Best Fates Warning Album?

[Altitudes]

What's the best Fates Warning album in your opinion. I must be a poseur because I am just discovering them (have heard the name, never bothered checking them out), and damn they are pretty cool. It seems like their early stuff is more thrash metal, while their later material is prog.

So, which album do you recommended I should get first? Or do you guys not like them?

 

[Yossarianus]

Fates Warning - Disconnected. Begin here. Simply orgasmic.
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray. I have no words to describe what this album means to me.

 

[rebirth]

NO EXIT TO START OF WITH THEN GO AWAKEN, THEN PARELLS THEN TWIST AND TURN WITH PERRECT S

THERE ARE A MOOD BAND, SPOT THE INFLUENCES IN THE CD'S IT IS LIKE SMELLING AND TASTING A MUSHROOM.

 

[DreamNeonBlack]

From the John Arch era Awaken the Guardian
I've always been partial to Perfect Symmetry and Parallels though pretty much all of their stuff rules. Parallels is the "easiest" probably to get into and the CD the band says they would use to introduce someone new.
It kind of depends on what you are looking for, thrash style, prog style, moody stuff etc. Fates does it all, with more style and class then the "other" big prog band.

 

[azal]

yeah check out awaken the guardian for the early period stuff. it's really an amazing album and there has never been any in metal that writes so intricate but yet subtle vocal melodies like John Arch. He really is one of a kind.

And Parallels is probably the one to start with in the Ray era, everything before that is a little more metallic and everything after becomes a little lighter, Inside Out is very Rush-like, and as someone said, A Pleasant Shade... is a masterwork of prog metal, nothing like it and very engaging and creative the whole way through.

Not a fan of anything after that album unfortunately.

 

[sixstringer76]

Perfect Symmetry is my fave .

 

[buzz21]

Perfect Symmetry is my fave .

No doubt whatsoever - Perfect Symmetry is not only the best FW album, but one of my all-time top 10 albums in any genre or style. It has impeccable guitar playing with great songs - a masterful combination of technical ability and feeling.

 

[Deconstruct my Reality]

I like Disconnected...

 

[SickBoy]

Parallels for me!

 

[derrickm]

Perfect Symmetry is what got me into the Prog genre. One of my all time favs!

 

[theoden236]

I would have to say No Exit, which was the first one I ever got. Followed very closely by FWX.

 

[guitarguru777]

For me Parallels

 

[fading]

Awaken the Guardian is my all time favorite album. Just amazing to listen to.

 

[Dreadful]

I used to like them, now I'm not the biggest fan. No Exit and Parallels bored me.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

The Spectre Within is my favorite, but it's Maiden-worship and I would only recommend it if you're a fan of such. A Pleasant Shade of Grey and Disconnected are easily their most progressive and mature albums and the ones I would get if expected a true progressive metal band, but they're not instant-love albums either. Parallels is their shiniest and most easy-listening type album, but depending on how much you like Queensryche-esque quasi-prog, it could either hook you immediately or bore you and prevent you from discovering their other albums, most of which are different from one another. So try all four of those albums to start.

 

[Altitudes]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I guess this thread was useless in the end, since I just torrented the whole discography. Seems like the consensus is Parallels, Perfect Symmetry, and A Pleasant Shade of Grey are most people's favourites.

 

[DreamNeonBlack]

Need a full report after you digest a few albums worth of material.

 

[theoden236]

Don't forget to use Times New Roman font and double-spacing, as well as 1/2" margins.

 

[DreamNeonBlack]

And would it kill you to make a nice title page for once?