17. Fates Warning Awaken the Guardian 1986 (Metal Blade)
Heavy Metal
The fates have now drawn us all together.
The Lowdown
So how progressive are Fates Warning this time aound after I asked the same question for their previous album
The Spectre Within? Well the odd tempo changes are certainly there but they do seem even more focused this time around. Out of the musicians it usually strikes me that drummer Steve Zimmerman might well be the star turn here, in at least with what the band were trying to do with his disjointed drumming style sounding spot on. The vocals of John Arch cover geeky Rush fantasy territory and as would be expected are underpinned with the typical trademark Fates Warning riffs. John Arch also certainly enters into that proggy/complex Iron Maiden territory especially with his Bruce Dickinson type vocals……. so the band seem to be checking the right boxes. In hindsight there weren’t too many metal bands at this time either, that were doing cohesive progressive metal to use as a yardstick in which to measure Fates Warning’s output from this period, so I suppose the progressive metal label does apply to the band, even though for me this album feels just like a complex playing machine rather than a full blooded prog-effort in the style I’m probably accustomed to. On the commercial front
Awaken the Guardian would be the band’s first album to enter the US Billboard 200 album chart, where it reached a modest 191st spot and would also be the band’s last album without original vocalist John Arch before Ray Alder stepped in. The band continue with their impressive sci-fi/fantasy style album covers here as well and this cover very much evokes something that 1970s Yes could’ve put out, albeit Fates Warning do it in a much darker less forgiving style which suits their output. The song titles don’t skim on fantasy appeal either, with titles like “The Sorceress” “Fate Morgana” and “Giant’s Lore (Heart of Winter)” which shows the type of fantasy that the band were into. The album is a solid enough listen and according to most reviews really needs multiple listens over a long period of time to really do the album justice, but the album’s two standout tracks are probably the highly regarded “Guardian” and “Exodus”. The former with its extended acoustic intro and accomplished feel as it drifts through its 7 plus minutes of playing time and the song would become a permanent fixture on the band’s live set and The latter "Exodus" even surpasses “Guardian” by a minute and rounds off the album in competent style. Overall
Awaken the Guardian is not only the most highly regarded album from the John Arch era, but also for many the best album in the band’s discography and in fact All Music states this album to be a ‘closet classic’ that needs to be heard. In many ways its somewhat odd meandering style actually caters for the type of metal I’m really into which is proggy power metal, but as said in my
The Spectre Within review I’m much more a fan of the Ray Alder era anyway, which is probably why this album doesn't rate as highly in this year's list as could be expected. So for me the band’s best material comes from that time and I also always thought anyway that they did this meandering style better as well with Ray Alder at the helm…………. but that of course is just my opinion.
John Arch – Vocals
Jim Matheos – Guiitar
Frank Aresti – Guitar
Joe DiBiase – Bass
Jim Archambault – Keyboards
Steve Zimmerman – Drums
Production- Brian Slagel