#47 - Fates Warning

Our second of the "Big 3" progressive metal bands, which includes Queensrÿche as well, Fates Warning is also our second in a row to emerge from the early 80s burgeoning underground and progressive metal scene.  They started off as almost an Iron Maiden knock-off, with a lot of galloping rhythms, high-pitched vocals with wide vibrato, and tempos and riffs very reminiscent of Number Of The Beast era Maiden on their debut album, Night On Bröcken.  There is a hint of what's in store on the track "Damnation" which shows some progressive tendencies (and this before there really was much of a model, aside from godfathers of prog metal Rush), and it wasn't long before Fates Warning showed their penchant for the more grandiose side of metal.  Their sophomore effort, "The Spectre Within" from 1985 demonstrates sci-fi themes (opener "Traveler in Time") and longer compositions (all but one of the tracks are over 5 minutes including the 12 minute epic "Epitaph").  By their third album, 1986's Awaken The Guardian, the move from NWOBHM-inspired traditional metal band to prog metal pioneers was complete.  Unfortunately, 1987 brought a split between the band and standout vocalist John Arch, but the band really didn't miss a beat recruiting Ray Alder (who later doubled in Redemption) and becoming, if anything, more adventurous and proggy with their classic albums No Exit, Perfect Symmetry, and later A Perfect Shade of Gray.

I'm including a song off of Awaken the Guardian, which is probably my favorite of their many great albums.  I'm partial to the heavier sound of their early years and also to John Arch's vocal pyrotechnics.  "Valley of the Dolls" is the second track on the album and mostly up-tempo, with a lot of time changes, extra beats thrown in at the ends of phrases and formal twists and turns.  It's an impressive composition and performance, all the more so when you consider that it was released in 1986.  In terms of technique, it's not far behind what WatchTower was doing around that time, and it's a whole lot more cohesive.  After a traditional, Maiden-like start, the band quickly gets down to business with an alternating 4-5 feel halfway through the song's introduction at 0:15.  Then at 0:30, the band shifts from a duple to triple feel, maintaining the eighth note tempo... I'm a sucker for shifts like this.  The last bar of the phrase has an extra beat, setting up and delaying the arrival of the vocal entry at 0:42, where you get your first taste of Arch's amazing voice and delivery.  At 1:25, it's back to duple, but this time the big beat stays constant (dotted-quarter becomes the quarter).  There are a few more flip flops between those two feels with a lot of trick beats and shifts thrown in through multiple instrumental, vocal and solo sections, all pretty frenetic, to the sudden ending.