There may be four years separating FWX from the last Fates Warning album, Disconnected, but the progression between the two releases is as fluid as the gap between the their 1988 metallic peak No Exit and 1997 progressive extreme Pleasant Shade of Gray is wide.
Both of those career highs come to mind when listening to FWX, "Stranger (With a Familiar Face" and "Simple Human" in particular are distilled from a blend of No Exit's heaviness and Pleasant Shade of Gray's expansiveness.
The ten-minute progressive excursions of Disconnected have been reigned in, but make no mistake, this is still a progressive affair, especially on the equally lush and pummeling "River Wide Ocean Deep" and "Heal Me," which make up for their less-than-progressive running times with aggressive riffs that make a welcome return to Fates Warning.
Give Jim Matheos, Ray Alder and crew credit: there are few bands that have been around as long (twenty years for founding member Matheos and sixteen for vocalist Alder) that produce albums as consistent or inventive as FWX.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Left HereJim Matheos | Fates Warning | Play | 06:59 | 16 MB | 50 MB |
| 2 | Simple HumanJim Matheos | Fates Warning | Play | 04:03 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 3 | River Wide Ocean DeepJim Matheos | Fates Warning | Play | 06:09 | 14 MB | 38 MB |
| 4 | Another Perfect DayJim Matheos | Fates Warning | Play | 04:43 | 10 MB | 34 MB |
| 5 | Heal MeJim Matheos | Fates Warning | Play | 07:38 | 17 MB | 51 MB |
| 6 | Sequence #7Jim Matheos | Fates Warning | Play | 02:13 | 5 MB | 12 MB |
| 7 | CrawlJim Matheos | Fates Warning | Play | 04:21 | 9 MB | 34 MB |
| 8 | A Handful of DoubtJim Matheos | Fates Warning | Play | 05:06 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 9 | WishJim Matheos | Fates Warning | Play | 06:38 | 15 MB | 37 MB |
| 10 | Stranger | Fates Warning | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 52 mins | 119 MB | |||||
| 52 mins | 353 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ray Alder | Audio Production, Member of Attributed Artist, Producer, Vocals |
| 2 | Fates Warning | Primary Artist |
| 3 | Ioannis | Art Direction, Design, Digital Artwork |
| 4 | Phil Magnotti | Audio Engineer, Drum Engineering, Mixing |
| 5 | Jim Matheos | Audio Production, Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Member of Attributed Artist, Producer, Programming |
| 6 | Andy VanDette | Mastering |
| 7 | Joey Vera | Bass, Guitar (Bass), Member of Attributed Artist |
| 8 | Mark Zonder | Drums, Member of Attributed Artist |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |