Usually regarded as the finest release from Fates Warning's early years, when their progressive leanings were tempered with no small amount of classic metal riffing, No Exit is a typically difficult album to come to grips with.
As was often the case on prior releases, the band has a hard time reconciling its ruthless experimentation with the need to construct coherent songs, leading to any number of awkward passages in which melodies and riffs are recklessly spliced together.
Still, the album is another step forward, and tracks like "Anarchy Divine," "Shades of Heavenly Death," and "In a Word" rank among the best of their career thus far.
Side two is entirely taken by the daunting "The Ivory Gate of Dreams," which at over 20 minutes and eight separate parts, finds the band in its most extreme and complex progressive metal mode.
Like his predecessor, new vocalist Ray Alder's piercing screams are something of an acquired taste (coming off like a less disciplined version of Queensrÿche's Geoff Tate), but the rest of the band perform to their usual high technical standards.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No ExitJim Matheos | Fates Warning | Play | 00:41 | 1 MB | 3 MB |
| 2 | Anarchy DivineFrank Aresti | Fates Warning | Play | 03:46 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 3 | Silent CriesJim Matheos | Fates Warning | Play | 03:17 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 4 | In a WordFrank Aresti | Fates Warning | Play | 04:25 | 10 MB | 25 MB |
| 5 | Shades of Heavenly DeathFrank Aresti | Fates Warning | Play | 05:57 | 13 MB | 39 MB |
| 6 | The Ivory Gate Of Dreams | Fates Warning | Play | 21:58 | 50 MB | 130 MB |
| 40 mins | 91 MB | |||||
| 40 mins | 246 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frank Aersti | Guitar, Photography |
| 2 | Ray Alder | Photography, Vocals |
| 3 | Frank Aresti | Composer, Guitar |
| 4 | Lewis T. Bryant Jr. | Graphic Design |
| 5 | Joe DiBiase | Bass, Photography |
| 6 | Fates Warning | Primary Artist |
| 7 | Phil Magnotti | Engineer, Mixing |
| 8 | Jim Matheos | Composer, Guitar, Photography |
| 9 | Max Norman | Executive Producer, Mixing |
| 10 | Roger Probert | Mixing, Producer |
| 11 | Mick Rock | Cover Photo, Photography |
| 12 | Brad Vance | Remastering |
| 13 | Steve Zimmerman | Percussion, Photography |
| 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). |