dtguitarfan Sympathetic Resonance is an album that was rumored to be the next Fates Warning album. I'm actually quite pleased it was not, though I do happen to be a Fates Warning fan. Featuring the vocals of former Fates Warning vocalist John Arch and Fates Warning’s guitarist Jim Matheos, there were of course many high expectations for this album. What I find unique about this album is the complete absence of keyboards, a common piece of a Progressive Metal band. Despite this absence, the band has a HUGE sound. And while it is most definitely a Progressive Metal album, it would be very accessible to fans of other Metal sub-genres. Sounding like a cross between Queensryche and Rush at times, with bombastic heavy guitar riffs and Led Zeppelin-esque vocals, this album will rock your socks off!

UMUR "Sympathetic Resonance" is the debut full-length studio album by US progressive metal act Arch / Matheos. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in September 2011. Arch / Matheos is a project formed by former Fates Warning frontman John Arch and Fates Warning guitarist and main composer Jim Matheos. After John Arch left Fates Warning in 1987, little has since been heard from the singer. The 2003 "A Twist of Fate" EP, which was released under his own name, and which was also created in collaboration with Jim Matheos, didn´t result in a comeback to the scene. It did however signal that John Arch wasn´t completely through with music and when he was approached by Jim Matheos, who had written songs for a new project, his interest was ignited and the two of them started sending music files to each other. Matheos would send his compositions to Arch, and Arch would write melody lines and lyrics to go along with the compositions. When it came to recording the album they enlisted a couple of prolific and greatly skilled musicians to record the bass, drum and lead guitar parts in bassist Joey Vera (Fates Warning, Engine, Armored Saint), drummer Bobby Jarzombek (Fates Warning, Halford, Iced Earth) and lead guitarist Frank Aresti (Fates Warning).

The music on the album is guitar driven progressive metal rooted in the eighties progressive metal movement (before keyboards became an integrated part of most progressive metal music). With all musicians involved being related to Fates Warning, it´s impossible not to think of this album in relation to that band and especially the early John Arch-led releases, but ultimately "Sympathetic Resonance" doesn´t sound like neither that era or later Fates Warning eras. I think the Arch / Matheos have succeeded in finding a good balance between recognisable elements from their Fates Warning past (and for some present) and an original sound.

The riffs are dark and heavy, the rythm section provide complex and powerful playing and John Arch signature high pitched and nasal vocal delivery is the icing on the cake. The latter´s vocal melody lines are amazing to say the least. Not only is he one of the most powerful and distinct sounding vocalist in metal, his way of writing melody lines is brilliant too. Lots of twists and turns delivered with great conviction.

The 6 tracks on the album are structurally (for the most part) really complex. Especially the three longest tracks on the album, "Neurotically Wired", "Stained Glass Sky" and "Any Given Day (Strangers Like Me)", are really complex, going through multible sections and atmospheres. That´s why it´s also a great for the dynamics of the album that the band include relatively more "simple" and direct tracks like "Midnight Serenade" and "Incense and Myrrh". While the former is a powerful progressive metal track the latter is a beautiful ballad, that closes the album in great style. The dark and heavy "On the Fence" is probably the least remarkable track on the album, but it says a lot about the quality of the rest of the material, when a fantastic track like "On the Fence" is pulled out as an example of a slight decline in quality. And mind you I´m saying a slight decline.

"Sympathetic Resonance" is simply through and through a fantastic progressive metal release to fans of guitar driven progressive metal. We´re talking top notch musicianship, a warm and powerful sound production and outstanding songwriting. To my ears progressive metal doesn´t come better than this. "Sympathetic Resonance" is a born classic in the genre and fully deserves a 5 star (100%) rating.

Conor Fynes 'Sympathetic Resonance' - Arch/Matheos (8/10)

Rewind back a pair of decades, back to the time around the release of US progressive metal act Fate's Warning's third album, 'Awaken The Guardian'. Unable to pay his bills with the band income alone, singer John Arch was working hard with a dayjob to make ends meet. On top of that, he had a band pressuring him to choose one or the other. At that, he was forced to leave the band, and Fate's Warning then found a new vocalist in the form of Ray Alder. After that, Arch stayed out of the music scene for the better part of two decades, until a two song bout of musical inspiration gave in the form of a solo EP, 'A Twist Of Fate'. If that was any indicator, it was true that the man who led Fate's Warning through their early work still had the pipes to hold his own quite brilliantly. With this and better conditions for making music, John Arch and Fate's Warning guitarist Jim Matheos have teamed up together once again to make music. The outcome of this collaboration is the album 'Sympathetic Resonance'.

Despite more or less having the Fate's Warning lineup intact (with the obvious exception of the replaced vocalist), the name Arch/Matheos has been used in order to keep away any assumptions that John Arch is replacing the replacer; Ray Alder is still the vocalist of Fate's Warning, and scheduled to record with the rest of the band on an upcoming 2012 release. These technicalities aside, 'Sympathetic Resonance' may as well be considered a Fate's Warning album, and perhaps the best one to come along in some time. With Matheos' aggressive style of playing and signature sound of Fate's Warning once again paired with the haunting acrobatic vocals of Arch, this sounds quite familiar. Musically, this is virtually everything I might expect from a Fate's Warning album; dark atmosphere, and some of the best musicianship that the genre of progressive metal has to offer. In particular, Bobby Jarzombek's skills at the drums are immense, and there are plenty of flourishes that each band member gives to the performance to make things sound all the more intense. The songwriting contrasts dark acoustics with thrashy technical displays; things sometimes feel chaotic, but it is controlled. Of special note are the melodies employed here, which are pleasantly challenging to decipher at first.

Perhaps of greatest interest is the performance of John Arch himself, the reason why this cannot be considered a Fate's Warning album. Without beating around the semantic bush, his performance is pretty incredible. Despite now creeping into the depths of middle-age, the man's voice has not aged a year, hitting even the high notes with beautiful precision. He is also able to pull off fairly complex passages with relative ease, and dare I say; I really prefer John Arch's performance here to anything Ray Alder has done. That is not to offend the excellent work of Alder, but I do get the impression that this will surely spark up debates around who is the better vocalist. I really get an impression here of a married man leaving for a high school reunion and hooking back up with his high school sweetheart. The wife may be very good for him, but there may also be reason to be jealous.

With the exception of the lyrics- which seem to tug at any cliche they can grab at- Arch/Matheos is a very exciting project that has made an excellent album here with 'Sympathetic Resonance'. It is none too different from Fate's Warning, but perhaps that is a good thing. In any case, while I do hope that Fate's Warning stays the way it already is, I would love to hear more of this partnership. For one, it's helped re-ignite my love of progressive metal.

Phonebook Eater 8/10

"Sympathetic Resonance" is an orgasmic fix for Prog Metal enthusiasts.

John Arch, Prog Metal veteran, formal singer of Fates Warning, gave to the world early in the millennium a precious EP called "A Twist Of Fate", and until now nothing was heard of him. But in 2011, with guitarist Jim Matheos, another Fates Warning member came out under the name Arch/Matheos "Sympathetic Resonance", one of the great Prog Metal albums of recent years. This project, in the near future, could very easily be the Fates Warning of the new decade, not only because they share half of the members, but because they play the same role, in different eras, in the progressive metal realm.

Like the former band, Arch/Matheos is a prog metal that does not feature keyboards. They are used very rarely, maybe to give a bit of atmosphere. I love keyboards, so when I knew about this feature I wasn't so sure I was going to love it as I do actually. The musicianship of this project is amazing, the musicians are extremely well educated, obviously influenced by Jazz, Prog Rock , and Metal, everyone gets the job done so well: John Arch gives us his unique beautiful voice that I wish more Progressive Metal singers had, Jim Matheos is a great guitarist and proves it once again with beastly riffs and solos, Bobby Jarzombek has been a genuine inspiration to me(being myself a drummer), his technicality is outstanding, his fills mind-blowing. Joey Vera, finally, proves that he can play bass, playing his instrument so that we can actually hear it, for once. Together, they have fun putting all in one song constant time changes, dozen riffs, solos, acoustic moments and what not. Arch/Matheos at this point come from the more complex side of metal.

"Sympathetic Resonance" is maybe a perfect summary of what Fates Warning is, but it sounds to me a much more modern effort. The album is extremely solid, produced extremely well, the sounds are crystal clear and no instrument is overlapping all the others, something I find very rare and something I always enjoy hearing. "Neurotically Wired" and "Stained Glass Sky" are basically perfect songs, that sound so complete, like nothing was missing: you got nice acoustic moments, you got insane bridges with crazier drumming and guitar performances, and tons of beauty, surprisingly. Every riff in these two songs is spectacular and memorable, especially the heavier ones. The softer songs are good too, like "Midnight Serenade" and "Incense And Myrrh", but there's just no comparison in my opinion. "Any Given Day" has a similar song structure to the first two songs I mentioned, and it is possibly just as good, but I sense a little more straightforwardness, however in the end, that's exactly what the album needs, after a while, to make it sound like something that has moments for every kind of metal fan.

A great album I loved listening to and enjoyed a whole lot. I'm not a big Fates Warning expert, but this album just might do it for me, to start listening to them. "Sympathetic Resonance" no doubt has become one of the great releases of this year, possibly one of the very prog metal albums of the last few years. An orgasmic fix for Prog Metal enthusiasts.

adg211288 Sympathetic Resonance is the debut studio album from progressive metal act Arch/Matheos. The band is essentially a getting together of Fates Warning’s guitarist Jim Matheos and former Fates Warning vocalist John Arch, and also features guitarist Frank Aresti, bassist Joey Vera and drummer Bobby Jarzombek, all of whom feature in the current Fates Warning line-up as of the release of Sympathetic Resonance, which means it’s only Arch’s Fates Warning replacement Ray Alder who is not present on Sympathetic Resonance out of the current Fates Warning lineup. I guess in a way this album could be seen as a Fates Warning for 2011 if John Arch had never left.

There are only six tracks on Sympathetic Resonance, so long track times are to be expected. All are over five minutes and half of them pass the ten minute mark, so epic progressive compositions are generally the flavour of the day here. The musicianship is of a high quality all the way, and I’d expect nothing less from a group made up of such seasoned musicians such as this. This is classic progressive metal with a nice focus on the fact that it is heavy metal, you won’t find any symphonic keyboard layers in this music, which is something that is becoming quite common in modern progressive metal albums. I expect the style will not only appeal to the prog crowd but also to traditional and power metal fans.

Vocal wise John Arch puts on a great performance, but I must say I think his vocals will be a required taste (in much the same way Dream Theater’s James LaBrie is), will may alienate some listeners from fully enjoying Sympathetic Resonance. To be honest his tone is not exactly my cup of tea so the album took a lot of listens to really click with me, but I can definitely appreciate Arch’s vocals all the same, although I do still sometimes find myself thinking that, did this album have a different singer, I’d enjoy it a whole lot more, as blasphemous as that statement probably is.

Of course, if that were the case it wouldn’t be Arch/Matheos would it? And of course this is the thing for people who find John Arch’s vocals more to their taste; John Arch hasn’t exactly been active musically since his Fates Warning exit. There was an EP in 2003, but Sympathetic Resonance is the first full-length album Arch has graced since Fates Warning’s Awaken the Guardian in 1986. I can certainly understand the hype surrounding Sympathetic Resonance because of this, and in line with the previous paragraph about the music, if Arch’s style of singing appeals to you then you’ll find Sympathetic Resonance a very rewarding listen. It’s nice to get a high quality progressive metal album that still favours the guitars over a keyboard.

However although a really great album from a collaboration that there is much cause to celebrate that’s all Sympathetic Resonance ultimately is – great but not quite a masterpiece (though it does just about creep into my ‘very exceptional’ scoring range). I feel that it’s the longer songs that really deliver the goods in the most spectacular fashion, those being Neurotically Wired, Stained Glass Sky and Any Given Day (Strangers Like Me). Stained Glass Sky, the longest track, is easily the gem of the album, although Any Given Day gives it a good run for its money. Of the shorter tracks (defining shorter as under ten minutes) Midnight Serenade is the one that I feel is the strongest while if the album has a weak point it’s the eight minute On The Fence, while still pretty good did seem to drag a little for me despite the fact that there are longer songs on the album that the band doesn’t waste a second in.

Sympathetic Resonance is a great release from Arch/Matheos, but it’s probably very true that there is one particular crowd this is going to please first and foremost and that’s Fates Warning’s fanbase. Having never really got into that band I haven’t been caught up in the hype for this album, although after the ultimately positive experience that Sympathetic Resonance is I may have to see about changing that. For the existing Fate’s Warning fan this could very easily be your album of the year but for the rest of us, well, there have been better prog metal albums this year, although bringing us back around to the fact that this is a guitar driven album, I do note the general lack of such prog metal releases once again (in fact looking through the albums I’ve reviewed so from 2011 this may be the only one!) so if the idea of a prog metal album that doesn’t rely on the keyboards appeals to you, then Arch/Matheos’ debut is an album you need to be investigating.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 8.5/10, "Very Exceptional Album")