A PLEASANT SHADE OF GRAY

I've read alot of reviews for this album calming that it is not memorable or that its no flow: i couldn't disagree more. Sure its a tough album to get into but after a couple of spins i myself have realized that this is yet another fine piece of work by the innovaters of prog metal. Fates Warning have done it here in A Pleasant Shade of Gray by creating (in my opinion) one long 52 minute opus divided into tracks that has alot of new things added into the band. First off the lineup is now composed of one guitarist instead of two (Goodbye Frank Aresti) plus former Dt player Kevin Moore becomes a part time member of FW to really add in some great keyboard effects to FW. Plus they bring a new bassist Joey Vera who in my opinion is a much better bassist than Joe Dibiase as he puts more feeling in the bass and makes himself known as a rhythmic bassist. But anyway there alot of great moments in this album such as the great guitar solos, the acoustic and piano duet, Zonder's amazing rhythms, the vocal harmonies, lots of ongoing rhythm, and some beautiful softer sections from the band. The band also does a swell job as on this album such as Ray Alder to me a much better vocalist than that Bruce Dickinson clone. To me one of his best vocal performance as he knows when to really use his voice for good use and he isn't too waily like he was with Perfect Symmetry. Jim Matheos the creater of music for Fates also shows that he doesn't have to be extremely fast and shredding as he uses his guitar skills to not just play awesome proggressive riffs and changes but to also display his more melodic side with his solos. Joey Vera like i've said before better bassist for the rhythm and he really does have a nice bassline in the intro of Part 6. Kevin Moore not a bad job for him with the nice touch of some sampling, loops, some synths, and beautiful piano playing. Mark Zonder WHOA why is this guy not getting recognized enough i mean i love Portnoy but Zonder deserves as much priase as these other great prog players. He is just so smooth with his odd time meter rhythms, amazing fills, and well he is just too good to me probably one of his best performances on this album. So all in all a great album by a very talented group i could care less what other big reivewers have said this is one of fates warning best albums by far. However though i will say it was hard for me to get into it since it was my first FW album but after hearing more FW from the 80s and so on i finally understand the change they had made which for some reason has made me love this album even more. So if your a fan of FW don't start with this album like i did start with something like Perfect Symmetry or Parallels and work your up and back if you wanna get their earlier stuff. But still a perfect masterpiece