I've listened to the new album about 10 times. Some of it just doesn't resonate with me. Some of the experimenting with sounds just goes a little bit too far for me.
I never wanted Jazz Warning, yet I get about 6 minutes of it. It's interesting from a musicians standpoint, but its not Fates Warning. "The Longest Shadow Of The Day" is interesting in it's odd, non-FW styling. But it doesn't quite feel right. The song only truly starts when Ray starts singing, and the last 5 minutes of this song is almost classic FW, but how many people will sit through that first six minutes to get there?
There are at least two tracks here that sound like Theories of Flight outtakes. "Glass Houses" and "Liar" just don't do much for me. The chorus of "Liar" is reminiscent of something “Parallels” era. but once again, not a strong song.
The alt-grunge "Begin Again" has some interesting things going, like the drums. But, once again, it's just not Fates Warning to me. Is it a bad song? Absolutely not! It's just unexpected and it feels like a square peg in a round hole.
Now, the good...
“When Snow Falls” reminds me of that “Disconnected” moodiness, and the electronic drums of Gavin Harrison add to the effects. This song feels like a new direction that I could appreciate if this road was a chosen path. This song grew on me a bit after each listen.
“Now Comes The Rain”, the second single released previous to the full length, may be the best song FW has ever written. Ray harmonizing with himself has a beauty about it that steals my breath away. More moodiness, guitar magic and touches of echo on the vocals, all to great effect.
“The Way Home” begins the middle part of the album with more touches of melancholy. Slow guitar intro leads us into the song. “Say goodbye, you’re going home...your heart aglow...you think about the times you were holding on to those who have always shown...that the world sometimes is not so cold...” Deep introspective lyrics by Ray which makes me feel like somebody is trying to find the words to say goodbye. After reading some of the newer reviews, I guess Ray is trying to say goodbye since this most likely is the final Fates Warning recordings we will hear.
Track #1, “The Destination Onward” starts the disc with a very ethereal and moody beginning. Guitar with some spacey delay plays over a haunting keyboard...Slow crunchy guitars enter the fray, adding to the moodiness “...it’s been long since I’ve been home...it seems like a dream to me...” Ray sounds magnificent here and the song takes a “Theories of Flight” type riff into the main part of the song. A great beginning!
Overall, I feel that this could have been a great Fates Warning album had they only trimmed about 30 minutes of excess off of the running time. The odd non-Fates Warning sounding stuff for some reason really turned me off on a lot of the new songs. Ray sounds incredible throughout, many of Matheos' song structures and ideas were well thought out and the recording and mix is solid.
7.5/10. On par with "Darkness In A Different Light" as the worst Fates Warning album, which is still better than 99% of other bands output.
