FATES WARNING - Darkness in a Different Light

There’s no point to reiterate this band’s significance for the evolution of music in general, because this would take a really thick novel and thousands of pages, something I’m not really good at. Nevertheless, I will try to describe in these four paragraphs the latest chapter in the band’s history, because they have just released an album that makes you want to slap yourself when you hear it. Fates Warning have always moved in the basement of progressive metal, despite the fact that they had a decisive role in inventing and developing the genre. What’s more important is that the band has always stuck to its own path, indifferent to everyone’s indifference, doing exactly what they are best at: music.

While on Disconnected and FWX they abused synthesizers in a most pleasing way, this time they are going for that classic progressive metal, with no keyboards or additional sounds (with a few exceptions), as it was made in the beginning. Despite what I just said, Darkness In A Different Light is not a return to their roots, but rather a modern mixture of all the best things this band has made. In other words, it’s easy to find elements from Parallels, Disconnected, or even Sympathetic Resonance (Arch/Matheos), i.e. the most appreciated albums by Matheos and his company.

If you want one of the most powerful sound orgasms of your life, just listen carefully to And Yet It Moves, which, while a bit reminiscent of Still Remains, will literally leave you speechless. I also love One Thousand Fires (with Frank Aresti in great shape), Desire, O Chloroform, or Kneel and Obey (the riffs on that are absolutely killer). Of course, the other songs are very good and rise to the level of everything Fates Warning has stood for in the metallic underground.

If hypothetically, there was one person who could replace Mark Zonder in the band, that name would be Bobby Jarzombek - a drummer with amazing instrumental technique, very different from his predecessor (who was more into jazz), but extremely effective. Returning to the band with the promotion tour for their previous release, Frank Aresti is undoubtedly a guitarist Matheos has missed a lot for the three albums after Inside Out, and this is proven both on Sympathetic Resonance and this last record. Still, we would have never had the opportunity to enjoy the magic of this band if Jim Matheos had never been born, because, in addition to an amazing guitarist, he is an outstanding song writer. And if at this moment Fates Warning is the band I respect the most in the entire world, I think it’s quite normal that I feel the same about Jim Matheos!!!

Fantotzii Nota: 9.5