#ray alder

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Scars by Fates Warning

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Thursday, January 1: Fates Warning, "Life in Still Water"

If Fates Warning parallel pathed with Queensrÿche for their first 20 years, Parallels was a clear indication that Jim Matheos was watching how Geoff Tate and Chris DeGarmo hit paydirt in the early ‘90s by streamlining their band’s overall approach and dialing down the histrionics.  The big difference, besides Queensrÿche having the muscle of a major label, more overtly aiming for the radio and MTV and ultimately selling a lot more records, was that Matheos was actually a more thoughtful songwriter, and while that didn’t lend itself to mainstream success (and honestly didn’t always work out creatively either) it made Fates Warning arguably a better band in the long run.  So while “Life in Still Water” didn’t have the frenzy and firepower of Awaken the Guardian and Ray Alder toned down his wailing by a lot, it was a complex, interesting and emotive track that offered a smarter take on prog going commercial.  The early ‘90s touches were probably unavoidable and the prog (including James LaBrie’s backing vocals) was a bit more subtle, but the tune showed how Fates Warning could adapt their sound and approach not only to the times but also present their vision in a more introspective context.  And that turned out to be the defining signal for where Matheos would go for the rest of the band’s run.

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(Mostly the audience singing) We Only Say Goodbye by Fates Warning, live in Athens, Greece, 1999

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Monday, September 29: Ray Alder, "A Beautiful Lie"

Ray Alder found a way to stay engaged during Fates Warning’s various gaps, but he didn’t get to a proper solo album until What the Water Wants in 2019.  And coming in between what are apparently the final two FW records, the frontman successfully bridged the distance between Theories of Flight and Long Day Good Night while also very much doing his own thing without Jim Matheos.  To that end, “A Beautiful Lie” aptly represented Alder’s maturity as a vocalist and lyricist over a heavy and tricky but not overly complex musical backdrop.  There was a relaxed confidence to his performance that added weight and depth to the track, and in a lot of ways this was the best of all worlds not only for Alder but also for progressive metal’s growth: unlike most of their peers, Fates Warning found a way to evolve their sound and approach while staying true to their fundamental essence in a manner that was neither clinging to old glories nor pandering to the moment, and “A Beautiful Lie” was an excellent strand in that thread.

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Live version (April 1998) of A Pleasant Shade of Gray - Part V by Fates Warning from the Expanded edition of A Pleasant Shade of Gray

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In Trance (Scorpions cover) by Fates Warning

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Monday, May 10: Engine, “I Don’t Need”

Engine’s debut wasn’t a revelation, but it did feel like a refreshing change of pace for Ray Alder and his fans after a few years of increasingly ponderous records with Fates Warning.  And while those Fates Warning albums arguably aged better than either of Engine’s records, there was something to be said for tracks like “I Don’t Need” and their focus on the fundamentals.  This song wasn’t quite as late ‘90s as the rest of Engine, though it did have the same crunch in the guitar tones and emphasis on groove.  Similarly, Alder didn’t necessarily sound all that different than usual, but he did sound like he was into what was going on behind him. There was something relaxed about these proceedings, and “I Don’t Need” was a pleasurable listen in turn.  And in some ways, the tune reflected the strangeness of the late ‘90s: with nu metal at a peak and classic heavy metal slowly inching its way back to prominence, the genre was caught in a strange place and hadn’t yet figured out how to let its various subgenres coexist (it would take the internet to make that happen), so songs like this came around to try to fuse the sonic textures of the moment with something more song-oriented and classic.

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Monday, March 11: Fates Warning, “Stranger (With a Familiar Face)”

FWX wasn’t that far removed from Disconnected, but Fates Warning’s tenth record was ultimately a bridge between the band’s late ‘90s albums and their post-hiatus Inside Out records, and offered a preview of the heavier and more mature direction Jim Matheos and Ray Alder would take the band in.  This meant that the material on FWX was worlds away from even Perfect Symmetry, let alone Awaken the Guardian, but songs like “Stranger (With a Familiar Face)” demonstrated that Matheos wasn’t aiming straight for the middle: the track was more aggressive than anything they’d done since No Exit, while at the same time neither sounding like a throwback nor like they were grasping at current trends.  The song was also every bit as progressive as Dream Theater, as Mark Zonder’s drumming rolled, grooved, stopped and started with his customary grace.  “Stranger” offered the best of Fates Warning at that point- the guitars were supra-metallic, Alder was passionate, Zonder sounded fantastic, and the whole band (including Armored Saint’s Joey Vera, who went from a guest bassist to a full member) played with a comfort and precision that spoke to not only their confidence as a group, but also their ability to sound exactly like themselves.