Original link – http://ytsejam.com/music-review/fates-warning-theories-flight/
by Tommy Hash
It’s one of those most hypothetical questions about a veteran band like this; after so many albums, so much turnover, different directions, and on top of the years of survival for that matter, you have to ask yourself, what is the new record (for Fates Warning) going to be like. Oh yes, there is skepticism abroad as the world of thinking man’s metal has changed and expanded. Yet these founding fathers still have their melodic might and enigmatic gusto in full form. Theories of Flight is there most comprehensible album in years, after albums such as FWX and Disconnected showed a different side to the band; this one brings about a more No Exit feel with the essence of arena ready songwriting but maintaining an expansion of charismatic flattery of intricate edges, retaining the captivating scope of progressive metal after many bands have lost the plot.
Throughout this record, the melodies levitate you as the mechanisms of the band’s sound such as the axework, the shuffling beats on the high hat, and strident sophistication all lead to that surge of cerebral posture driving the subconscious exhilaration without a puzzling confrontation between the musicianship and the melodies themselves. With swift tempos kicking around on “S.O.S.” and “Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen,” the raging temperament doesn’t fall too much by the wayside with the cliché of being heavy for heavy’s sake. Yet with the consistency of lush arrangements beholding “The Light and Shade of Things,” emotion pours from a darker manifold with the same mannerisms that have seen the band move in and out of throughout their span as Theories of Flight reminds us of the bar that has been raised for progressive metal, and that it doesn’t take some type of symphony to reach it.
Copyright & Publishing: 2016 Tommy Hash for Ytsejam.com
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