Album Review: Disconnected By: Marco van Leeuwen (overlord@caiw.nl) ============================================================================= REVIEW: Fates Warning - "Disconnected" (2000) Review Date: July 6th, 2000 Reviewer: Marco van Leeuwen, overlord@caiw.nl Purchased At: Plato, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Release Date: June 26th (Europe), July 25th (North America) Note: the European version of this album is currently available in a limited digipak edition. Track Listing: [1] disconnected part 1 (1:14) [2] One (4:27) [3] So (8:08) [4] Pieces Of Me (4:24) [5] Something From Nothing (10:59) [6] Still Remains (16:08) [7] disconnected part 2 (6:11) Total Disc Time: (51:32) Musicians: Jim Matheos: guitars; additional keyboards and sound effects Ray Alder: vocals Mark Zonder: drums Joey Vera: bass Kevin Moore: keyboards Steve Tushar: additional keyboards and sound effects Capsule: The hype is certainly not undeserved: increased energy and a more varied atmosphere compared to 1997’s "A Pleasant Shade Of Gray" ensure that the latest release by one of the most talented, respected, underappreciated and progressive bands in metal is (yet again) a thing of beauty. Album Theme: Human beings are intensely and essentially communal creatures, depending on the aid of others to compensate for their usually quite considerable deficiencies. Considering the web of dependencies any new citizens of the North Atlantic culture in particular are thrust into, the connection with others is not merely a physical prerequisite for a healthy and productive existence, but also a necessity for one’s mental wellbeing. It’s in the interaction with others - like-minded and with deviant opinions, with the same socio-cultural background or with radically different roots - that our own thoughts, feelings and world views can develop, having the characteristics of what we hold true reflected back to us in the words of the other, thus having the flaws and strengths of our belief systems through either the discordance or resonance with the views of our discussion partners revealed to us. However, human beings are also creatures that unite within themselves the most violently opposing forces: the Dionysian and the Appolonian, evil and good, desire and restraint, earth and heaven. It’s this focal point of counteractive influences that provides man with its superior vantage point, the seeking of the the balance of opposing impulses itself that he draws his strength from, is guided by and is ultimately destined to fail at. With the social character of the human animal it is no different, for as a counterbalance to the communal sense there are the decidedly anti-social aspects of everyone’s actions and realms of thought: egocentricity, self-importance, the drive to attain autonomy, selfishness, the need for privacy - all of them agents that force us to break free of the restraints living in a society forces upon us, and we, in a sense, force upon ourselves. As we grow older, we customarily get better at dealing with these internal conflicts, but an important problem is that we don’t always have full control over how these battles play out. The greatest pain and most destructive sadness arise when we are faced with a disconnection when we’re not ready to let go yet, or an enduring connection when we’re passionately wishing for salvation - being left by the love of your life, or, conversely, being trapped in a destructive relationship. We have all lived through such event sequences permeated by varying degrees of emotional impact, and all know the pain that goes with feeling disconnected from the situation - the incompatibility of your inner life with what is happening to you on the outside. The insightful lyrics of Jim Matheos and Ray Alder capture this theme quite nicely, and the album package’s concept photography also delivers several interesting explorations of this topic. Album Atmosphere: Once again Fates Warning has succeeded in reinventing themselves: they started out as a metal band in the Iron Maiden style, developed a totally unique sound characterised by intensely complex riffing and John Arch’s phenomenal and uniquely melodic vocals on "Awaken The Guardian" to the trailblazers of Dream Theater-style prog metal on "No Exit" and "Perfect Symmetry", then to intelligent melodic prog rock on "Parallels" and "Inside Out", after which they decided to redefine the power ballad in the mood metal masterpiece "A Pleasant Shade Of Gray", and now they’ve found yet another new direction. The music on this album is still immediately recogniseable, vintage Fates Warning, but incorporates both a shameless return to a time when it was okay to be a virtuoso at one’s instrument, as well as decidely modern, post-postmodern influences. Apart from exquisitely and carefully developed musical themes and subtle, whimsical sounds, this album also contains some intensely visceral material, undoubtably capable of whipping concert halls full of fanatical fans into ecstacy. The material is more energetic than on 1997’s "A Pleasant Shade Of Gray", and trades in some of that album’s intense melancholy for divine melodies and addictive rythms, but retains a definite introspective aspect that will serve to drag the chronically angst-ridden amongst us through many a rainy afternoon. Jim Matheos sounds heavier than he has for a while, and sounds completely confident as the only guitarist of the band, where for most of its career Fates Warning has utilised a dual guitar approach. Ray Alder’s vocals sound excellent as always, incorporating some of the edge of last year’s "Engine" solo project. Mark Zonder supposedly trimmed down his drum kit for this release, but he hasn’t lost any of his power - one might even go so far as to state he sounds better now, more organic and hands-on, less muddled by freaky triggered samples. It’s blatantly obvious the man’s skill as a drummer and percussionist is unparallelled. Joey Vera does an excellent job as always, but appears to be a bit lower in the mix. Kevin Moore’s parts were reportedly written by Jim Matheos, but all throughout the album some of the atmosphere that made the early Dream Theater albums and the Chroma Key material so special shines through - he really is turning into an invaluable ‘permanent guest-member’ of the band. Finally, the sound effects Jim and Steve Tushar came up with add a lot of wonderful atmosphere to the songs, and are never excessive, as so often is the case with such additions. Individual Songs: While doing this usually does justice to neither the new song nor the song that’s being referenced to, I will give a possible connection of each track to an older or more well-known piece or style of music, a short description that might give you an idea of what the song in question sounds like. -disconnected part 1 Connection: ‘A Pleasant Shade Of Gray Part I’ A very atmospheric intro, characterised by a recurring guitar wail that collects and magnifies many lifetimes worth of emotional pain and suffering. -One Connection: A more energetic version of a song that might have been on "Inside Out", with a strong keyboard presence and electronic effects. It took me a while to get used to this song - at first it sounded too much like something off of "Parallels" or "Inside Out", but repeated listens revealed the wonderful energy and effective use of keyboards during the verses. The chorus is terribly catchy. -So Connection: Dream Theater meets Tool A moody intro bleeds into a heavy riff we haven’t heard on a Fates Warning album in a while. Once again Kevin Moore supplies his trademark sound, complementing the mighty riffs and great vocal melodies wonderfully. I think a radio edit of this song might do quite well if properly marketed. -Pieces Of Me Connection: Rammstein on steroids This was a surprise! An incredibly energetic and catchy song. Initially this track sounded very uncharacteristic of Fates Warning, but after a few listens it dawned on me how utterly obvious it is that they would have mastered this particular substyle of metal as well. If this song gets any measure of substantial airplay they could do very well for themselves with this album. -Something From Nothing Connection: A more atmospheric "The Eleventh Hour" (from the band’s own "Parallels") Possibly the best track on the album. The intro is quite moody and features epic keyboard sequences. After the song really gets going we’re treated with a wonderfully lively bridge section, and an utterly beautiful chorus. -Still Remains Connection: A more subtle "A Change Of Seasons" (Dream Theater) Another contender for the number one spot. Very layered and ambitious, with pretty sections followed by complex instrumental ones, but never exceedingly self-indulgent. Epic in its diversity, but never losing sight of the unifying musical themes, and therefore more coherent than other megasongs such as "The Ivory Gate Of Dreams" or Dream Theater’s "A Change Of Seasons". -disconnected part 2 Connection: "Space Dye Vest" (Dream Theater) A very spacey and moody instrumental outro. The wailing guitar from "disconnected part 1" returns, like Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence of the same or Walter Benjamin’s repetition of the undifferentiated, non-auratic in modern society, the full force of the emotions behind the music truly permeate the listener’s mind in this repetition. Remarkably, despite the mood and theme of the album, the vocal sample featured in this song is full of compassion and understanding. Verdict: For most people this will probably be an acquired taste, but if you give it a chance the rewards are enormous - there is so much to discover and enjoy on this album. It is probably safe to say Matheos and friends have once again managed to enrich our world with a true work of art, that will yield its secret beauty and wisdom to all who are receptive to it. Rating: [100/100] Other Albums By Fates Warning (rating [x/100]): 1984: "Night On Bröcken" [85] 1985: "The Spectre Within" [92] 1986: "Awaken The Guardian" [94] 1988: "No Exit" [93] 1989: "Perfect Symmetry" [99] 1991: "Parallels" [93] 1994: "Inside Out" [90] 1995: "Chasing Time" (Best Of) [95] 1997: "A Pleasant Shade Of Gray" [100] 1998: "Still Life" (Live) [100] (Note: Reading these ratings, it might appear I’m biased - I probably am. While it is true I’m a fan of Fates Warning, I tried to be fair in my review, and refrained from uncontrollably spouting undeserved praise. Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion - dare to make up your own mind without disparaging others.) ** ** ** ** ** -Marco van Leeuwen.