FATES WARNING — No Exit (review)

FATES WARNING — No Exit album cover Album · 1988 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Time Signature
Sounds of heavenly metal...

Genre: progressive metal / technical thrash metal

Perhaps my application of the thrash metal tag to this album may strike some as controversial, but this certainly is Fates Warning's heaviest and most aggressive album to date, and I do think that several of the tracks on this album contain numerous thrash metal elements. "Anarchy Divine", "Silent Cries" and "Shades of Heavenly Death" are very thrashy (I'd consider them thrash metal songs - but with a progressive and technical twist). Then there is the 21 minute epic "The Ivory Gate of Dreams", which is really more like a cycle of traditional 80s metal and power metal songs (but with odd time signatures and the like) - it's not as smooth and fluid as other Fates Warning epics, but I must admit that I really enjoy listening to a lot of the individual parts.

While there is nothing wrong with the music, the production suffers from the same problem as most metal releases from the 80s - namely, the whole thing is almost drowned in reverb. Also, while impressive, I do think that Ray Alder's vocal acrobatics tend to be a bit too much over the top at times.

This is a must-have prog metal release which is original while at the same time blending in several elements from different types of metal which were relevant in 1988. I would recommend it to fans of progressive metal (because it is a very important release in the history of progressive metal), to fans of technical thrash metal, power metal, and adventurous fans of traditional metal.
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