Fates Warning - Night on Bröcken (1984)

Actually the guy kinda prides himself in having an eclectic taste. Listens to jazz, hip-hop, alternative rock etc.

I'm sure he does pride himself in listening to all different types of crappy music. All Opeth fans do.

What's wrong with Opeth?

LOL

I've had the same impression of fans of Opeth and Meshuggah. The mid 90s is apparently when good music started. Anything older, unless you're Iron Maiden or Metallica or something, then you're nothing. Especially if you play something that's not hip anymore. It happens with every generation, but fans of Opeth and Meshuggah take it to the extreme by acting elitist.

In general, 80s are a divisive time among more recent metal fans. Not just extreme metal fans. Melodic metal fans do that too. And people in general act elitist when discussing music (especially heavy metal), everyone's a critic, yet they show their true colours by not caring enough to dig any deeper than Master of Puppets or whatever. And that's fine too. Not everyone likes everything. But then don't go talking about it, or pretending to know all about metal. Let alone write reviews, or *gasp* histories of heavy metal. I think I read someone claiming Metallica was the first heavy metal band.  

It's like you asking someone who painted the Mona Lisa. If the answer is "Da Vinci", bother not. That person for sure won't know enough to discuss Leonardo properly.

The Calling jumps out the most for me.

Wurthless wrote:

I don't really see them as Maiden knock-offs, either. Arch doesn't sound much like him at all. I'd say the operatic, wailing nature of the vocals is definitely influenced by the kind of stuff Maiden were doing, but Dickinson and Arch are really apples and oranges to me. The styles of riffing and soloing are also very different.

I can understand some Maiden comparison. I checked out "Damnation" again since it was so far ahead in the poll, and right at the beginning I thought "Remember Tomorrow." At times, the singer does sound a bit like Dickinson. Like you mentioned, during the wails. You're right, they are not that close to be a knock-off, though.

I voted for the title track.

Honorable mentions go to Soldier Boy (even if the song title brings that wretched similarly named rapper to mind), Damnation, and Kiss of Death.

Boris2008 wrote:

I'm going to make an effort with these but I don't think that they will grab me.

Start with awaken the guardian. If u don't like that one then don't bother with the rest.

"The Calling"

James B. wrote:

"The Calling"

This.

Temple of Blood wrote:

I'm sure he does pride himself in listening to all different types of crappy music.  All Opeth fans do.

You are very much the definition of what you falsely accuse others of around here.

The reviews on Metal Archives coming up trashing a lot of classic albums make me think of a former Metal Archives reviewer named bitterman, who gave every review a 0%. Of course, a lot of the albums were ones of polarizing albums in the metal community, but a lot of albums he reviewed I personally like.

He was later banned from reviewing albums.

Here are some of his reviews:
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Pantera/Vulgar_Display_of_Power/230/bitterman/321549
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Gorguts/Colored_Sands/379853/bitterman/321549
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Carcass/Surgical_Steel/382463/bitterman/321549
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/The_Faceless/Autotheism/347367/bitterman/321549
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Edge_of_Sanity/Crimson/474/bitterman/321549
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Disincarnate/Dreams_of_the_Carrion_Kind/835/bitterman/321549
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Napalm_Death/Utilitarian/326614/bitterman/321549

corplhicks wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

I'm sure he does pride himself in listening to all different types of crappy music.  All Opeth fans do.

You are very much the definition of what you falsely accuse others of around here.

Do explain since you insist on getting personal with me here.

80s Metal Lady wrote:

I can understand some Maiden comparison. I checked out "Damnation" again since it was so far ahead in the poll, and right at the beginning I thought "Remember Tomorrow." At times, the singer does sound a bit like Dickinson. Like you mentioned, during the wails. You're right, they are not that close to be a knock-off, though.

A lot of bands at the time sounded like Iron Maiden, oftentimes more so than the first Fates Warning album. Regardless, it doesn't matter, since a band such as Malice seems to get away with the fact that they're Judas Priest clones, albeit a good one.

Temple of Blood wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

I'm sure he does pride himself in listening to all different types of crappy music.  All Opeth fans do.

You are very much the definition of what you falsely accuse others of around here.

Do explain since you insist on getting personal with me here.

No need to. Others before me have done a fine job at stating the obvious. Happy trails.

So you make a cheap dig and then run away when I ask you to explain?

I'm not even sure what you are saying that I "falsely accuse" others of.

If anyone has "stated the obvious" about me it must've been years ago because I don't recall having read it.

Did I insult you personally? Because you are me.

Just bought the CD. This song stands out big time.
I thought the guitar kinda hinted at King Diamond's " Father Picard "
Fates is 1984 - King's 1990 - for all you sticklers !

This was a fun listen. Bonus extra at end of CD.
They actually recorded a practice room cover song - session.
The singer sounds very close to Dickinson ! Not Tate.

Hoping not to cause any drama, but I'd like to issue a public apology to ToB. My comments were uncalled for. I believe I was going through something at that time. Regardless, I regret what I posted. Sorry man.

I still can't jive with this band tho.

I believe that the band's early catalogue is their best and I own most of their cds. But for some reason, I never found their music to be that memorable. Needs lots of efforts to get into.

Great talent though.

Stop torchuring yourselves with Arch era and go for Alder fronted Fates. No Exit for metal, Parallels for catchiness, Perfect Symmetry as a balanced perfection.
Fates are my absolute favorite band and even I still sometimes lose my mind throughout ATG and especially TSW. Starting from Arch\Mateos might be a better idea to digest early Fates - Winter Ethereal is really nice recent work of theirs.

Great band. I found these guys back in high school and they just blew me away. I remember trading a friend for "No Exit" on cassette. He was getting deep into thrash and was ignoring pretty much everything else. I forget what I traded him, but I was glad I did. I quickly purchased Guardian, then got Perfect Symmetry. I grabbed Parallels as a new release. I didn't even know of Brocken and Spectre until the re releases in the mid 1990's. I saw them in the bin at a Newies and nearly shat myself. Amazing stuff. JA's style of vox is like no one else I have ever heard.

corplhicks wrote:

Hoping not to cause any drama, but I'd like to issue a public apology to ToB. My comments were uncalled for. I believe I was going through something at that time. Regardless, I regret what I posted. Sorry man.

I still can't jive with this band tho.

This is why I have much respect for you, Shay.

Great Album , altought not the most original from the bunch . But I like it a lot , first time I listened was in 1997 .

My first contact with Fates Warning was a double reissue of Night on Brockën and The Spectre Within . I was expecting the "Prog Metal" they are known for , but didn´t find any . Nevertheless these 2 are great albums , but I like the "Parallels" and "Perfect Symmetry" era better these days . but the John Arch material is a fine example of super complex , epic and dark Traditional Heavy Metal .

BearOnUnicycle wrote:

Stop torchuring yourselves with Arch era and go for Alder fronted Fates. No Exit for metal, Parallels for catchiness, Perfect Symmetry as a balanced perfection.
Fates are my absolute favorite band and even I still sometimes lose my mind throughout ATG and especially TSW. Starting from Arch\Mateos might be a better idea to digest early Fates - Winter Ethereal is really nice recent work of theirs.

I agree about No Exit being a very good album. I will be giving it a fresh spin in the car, on my way to work today.