Fates Warning - Parallels review
| Band: | Fates Warning |
| Album: | Parallels |
| Style: | Progressive metal |
| Release date: | October 29, 1991 |
| Guest review by: | treptolemus |
Disc I
01. Leave The Past Behind
02. Life In Still Water
03. Eye To Eye
04. The Eleventh Hour
05. Point Of View
06. We Only Say Goodbye
07. Don't Follow Me
08. The Road Goes On Forever
Disc II [Special Edition bonus]
01. Leave The Past Behind [live]
02. Don't Follow Me [live]
03. Eleventh Hour [live]
04. Point Of View [live]
05. Eye To Eye [live]
06. Nothing Left To Say [live]
07. Quietus [live]
08. Through Different Eyes [live]
09. Leave The Past Behind [demo]
10. Eye To Eye [demo]
11. Eleventh Hour [demo]
12. Point Of View [demo]
13. Don't Follow Me [demo]
Disc III [Special Edition bonus DVD]
01. 80-minute concert filmed live in New Haven, Connecticut on February 13, 1992
02. 75-minute documentary on the making of "Parallels".
03. Eye To Eye [video]
04. Point Of View [video]
Back in 1991 Fates Warning created Parallels, one of their most important and coherent albums. Their sound keeps evolving through time, providing the progressive metal field with unique and astonishing moments.
In this album the band reveals another "essence" of their music and creativity. Progressive sound with beautiful melodies, accompanied by heavy metal groove. From the very first time I explored the album I remember myself saying: "Ok, we have a classic piece of metal art here!" Honestly, I cannot trace a song that could be possibly valued as a mediocre one. We can find songs that suit our mood, fast and slower ones. Even the slower ballads are very characteristic and your spirit travels with them! The guitar parts are crystal clear and all the tunes are mixed in a way that could be described as "a nice orchestration"! Something that is worthy to mention is that I can't spot "exaggerative" performance parts in the album (don't forget that progression may result in overreaction, sometimes). The drums are also "the heart" of each song, precisely giving the rhythm that is needed. The voice of Ray Alder is the key element, which unfolds all the ingredients and emotions.
All the tracks have distinct components that result in quite enjoyable and memorable moments. It's more than true that not only the fans but also other people have connected the name Fates Warning with such songs as "Eye to Eye", "Point of view", "Don't Follow me" (?and the rest). The lineup is the classic one (Matheos - Alder - Aresti - Zonder - Dibiase) that lasted for many years, so this is a mature and solid work of the band. Actually this music could be listened while you drive on the highway, singing along the catchy choruses! Try it and you'll remember my words! Also special importance and gravity is added by the careful and professional production of the album. Not to mention that James Labrie from Dream Theater provided some of the background vocals, so you can imagine that the result is of very high quality. Last but not least, the whole album was dedicated to the memory of Ann Dibiase.
Concluding my thoughts, I am really glad to own this splendid album, which has given me many hours of good music (with a broader meaning of the word music). All the feelings that this interesting piece of art from Fates Warning causes to the listeners, are pretty memorable and entertaining.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 9 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by treptolemus | 10.10.2009
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments: 6
Visited by: 92 users
| Dark Seraphim Posts: 70  |
Good review. You captured the feel of the album very well. Great album by a great band.
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| treptolemus aphotic_zoning Posts: 207  |
Written by Dark Seraphim on 10.10.2009 at 23:09 Thanks Dark! Just made a description of what this album is about, bearing in mind that it deserves the attention of all the metal community - i believe nowadays don't come out such albums, of course different times, markets, ways of promotion & status quo. Just for those who are stuffed with quantity & search for some quality  Simply... just that!
---- \m/etalstor\m/
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| tea[m]ster Au Pays Natal Contributor Posts: 5266  |
Good review for my second favorite album from my second favorite band OF ALL TIME! A few things I can add however: This release was FW's most "commercial/mainstream" release ever - no epic songs, most are between 4-5 minutes long - songs meant for and actually got some radio airplay (We Only Say Goodbye & Don't Follow Me). This may have turned off some of FW's core fans! Also, this album was produced by none other than Terry Brown from Rush/Voivod/Lizzy Borden fame, the reason why this album sounds so crisp and clean, almost perfect. Again, thanks for the review for the most UNDERRATED prog-metal band in history!
---- rekt
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| treptolemus aphotic_zoning Posts: 207 |
Written by tea[m]ster on 11.10.2009 at 15:23 Yup the production is great, as said. I'm considering submitting some other album reviews in the near future for Fates (actually need to give 'em final shape). So maybe next is Inside Out, i'll see!
---- \m/etalstor\m/
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| x-avier Posts: 46  |
I agree on everything you said on your review. For me this album is a materpiece for prog-metal music. I mean this has the feeling that DT had on I&W and awake. The production is clean and the music has a clear path that the listener follows. They actually made the perfect balance between mixing prog with commercial because their songs can be easily catch up on any radio. But again, I think this period of prog music (between 1990-1995) was their finest time. DT, angra and FW to name a few produced their finnest material. I miss so much that kind of albums not only from FW but from DT also.
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| BlankFile Posts: 705 |
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