Fates Warning - Theories Of Flight - review
Fates Warning - Theories Of Flight - review
Tracklist
Disc I01. From The Rooftops
02. Seven Stars
03. SOS
04. The Light And Shade Of Things
05. White Flag
06. Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen
07. The Ghosts Of Home
08. Theories Of Flight
Disc II [acoustic bonus tracks]
01. Firefly
02. Seven Stars
03. Another Perfect Day
04. Pray Your Gods [Toad The Wet Sprocket cover]
05. Adela [Joaquin Rodrigo cover]
06. Rain [Uriah Heep cover]
A review by
Daniell July 02, 2016
After the long awaited and very solid Darkness in A Different Light, the sky was the limit for Fates Warning, and man, did they soar right up there. Every song on the album is spot on. From the impressive opener adorned with fantastic guitar solos, through more concise, riffy and melody-driven numbers, to the long 10-minute compositions; all songs shine with inspired variety driven by memorable hooks, catchy choruses, intriguing passages and stellar performances from every member of the band. Musicianship on a progressive album doesn't get any better.
The shorter songs rank among the most melodic and memorable in Fates Warning's discography. "Seven Stars", "SOS", "White Flag", to name just a few - they grab the listener's attention and refuse to let go. But it's the long ones that elevate this album to masterpiece status. "The Light And Shade Of Things" has some of the best vocals Ray Alder has ever done. His extraordinary vocals are interspersed with enough memorable moments to fill at least 3 more songs. The haunting "The Ghosts Of Home" spends some time building up to an explosion of progressive madness, and then moves between atmosphere and emotions. All ingredients merge smoothly into one hell of a track, forming probably the most impressive gem in this resplendent collection of great songs. An in-depth description of these two long songs alone would be enough to fill another review, so let me just stop here.
Fates Warning, like no one else, manage to meld seamlessly the progressive with the accessible. It seems to me that over 30 years since their full-length debut, they might've just released one of their best albums. Or perhaps the best? You be the judge.
Comments
Comments:
11
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Posts: 127  |
Posts: 127
Very good review, thank you. It really is one of the(ir) best albums, much better than the last one. I hope that it will not only enthuse the old fans but also new ones.
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 Posts: 11963 |
Posts: 11963
Fates Warning never cease to amaze me. This review got me pumped for the new album even more. I haven't listened to the whole thing yet. I never listened to a bad FW album. Their best? Well, that's a statement right there.
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 Posts: 6212 |
Posts: 6212 Written by BloodTears on 02.07.2016 at 13:25 Technically, I didn't say it was their best 
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Posts: 327  |
Posts: 327
That first paragraph sums up why this band stands out to me in this genre, and why I am very much looking forward to hearing this album.
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Posts: 11963 Written by Daniell on 02.07.2016 at 14:07 Sure, but you did leave that open to discussion. I've heard the album yesterday and I'm very impressed. Need more time though.
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Posts: 677  |
Posts: 677
For me nothing will ever beat the one two punch of The Spectre Within and Awaken the Guardian, but FW have certainly carved out a very impressive career throughout (particularly compared to many of the other efforts by washed up post-golden era titans). My favorite Alder albums remain Parallels and Inside Out, but I'll give this a shot one of these days.
---- My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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 Posts: 64433 |
Posts: 64433
FW is one of rare bands what still know how to write decent songs, DT is way to overated and even this is bad and week album, others was much other, still better as any single DT album in 90's and 00's and 10's Let the battle begging what is best prog pioneers DT or FW, FW wins by experts, DT by fan boys and girls same as sport
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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Posts: 161  |
Posts: 161
Could not agree more, especially concerning Alder's vocals. Production is excellent, after just a brief listen, I went and bought the release straightaway! Thanks to Daniell and MS as always.
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