AWAKEN THE GUARDIAN

Fates Warning's debut album saw them as inferior Iron Maiden imitators; The Spectre Within saw them equal the standards of their influence. Awaken the Guardian, John Arch's final album with Fates Warning, sees the band complete their evolution and move beyond Iron Maiden entirely, into progressive metal territory that Maiden would never even approach. Sufficiently complex as to demand multiple listens to really get to grips with everything that's going on, this isn't an album which grips me from the word go, but every time I spin it it grows on me more and more. Not quite a five-star masterpiece, but tantalisingly close to it, and a fine close to Arch's tenure in the band.