INSIDE OUT

When progressive rock appeared during the early of the 70's, it contained elements of hard rock, but few bands crossed the line into heavy metal. This all changed during the 80's, when bands such as Queensryche, Dream Theater, Crimson Glory, Watchtower and Fates Warning merged their love for Yes and Rush and with a great admiration for Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. These bands were responsible for creating, developing and popularizing the progressive metal genre.

This Fates Warning's 1994 release continues the style of their previous studio album 'Parallels', which made the group more known to audience all over, getting radio plays and appearing as their most commercially successful album to date. With 'Inside Out' they tried to continue this road, but the album never achieved the same attention as its predecessor had. It combines the heaviness of traditional heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden with some lush, heavy rock melodies and a constant flow of progressive ideas. 'Inside Out' displays the band's mid-period style. It's often linked to their classic 'Parallels' album. Even Matheos sustained that idea in an interview. He said that all Fates Warning albums are somehow different and that 'Inside Out' is the only who followed the same steps of 'Parallels'.

'Inside Out' is the seventh studio album of Fates Warning and was released in 1994. The line up on the album is Ray Alder (vocals), Jim Matheos (guitar), Frank Aresti (guitar), Joe DiBiase (bass) and Mark Zonder (drums and percussion).

'Inside Out' has ten tracks. All tracks were composed by Matheos, except 'The Strand' composed by Aresti and Matheos and 'Down To The Wire' composed by Alder and Matheos. The first track 'Outside Looking It' involves sad, sailing melodies and a similar rhythmic mechanism to the verse of the previous album's opener. It's a solid track with enough variety in the drumming and riffs to please. The second track 'Pale Fire' is another of those single worthy tracks very similar to 'Through Different Eyes' from 'Perfect Symmetry'. Lyrically, 'Pale Fire' is quite a success, for the chorus evokes a pretty powerful image that haunts long beyond the closure of the music. The pretty mesmerizing words and maybe an unintentional soliloquy show maybe the band's direction in the future, in the 90's. The third track 'The Strand' creates an almost folkish platitude through in its sombre, bluesy rock verse. But I like the bouncing bass rhythm and it builds to another great chorus part, which simply rages into existence like many of the better moments of 'Perfect Symmetry'. The fourth track 'Shelter Me' feels very similar to 'Pale Fire', but it lacks to it the staying power of that track and the title and chorus feel perhaps a little too accessible. Anyway, the music is pleasing enough for my ears. The fifth track 'Island In The Stream' is a big rock ballad that has much in common with 'The Road Goes On Forever' from 'Parallels'. It's immersive and pretty for its acoustics, piano and atmosphere. It starts out perfectly calm and relaxing, and progresses beautifully into a chillingly heavy latter half of the song. It has a perfect performance of Alder, he sings with a lot of passion, the guitars are breathtaking and tug at your heart and the keyboards add a final perfect atmosphere. The sixth track 'Down To The Wire' develops through the verse, though the chorus reminds me of a more rocked out spin on 'We Only Say Goodbye' of 'Parallels'. The seventh track 'Face The Fear' is an awesome track with great passages throughout of the song and is especially emotional. It begins with a flow of shining melodies that transform into a pretty complex pattern, with acoustic cleans and a beautiful melody under Alder's vocals. The chorus is likewise interesting. The eighth track 'Inward Bound' is a brief, bluesy atmospheric instrumental. It's almost a linking track between the previous and the following track. The ninth track 'Monument' is the best track on the latter half of the album, cautiously escalating into an insanely catchy hook after 2:00, which rekindles the atmosphere of 'Perfect Symmetry'. It's a classic that seems to be a crowd favourite for their live shows. It's the heaviest and progressive song on the album. The tenth track 'Afterglow' is a nice closing for the album. It's a brooding acoustic piece laden in slim electric melodies and an eerie narrative, interspersed with happier bits and a quiet momentum.

Conclusion: Basically, this is another solid release by Fates Warning. Overall, it's not Fates Warning best album but there are a bunch of tracks which could easily hold their own in a 'Best Off...' collection from the band. But, the fact that it's one of the less celebrated Fates Warning albums only underscores the band's enduring legacy. It's maybe the less complex album of their progressive career but it still is a great work. There are too many songs here I just can't do without. Fates Warning here invested on a heavily and accessible sound. So, I'll end my review by saying that this is an album that falls between the progressive and the mainstream rock category. For some it's confusing but for others it can be interesting for the very same reason. But, if one thing we can't deny, is that 'Inside Out' is a professional and mature work from a very strong and important progressive rock/metal band. This album comes highly recommended.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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