Awaken The Guardian (reissue)Artist: Fates WarningGenre: Metal Publisher: Metal Blade Released: 6/28/2005 |
A Review by Kevin Buffington
09/29/2005
Fates Warning are rightly considered to be founding fathers in the progressive metal movement. While never quite achieving the fame that Queensryche and Dream Theater would eventually gain, they laid the foundations for the genre with a string of albums bridging the heavy metal and progressive styles in the late '80s and early '90s.
Originally released in 1986, Awaken The Guardian was Fates' first true step into the progressive-metal pool and stylistically sits somewhere close to the center of the two genres. Metal fans will appreciate it without feeling alienated and progressive fans can appreciate the constantly shifting time signatures, solid instrumentation and all the pomp usually associated with the style. Awaken the Guardian is classic metal album accurately detailing the embryonic stage the prog-metal genre was in.
A good example of the style is the album opener "The Sorceress" which was a live staple of the band at the time. After a brief acoustic opening the band launches into the lurching and jerking main riff. The riff spends two measures in 4/4 switches to 3/4 for a measure then back to 4/4 for a measure before resolving on a measure of 5/4. The result is a riff that feels like a standard 4/4 beat (no beats are actually lost) but the downbeats don't seem to come at the right time. Drummer Steve Zimmerman manages to keep perfect time, yet play on several of the off beats making it difficult to determine exactly what's happening underneath the riff. Over this vocalist John Arch wails like a banshee, and delivering his lines in a manner that feels just short of controlled chaos. His rhythm is nonstandard, appearing to start and stop at different times while his voice jumps up and down seemingly oblivious of the melodic expectations usually placed on singers. The only thing even remotely approaching a hook is the final line of the chorus "Virginal goddess of hunt, Diana" which somehow manages to give the listener something to look forward to. The whole affair is exhausting and takes several listens to fully comprehend everything that's going on. In spite of that, it's catchy and the main riff is certainly memorable.
"Guardian" is the most typical metal song on the album and shows that guitarist Jim Matheos was more than capable of working within the standard genre conventions. "Guardian" is heavily influenced by the NWOBHM lending it that classic metal feel. Throw in probably the most memorable chorus Fates Warning ever wrote and you've got a real gem. It's somewhat amusing that as Fates became more and more progressive, "Guardian" was one of the few songs from the band's formative years that was still played.
While Fates Warning was still singing about wizards and demons (“Fata Morgana”, “Exodus”, etc.), Awaken the Guardian never feels nearly as silly or dated as its subject matter would suggest. That is almost assuredly due to the fact that John Arch's lyrics are almost impossible to understand without consulting the lyrics sheet. His wholly unique delivery is definitely a high point, but it is easy to see why it might not go over as well at concerts where the audience has little hope of singing along. It's somewhat unfortunate that Arch was replaced after this album, but new vocalist Ray Alder was certainly a solid choice even if he wasn't nearly so adventurous.
The production values of this re-release are top notch. Metal Blade has re-mastered the album and comparing it to the older copy I have the difference is noticeable. The twin guitars of Matheos and Aresti appear to be much better defined in the mix (it's a little easier to separate them sonically) but they also sound meatier and more vibrant. The bass and snare drum are also a touch snappier although Zimmermans's cymbals don't sound much improved which makes the recording still sound a bit dated. Given that the album was recorded 19 years ago and on an almost assuredly tiny budget the sound is remarkable.
Given that this is a special addition, Metal Blade has treated us to more than just the album. A second disc is included which features demo versions of "The Sorceress", "Valley of the Dolls" and "Prelude to Ruin." The demos are interesting but aren't drastically different from the album versions. The exciting bonus is the inclusion of six live tracks from a Guardian era show. It appears to be a soundboard recording and of acceptable bootleg quality, but unfortunately there is no mention in any of the packaging of where or when the show was recorded... something that is always of interest to obsessive fans such as myself.
If the two-discs were all that were included this set would be worth picking up. Fortunately for hardcore fans, Metal Blade has thrown in a live DVD housed in its own jewel case. The show is believed to be the only live video of the band from the Awaken the Guardian era. It's an amazing snapshot of the band and shows what an engaging live presence they had. Unfortunately being a video from a 19 year old video tape, the quality is decidedly sub par, with lots of tape hiss, shaky camera work and even some bad video drop out in "Prelude to Ruin". Metal Blade wisely makes note of this in the intro so that expectations don't get out of hand. In spite of the source deficiencies, the video serves as a rare piece of archival footage of a young band peaking and is extremely nice to have. The DVD also includes liner notes from Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater detailing how he was first introduced to Fates Warning and the influence they've had on his band.
The double CD and DVD are housed together in a nice cardboard slipcase with the album's original cover art making for a very attractive package. This re-release is certainly overkill, but in a good way. Any fan of Fates Warning should be excited to have this on their shelf, even if they already on Awaken the Guardian on CD.
© Copyright ToxicUniverse.com 09/29/2005
