Very soft / gone are the dream theatre and prog rock Genre / ray is the weak link now / They are back to a live sound now, very uplifting Anyway check YouTube for some crazy reviews!! In all it's damn good ..... riffing is excellent. If your a trash and speed metal drumming fanatic Ha
Yes Kevin, can we all get together to NEVER see Fates Warning live? I believe I need a warning to even listen to Fates Warning. har har! Where's the beer?!
If you don't like Perfect Symmetry, then you have really missed the boat on one of the all-time best as far as combining songwriting with incredible musicianship. That being said, I haven't liked any releases after that nearly as much, and the new one has left me a bit disappointed too - even with the return of Frank Aresti.
Does it count not being very redeeming? Yes. Fates Warning always reminded me of the things I didn't like about Dream Theater and Queensryche, as in which albums I didn't like. It's one of those things where it's not bad, it's just meh. Prog metal is so dull anyway; it all sounds like an 80's action B-movie montage, especially Fates Warning. Every time I hear them I think of Rad, Kickboxer, No Retreat, No Surrender, Revenge of the Ninja, and Iron Eagle.
I honestly can't say that I disagree with you about Fates, or Prog in general. That just happened to be one of the tracks off of the Tribute disc I have that I thought was pretty great when I first heard it. I really tried to get into Prog in the late 90s/early 00s with bands like Hammerfall, Pagan's Mind, Symphony X, Angra and whatever other forgettable bands I tried listening to. Oh yeah, how could I forget Dream Theater? One of my least favorites that I listened to. Even after all of these years, I still can't get into them. I really dug early Queensryche and Crimson Glory though, but they weren't the "wank" kind of Prog I don't think. I also actually like most any heavy band that adds progressive elements to their music, but I just can't stand listening to straight up Prog for extended periods, if I listen at all. That's also one of the things that annoyed me the most about Heritage. Opeth is one of my favorite bands, yet I'm not going to be listening to any of their new albums if they remain in that direction.