guides a laser-precise lead warble to crescendo; the high energy strum-stride of “Stranger (With a Familiar Face)”—FWX simply shouts its extremities where albums before it required a focused digestion.

But the shift from tactical flex serves twofold, with FWX riding a wave of emotion in a subdued manner, giving greater weight to its themes. Ray Alder had plenty already led his dramatic pipes to the softer identities of classic cuts like “Leave the Past Behind“2 (Parallels, 1991) or “Shelter Me” (Inside Out, 1993). Age graced Alder’s voice kindly, though, allowing him to find a lower register to inject increased doses of pathos into playful odes to depression (“Another Perfect Day”) and persistent negative thoughts (“Handful of Doubt”). Most importantly, time had also left scars enough to cap off FWX with one of Fates’ most beautiful tracks, “Wish,” where his pleading cry matches Matheos’ heartbeat-hum guitar pickings and mournful solo. In an album that already indulges in stellar songcraft, Alder’s success keeps FWX worth revisiting over and over.

As if this lineup for Fates Warning—the last of its kind as long-time drummer Mark Zonder, master of his craft, would not return for the 2013 follow-up—needed additional fuel for success, this streamlining approach yielded a timeless sound that I’ve been exploring for well over fifteen years. I’ve cried to FWX. I’ve also celebrated with FWX. I have loved and lost and loved again, watched people drift away while I blame myself or the world around me, finding solace in its dark and plaintive themes while enraptured by its dreamy and thundering soundscape. For a long time, FWX seemed like an unplanned farewell. And though Fates Warning has not officially hung up the spurs yet, “Wish” will always feel like a send-off filled not with regret but acceptance. That’s the beauty of iconic albums in our own listening history. Whether it’s what I need or what I want, spinning FWX turns any time into a time full of peak-quality tunes.

#2004 #2024 #AmericanMetal #FatesWarning #FWX #MetalBladeRecords #PorcupineTree #Portishead #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveRock #Radiohead #Rush #YerMetalIsOlde

Kings of Mercia – Battle Scars Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Having already this decade released a Tuesday the Sky album, new project North Sea Echoes, and, now, the second Kings of Mercia album Battle Scars, it’s clear Fates Warning founding guitarist Jim Matheos does not wander this Earth without a load of sonic ideas. While many of his offshoots have skewed ambient or atmospheric in some regard, Kings of Mercia follows a different path. Featuring the classically AOR vocal styles of the highly-credited, little-celebrated Steve Overland (FM, Shadowman),1 Kings of Mercia aims neither for the head nor the heart, leaning instead into the hip-swaying, gentle head nodding of warm-toned Dad metal. So you ask then how they got those scars? Probably in a fight with a hammer and a shelf that concluded with all parties splayed about the floor.

As an homage to a simpler time in metal history, a lot of what Kings of Mercia puts out feels obligatory. Now, this doesn’t mean that Matheos can’t write a song—far from it. Cuts like “Eye for an Eye,” “Legend,” and “Cold” have more than enough slick riffage and sneaky modulations that they carry their weight from start to finish with little effort and high intrigue. But both confined in traditional chorus-focused rock structures and firmly in the box of 80s-minded impact, Battle Scars needs to succeed on the few elements that it handles with delicate personal twists. And in that limited scope, its chance to break away the shopping mall hits list from the likes of a bouncing Toto jam or a sultry Whitesnake burner leaves Battle Scars out the gate with a handicap.

But Matheos and co. seem to concern themselves very little with how relevant or earth-shaking Kings of Mercia will be, continuing to focus on coating Battle Scars with well-toned, snazzy refrains that frame Overland’s time-tested pipes with an unbreakable groove. As a master of warping crunchy amp character against layered, syncopated riffs, Matheos builds an amplified immediacy that opens up with each of Overland’s title-laden chorus calls (“Guns and Ammunition,” “Eye for an Eye,” “Cold”). And when slowing things down to a bluesy bounce, rhythm stalwarts Joey Vera (Fates Warning, Armored Saint) and Simon Phillips (Toto) play up simpler guitar craft with a hammering march and growling pulse (“Between Two Worlds,” “Hell ‘n’ Back”). Matheos continues too to explore looped guitar patterns and chunky industrial tones with the alt-edged “Aftermath,” lending a higher diversity to the back half. Rare is the moment on Battle Scars that displeases the ears.

For an album that strikes as immediate, Battle Scars’ biggest fault remains its lowest moment segregating a serviceable open from a promising close. Much like the criticism that ol’ Huck laid out of their debut, Kings of Mercia’s adherence to the aged inclusion of a full sap ballad returns as an offense. The titular apex of the first half pushes—shakers and crying clean guitars hitting at full sweetness—an unwelcome aura of sadness into the pleasant romp that otherwise develops throughout Battle Scars. But this downcast element, at least, gives Kings of Mercia an edge that doesn’t usually persist in the 80s worship of the modern day. With lyrical content that ranges from dissatisfaction with certain sociopolitical happenings in the world (“Guns and Ammunition”), coming to terms with aging (“Between Two Worlds”), and acknowledging the duality of life choices (“Angels & Demons”), albeit in light-hearted phrasing,2 Kings of Mercia tells stories much differently than the big hair and arena anthemics of the past.

With this grounded energy, Battle Scars escapes a potential fault in remaining too saccharine. At brightest, Kings of Mercia evades the gruel of a closing second ballad, letting “Angels & Demons” turn down the lights with a resonating acoustic guitar melody and cello duet that simmers into a riff-handed statement of triumph. The harder-hitting, more diverse B-side at large highlights the plodding similarities of Overland’s vocal patterns and the overwrought nature of King of Mercia’s softest elements. So while it’s true that Matheos can build accessible distorted rockers with a progressive flair, it’ll take more than a little high-gain ear candy with a hint of melancholy for Kings of Mercia to sail away with a fuller vote of confidence.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records | Bandcamp
Websites: kingsofmercia.com | kingsofmercia.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: October 4th, 2024

#25 #2024 #AOR #BattleScars #FatesWarning #FM #HardRock #HeavyMetal #InternationalMetal #KingsOfMercia #MetalBladeRecords #Oct24 #ProgressiveRock #Review #Reviews #Toto #Whitesnake

🎙️ Hoy martes en Grito Primal – Programa 24, celebramos los 35 años de dos discos de culto: "Perfect Symmetry" de FATES WARNING y "Conspiracy" de KING DIAMOND. ¡Imperdible! 🤘🔥

🗓️ Martes 10 y 22 Hrs en http://Rockaxis.Fm
🎧 Conduce: @CrissAxis

#FatesWarning #KingDiamond #GritoPrimal #Rockaxis #Metal

🐦🔗 https://farside.link/x.com/rockaxisoficial/status/1846174599907524712#m

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KINGS OF MERCIA Feat. FATES WARNING, FM, ARMORED SAINT Members Release "Aftermath" Single And Music Video

https://bravewords.com/news/kings-of-mercia-feat-fates-warning-fm-armored-saint-members-release-aftermath-single-and-music-video

#KingsOfMercia #FatesWarning #FM #ArmoredSaint

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#BraveWords
Today In Metal History 🤘 September 9th, 2024🤘
RUSH, CHRIS CAFFERY, FATES WARNING, DIMMU BORGIR, SATYRICON, OZZY OSBOURNE

https://bravewords.com/news/today-in-metal-history-september-9th-2024-rush-chris-caffery-fates-warning-dimmu-borgir-satyricon-ozzy-osbourne

#Rush #ChrisCaffery #FatesWarning #DimmuBorgir #Satyricon #OzzyOsbourne