Fates Warning--"FWX"

[Mae Dae]

I read so much praise for this record that I was expecting much, much more. For starters, I'm finding it hard to understand why there had to be so many mid-tempo tracks on this cd, as there have been on the past 4 releases.

As much as I love Ray, he is sounding tired (Parallels and Perfect Symmetry are amongst my fave cds of all time!)! The chain smoking is obviously affecting his voice. When I saw them for APSOG, I was surprised to see him smoking cigarette after cigarette before the show. He still sounded pretty good at that point (he was able to pull off all of the high notes in 'Aquiescence'!!) Needless to say, this is no longer the case. He is straining to hit ANY high's and he sounds weathered, overall.

The cd reminds me a lot of APSOG and Disconnected, but the tracks fail to take the listen into unchartered territory.

 

[Slipperman]

Well, after a few listens, I'm prepared to say that Fates Warning's latest CD titled "FWX" is the best they've ever done, and probably will be my CD of the year. It's THAT good...Hightly recommended.

i'm one (or at least was one) of the biggest FW fans around but i didn't like FWX at all. this whole new atmospheric thing they've been doing since Shade just doesn't appeal to me.

 

[The Stormbringer]

I got hold of a custom-made FW compilation some weeks ago, and I should crucify myself for not recognizing their "later" works ("Perfect Symmetry" and on). They're all equally amazing, but I like the FWX tracks the best as far as the vocals are concerned!
I know "Left Here", "Simple Human", "A Handful Of Doubt" and "Wish" so far, and they contain some of the most powerful vocal lines I've heard lately. If somebody had told me that Alder would sing like this one day back then when I heard "No Exit", I wouldn't have believed it. He even sounds a tad like Doug in "A Handful Of Doubt"!