Fates Warning
Awaken The Guardian

THE REVIEW

The group I am about to review is probably one of the most unfortunate there is because they absolutely do not deserve the limited notoriety they have; few other metal bands have dared and had the courage to change musical direction with each album as they have, continuously producing albums of excellent quality.

This one is dated 1986 (it's the third) and is a true progressive metal masterpiece. Guitarist Victor Arduini at the time had just left the group and was promptly replaced by the great virtuoso (unfortunately not too well-known) Frank "X" Aresti, who was the perfect counterpart to the great compositional mind of founding guitarist Jim Matheos. Even though in this album Frank is not the dominant element, he is still a fitting replacement. Meanwhile, singer John Arch is simply perfect, and his vocal melodies are something astonishing and almost magical, much like the themes of the songs on the album. In this album, he is finally just himself and no longer reminds us of Dickinson (just as Fates Warning finally shed the Maiden sound) and he is the true driving force of "Awaken The Guardian," which instrumentally speaking is perfect anyway.

The opening track is "The Sorceress", which begins with a heart-wrenching arpeggio just as Matheos had accustomed us to in "Epitaph" (from the previous album "The Spectre Within"), giving way to a heavy riff with a pulsating rhythm; and here comes Arch's voice, stunning the listener with its power and intonation precision. Plus, halfway through the piece comes a part that alone can give a perfect score to the singer, because a melody vaguely Arabic in a metal piece, truly no one would have believed it, followed by the cool harmony solo by the two guitar heroes. Then comes "Valley Of The Dolls", which is a perfect showcase of how heavy metal Fates Warning are, and here too (as in all the tracks on the album) there are sudden rhythm and tempo changes and a superb vocal performance. Track No. 3: "Fata Morgana", that is, pure beauty. What differentiates it from the previous two pieces is that the chorus is a true anthem that instantly sticks in your head and doesn't leave, and overall it's more catchy.

Oh... "Guardian". The calmest track on the album but also the most "real", in the sense that it doesn't include complicated, contrived parts (in a positive sense, of course, because progressive is all about this), but rather gives more space to the pure and simple melody that is a hallmark of the melancholic Matheos. After these more listenable tracks, "Prelude To Ruin" arrives, which in my opinion is the most technical piece on the album, but perhaps it's also the one that most reflects the gravity of the lyrics with its harmonic solutions. Mmm... "Giant's Lore (Heart Of Winter)" is a good song but does not reach the musical completeness of the others; however, it highlights Aresti's compositional skills, as he is the author of this one. The penultimate track is called "Time Long Past" and is the moving gift Jim gives us; it is a completely instrumental piece that possesses a truly poignant yet beautiful melody. And here we arrive at "Exodus", which is the synthesis of the album because it encompasses the most interesting solutions from the previous songs and is unfortunately also the last sung by John, who will make way for the equally amazing vocalist Ray Alder. With each album, Fates Warning have changed musical direction, and sincerely, this stage has been fundamental.

The only flaw, (which however does not absolutely affect the number of stars!!!) is the recording quality, which compromises the sound definition of the guitars primarily, which sometimes makes it really hard to understand what key they are in, but also Steven Zimmerman's drums and Joe DiBiase's bass.

Still, never mind, the album remains a fundamental piece in the history of progressive metal (and beyond).