When you are 15 years old with a wad of chore money you earned in your pocket and you have a love for music, a record store was like a kid in a candy store. This was at least the reality in my case. I remember earning $50.00 and was on my way to Los Angeles to the Sunset Strip where a very well know record store called Liquorice Pizza was located. This was 1985. My cousin was out to get some Judas Priest, Raven and Motorhead that he lacked in his collection.
As for myself I was out to get the new Iron Maiden Live After Death. As I was walking in the store I spotted a Metal Blade new releases cardboard stand up feature display. What I saw blew my mind it was like a black demon like with horns and bright blue eyes. This was Fates Warning’s Spectre Within. When I got it home on the turntable I was floored. I was a fan since. Waiting in anticipation for a future release, that day finally came in 1986 when Fates Warning released their follow up Awaken The Guardian.
I remember how utterly cool the album art work was. It looked like a portal into a new universe that the band had created with the music and lyrics in the songs. The arch was like a gateway into a multi universal dimension that the listener was about to embark on. Album art was extremely important in 1986 and sold 50% of the albums. Awaken The Guardian was no exception to this rule.
Part 1
Origins
Ever since Kansas debuted in the 1970’s, America had really never had a strong foothold in the world of progressive rock. Meanwhile on the metal side bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Diamonhead out of the United Kingdom were flourishing. Soon Germany would have its own answer for it with bands like Warlock, Helloween and Gamma Ray. This also not to mention that a Canadian powerhouse as RUSH was bridging both hard rock and progressive rock into a distinct sound since the early 1970’s .
In 1975 RUSH would create the first of many blueprint albums combining harder rock and progressive rock when it released Caress Of Steel and later 2112. Later the bands of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal like Iron Maiden, Saxon, Praying Mantis and Diamondhead would incorporate a more modern melodic sound. Around 1980 there was a tempest building in the Pacific Northwest of Seattle Washington in the form of Queensryche. It would create a perfect storm in the New England region of the United States and Fates Warning would be born.
Fates Warning would be one of the first metal and progressive metal bands on Metal Blade Records and would release Night On Brocken (1984) and Spectre Within (1985) before releasing Awaken The Guardian in (1986) .
Part 2
Awaken The Guardian
Despite some misconceptions, Fates Warning were no Iron Maiden knock off like a few branded them to be back in the day. They totally broke that myth with their previous releases Night On Brocken and Spectre Within. Fates Warning were even so much more than a metal band, they were one of America’s first real progressive metal band with a two guitar duo sound where as bands that would come after them came with a more keyboard ethereal polished sound. Fates Warning definitely did not play in the traditional metal 4/4 time signature. They really explored various time signatures and progressions.
The three major songwriters John Arch, Jim Matheos and Frank Aresti certainly have both a instrumental and lyrical cohesive vision on Awakening The Guardian. Musically Jim Matheos and Fran Aresti were doing for progressive metal what Robert Fripp and John Wetton were doing in King Crimson a decade earlier. On the rhythm section of Joe BiBiase – Bass and Steve Zimmerman– Drums they were doing what Chris Squire and Alan White were doing in Yes. Vocally John Arch held his own with the monsters of metal of the day like Bruce Dickinson, RonnieJames Dio and Rob Halford and John (Midnight) MacDonald of the fledgling Florida progressive/power metal band Crimson Glory. It was almost essential to have a towering voice in any form of metal back in that time.
Lyrically, this album follows a fantasy-based concept, which was one of the first of its kind. It almost seems mandatory to write a conceptual fantasy-based album in progressive and power metal today, and each band that does so tends to to revert back to the roots of this album given that it’s the pinnacle of this style. The lyrics, putting this bluntly, are some of the most beautiful I’ve ever read. The , lyrics were exceptional from how beautiful they were delivered it especially makes up for a wonderful story in the theater of the mind. The concept of this album occasionally varies but is ultimately about existence and life which the band would later develop further on in a more direct approach, aside from tackling the subject metaphorically. Like Dio era Rainbow and the classic progressive albums of the past ie. Yes’ Tales Of Topographic Oceans,Jethro Tull’s Thick As A Brick and Rush’s 2112 and Caress Of Steel, Fates Warning’s Awaken The Guardian forced the listener to use their own imaginations, create their own worlds of fantasy, dragons and lands of dark enchantment.
Awaken The Guardian would also mark John Arch’s last official album with Fates Warning. Although there were no videos for MTV which were practically necessary at the time, there really did not need to be. With all the great musical and lyrical content on Awaken The Guardian, it was enough to paint full motion pictures inside the theater of the mind of its fans and listeners. Awakening The Guardian had a wide influence. After its release there seemed to be an explosion of progressive rock bands such as Watchtower, Savatage, Crimson Glory, Dream Theater, Symphony X , Vanden Plas, etc … to name a few.
For fans of John Arch era Fates Warning who attend this years Prog Power event in Atlanta, Georgia are in for a treat. The Awakening The Guardian line up including John Arch are doing the entire Awaken The Guardian live. Happy 30th Anniversary to Fates Warning’s Awaken The Guardian.
Rolling with Rock Royalty is a humorous memoir by British Rock Keyboardist, BRIAN C. CHATTON, covering his 50+ year career.
Veteran keyboardist and performer, Brian C. Chatton — whose 50 PLUS YEAR CAREER, encompasses all incarnations of the so-called ” British Invasion ” which helped to shape MODERN POPULAR MUSIC — has led a storied life, far different from that of his humble beginnings, in Northern England’s Lancashire province.
He is ENGAGING, WITTY, an EXCELLENT STORYTELLER, and VERY HUMBLE for someone of his caliber and level of expertise – a quality that has served him well with colleagues, friends and admirers throughout the years. This engaging memoir is the result of being encouraged for many years to finally commit to paper the story of his amazing journey, which is replete with many of the unique “ Brianisms ” which he has come to be associated with over the years, as well as a healthy dose of characteristic British self-deprecation and understatement.
“ Please ‘ LIKE ‘ this page, and invite your friends to join as well! ” Check back often for FURTHER INFORMATION, UPDATES, TRIVIA, QUIZZES, and other general silliness! “
For the last 50 years Germany has been a global stronghold for heavy metal, hard rock and progressive epic power metal. The obvious origins began in 1965 with the debut of the Scorpions. The Scorpions would certainly keep Germany as a hot bed for hard rock based heavy metal until the early part of the 1980’s. In the 1980’s and explosion of heavy metal and power metal was happening at a serious rate. Then in the 1980’s something happened in Germany. They had taken a lot of the lyrical influence of bands like Rainbow and later Dio and added the aggressive power filter of New Wave Of BritishHeavy Metal bands like Diamond Head and more importantly Iron Maiden and created a sub genre that would endure the test of time. This would be called Power Metal. Bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray, Warlock, Blind Guardian would all pioneer this metal movement that would later catch a eternal stronghold in the European Metal Summer Festival circuits with Festivals like Pinkpop and the the festival of festivals Wacken Open Air in Germany.
The roads laid and ground work done due to these pioneers would make it totally possible for a band like Human Fortress to come along with such conviction and force. Human Fortress came up on my personal musical radar back in 2001 with their stellar debut Lord Of Earth And Heaven’s Heir. I can remember how much more different and distinct it was in sound compared to its peers at the time. Where their peers like Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray and others were incorporating more speed passages within the instrumental structure of their material, Human Fortress had a bit slower more progressive and epic metal approach to the power metal structure. It did not seem all rushed nor did it sound the same with every track. It sounded like every track was more organic with slower tempos and heavier rhythms at the time.
Human Fortress have seemed to stay on this path and with 2016’s Thieves Of The Night it is no different and actually a well written and produced album. There is another amazing fact about the band. Despite the ever changing line up of band members, Human Fortress has not only maintained the integrity within their sound but also have improved and built upon it. This makes the result of Thieves Of The Night one of their strongest albums to date and keeping their stellar sound intact. Now a little breakdown of Human Fortress Thieves Of The Night.
Amberstow has a beautiful acoustical opening before taking off at the :27 mark with a blistering rhythmic melody. This is soon accompanied with a solid lead vocal that has a a solid backing vocal harmony. The drum/bass rhythm section along with the rhythm guitar anchor the track while the stringed section clashes with a melodic and harmonic balance. The double guitar really does the track justice as Torsten Wolf and Volker Trost interchange the lead and rhythm melody out much like Dowing and Tipton of Judas Priest have over so many years.
Last Prayer to the Lord opens with a great rhythm based guitar section. It is a very straight away crunchy rhythmic section with nice clean vocal harmonies. The backing vocals perfectly compliment the lead. The back melodies almost serve as a second lead instrumental and vocal in how they run side by side with the main lead parts. at the 2:55 mark the twin guitar serves both as a double lead and rhythm along with a few breaks where the keyboards accentuate the composition.
Rise or Fall takes a more traditional power metal intro with galloping speed passages and progressions. It is soon met with another power metal hallmark where the vocals will make it easier for the listener to follow. The result maybe one of those tracks that a live audience will sing back to the band which is now a power metal staple. The twin lead guitar attack really gives the track a lot of power in both melody and harmony.
Thieves Of The Night opens with a nice little drum passage before the bass and guitars bring in the full rhythmic section. This track takes a more stringed section lead approach both instrumentally and lyrically. The lead and backing vocals are almost in perfect sync giving the listener a more choral experience overall vocally. The track is just as balanced with two great lead guitar solos. This track shows the band really coming into a cohesive unit.
Thrice Blessed has a lot of rhythm sections and signatures going on. It seems there are breaks where the band takes the track in many different progressive directions. Unlike some power metal outfits, Human Fortress also dig into progressive rock and metal’s past especially along the pathways of Crimson Glory, Fates Warning and Watchtower of the 1980’s and early Dream Theater in the 1990’s.
Hellrider is certainly one of the more progressive tracks on the album. Although it contains many straight away power metal staples there is a very heavy and strong progressive metal underbelly almost in the vein of their German countrymen Vanden Plas and Norway’s Jorn Lande. There is some very powerful straight away heavy rhythmic sections running along with strong lead guitar lead stringed sections.
Just a Graze is flat out a heavily Helloween influenced track with the galloping rhythmic sections, strong guitar leads and vocal harmony’s. Much like the Helloween track Its Helloween. Some of Just a Graze even takes on some influence off Keeper of The Seven Keys Parts 1 &2 .
Vicious Circle opens with a beautiful double lead guitar before a killer bass/drum rhythm section kicks in and takes off with the track. The vocal harmonies are really super tight. The vocal harmonies are at the level of a choir harmony at times. They are very clean. At the 2:11 mark the track does takes some unusual progressive time signatures almost in a SymphonyX manner.
Smite on the Anvil is a perfect segue instrumental for the next vocal oriented track Dungeons of Doom.
Dungeons Of Doom starts out with a great rhythmic section that has some nice underlying breaks while the lead guitar carries it towards the vocal opening at the 1:00 mark. Dungeons Of Doom lyrically is a track about one asking to be put out of his misery. The rhythm sections are very bottom heavy with great double bass drum blast beats at a more progressive level than a power metal level. The lead guitar and string section almost play in harmony at times with the bottom heavy rhythmic section. Gift of Prophecy begins with a warm inviting acoustical section on one guitar and a semi acoustic lead on the other half of the guitar duo. At the 1:00 mark the track takes on both prog and power metal characteristics. At one end the galloping power metal signature with a underlying set of progressive time signature passages. The vocals are really in total sync and harmony. You also have various guitar lead solo changing all through the track.
Alone is the ballad of the album if there is a ballad. It opens with a lush warm piano passage and gives the listener of the album a much needed break from the heavier assault in the prior tracks. It is full of vocal melody and harmony almost borderline AOR but not quite. A warm drum and bass rhythm enter without overwhelming the listener. Alone is a perfectly arranged track to finish the album with. Human Fortress have once again proven why they are one of Germany’s best power progressive metal bands with Thieves of the Night. Despite many lineup changes the band continues to mature with every release. They have proven as well why Germany is a major world hub for vocal oriented harmonic power progressive metal. Thieves of the Night did not disappoint here. I give it a 5/5 for sheer mature well written prog power oriented metal.
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