DISCONNECTED

I don't know why, but the gloomy and mostly slow tempo of Fates Warning music always amuses me. It seems that whatever my mood there is for the day, I always find it enjoyable when listening to Fates Warning. The same case stands for 2000's effort, Disconnected. Not that I loved it the first time I started listening to the album. This is not their best effort -well, to be honest.which one is their best? Each of their effort stands on its own in terms of uniqueness and style, and of course there is a red line where you can find the connection among those albums.

The album starts with 1 minute plus of long guitar sound which sounds like a crying whale. Then kicking off with "One", a mixture of progressive metal with techno-elements. It surprised me as they never did anything like that before. Track number 3, "So" is a typical Fates Warning song, with a mid-tempo which lasts about 8 minutes or so. It is so Fates Warning. Another exploration is found in "Pieces of Me" with another so-called techno- thing. But I think it is more intense than "One". Well, please try no to sleep when "Something From Nothing" starts off. The first few minutes were slow and dark then kicking off with a mixture of progressive rhythm section beat from bassist Joey Vera and drummer Mark Zonder. Watch out for another 16 minutes dark song of "Still Remains". Is that all? No. Wait until approximately 2:44th when the music starts to get so intense and tight, without losing its dark sense feeling with the acrobatic voices of Ray Alder. The album is closed with the instrumental "Disconnected Part II", similar as what they have started in the beginning of the album except that it's much darker. My conclusion is, this is an album that will please many Fates Warning fans but they will find it hard to win new fans with this album. (4/5)