After a 16 year absence from the music scene, the original
Fates Warning singer,
John Arch has returned. And that is in a way that makes me feel like he was never really gone. His voice has developed but it still sounds unmistakeably like
John Arch. Before the first minute of the first song,
Relentless was over, I felt like I was back in time listening to Fata Morgana from Awaken the Guardian for the first time, it was the same strange sensation.
This is an EP with two songs,
Relentless and
Cheyenne. Together they span more than 28 minutes, so there is plenty to dig into here. The musicians backing
John Arch are Jim Matheos on guitar,
Mike Portnoy on drums and Joey Vera on bass and they certainly live up to their reputation. Especially
Mike Portnoy is a joy to listen to. He is really out of this world at times and it sounds like he has a ten arms...
John still has his very own style of singing, with that unique sense of weird and enchanting vocal melodies. After ten intense listens, I was convinced,
John Arch is still able to create brilliant music that chills me to the bone.
Relentless opens with a brooding bass line and a deep drum sound, culminating in what feels like a birth (or should I say rebirth). With a childlike voice
John Arch opens the song and it soon explodes in what feels like the afore-mentioned journey back to the time of early
Fates Warning. Only for a short moment though and the song is soon back in the present. This is no copy of early
Fates Warning, though each song has a few cool references to those songs. Of the two songs Relentless is my favourite. The personal lyrics are inspiring, showing both love and sadness. Though there is no clear conclusion the song urges the listener to take the time and make their own choice in life, and shows a flicker of hope that your "destiny" can be changed... Well, that was what I got from that song anyway :) The highlight for me is the chilling chorus (
In the real world you feel real pain), it is really a magic moment.
Cheyenne continues the disc with a keyboard melody laying a great foundation for the song, before it slows down and John's voice takes over. The opening part is very special and it feels as if John's voice is guiding the music along. There is an overall mystical quality to this song. When the song starts taking off there is a great feeling of being lifted from the ground, with the way the instruments and voice play together. The last vocal part is also brilliant. The song is a a little harder to get into than Relentless and has many different changing parts.
There is not much to critisise here. The only thing I have found somewhat annoying is the futuristic keyboard sound in the middle section of
Relentless. Even though it underlines a transition, I feel that it doesn't really fit the mood of the song. I also have a craving for more than just two songs. A full album of this quality would have been downright amazing. But eventhough the EP only contains two songs there is still a lot to enjoy and discover, so I'm not complaining.
One of my friends got a weird look on his face the first time he heard part of this album and it probably takes some time getting used to
John Arch's voice, but if you give it time to settle in then I think you'll enjoy it just as much as I have.
This is certainly a real gem for fans of early
Fates Warning and something that should appeal to all listeners of Progressive Metal. I hope it won't be another 16 years before we hear from
John Arch again.
Written by
Steen Tuesday, August 5, 2003
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