#FATES WARNING

[nofatclips]

Scars by Fates Warning

[metalcultbrigade]

Fates Warning - "Awaken the Guardian" 10/11/1986

[phantomlordreshiram]

New Tumblr Aesthetic Idea Thingy

Progressive Metal Album Covers. They’re weird, often liminal, but so cool looking.

[mezmer]

[thefairywithboots]

AHHH so I made a PDF of Fates Warning in book format with Reedsy. I decided to choose my longest fic as "practice." I was initially making PDF files from AO3 and backing them up onto the Internet Archive in case something ever happened to my account. But then @bijouxcarys told me about this (thank you thank you thank you), and I want to cry, this is so easy and convenient to use, and there's even a super convenient section for planning books, and I was so so happy because finally there's one that is free. 😭

But anyway, seeing my fic in this beautiful format just makes me want to write more. It's only a PDF but turning the pages in the IA reader feels like I am holding it in my hands.

[musicmags]

[rhythmmistress]

Time to pump some iron and listen to the music that I love!!!!

[mywifeleftme]

44: Fates Warning // Perfect Symmetry

Perfect Symmetry Fates Warning 1989, Metal Blade (Bandcamp)

As a teenager I almost certainly would’ve called prog metal or thrash my favourite genre of music, and I spent a lot of time listening to icily produced chops demonstrations in the vein of Fates Warning’s Perfect Symmetry (though, even as a head, I never cared much for this record in particular). I’ll pause here to play a game of Remember Some Guys.

Remember Some Guys (Prog Metal Edition)

Remember Watchtower?

Remember Anacrusis?

Remember Mekong Delta?

Remember Crimson Glory?

Remember Flotsam & Jetsam?

Remember Thought Industry?

I remember those guys! Anyway, Fates Warning at one time were considered one of the “Big Three” of ‘80s/‘90s prog metal, alongside Queensrÿche and Dream Theater, but the years have rendered them much more of a cult act (see: FW’s 26,000 Spotify listeners versus over a million each for DT and the ‘Ryche). I can think of a couple of reasons for this. Their early albums sound like straight up and down ‘80s traditional metal, if a group of guys had broken all its limbs with a set of golf clubs. The songs have huge, starry-eyed choruses, flashy solos, and some timeless riffs, but they jerk around at odd angles, thwarting the simple headbanger who just wants to gallop. As they moved through the ‘80s and ‘90s they reinvented themselves multiple times as first ur-technical Guitar Center porn (see: Perfect Symmetry), then mellow Queensrÿche-adjacent crossover hopefuls, and finally into a darker-hued sound influenced by latter-day King Crimson, Tool, and Peter Gabriel. A lot of their back catalogue is actually pretty good, but this restlessness (and leader Jim Matheos’ increasing taste for grey moods and flat melodies) soon saw them fall behind their peers in sales and influence.

Back to Perfect Symmetry. As you’ve probably gathered, I think this album sucks. Even when they were singing about giants and sorceresses, ‘80s Fates Warning never met a simple pleasure they weren’t compelled to complicate with bonkers time signature and tempo shifts. Sometimes those bait and switches and hairpin turns could be thrilling, as on the thrash-influenced numbers on No Exit, their previous album. Here though, you can practically see the band screwing up their faces (and their songs) into expressions of intense, tortured profundity. Everything fun about the band goes out the window in favour of plodding tempos, groaning pseudo-philosophy (sample: “Men of grandeur / blinding, numbing / with winsome wiles in specious styles”), and pointlessly busy playing that sounds like they arranged it using a circuit diagram. This also was not a good look for vocalist Ray Alder, who often gambles with the key when he shouldn’t.

I picked this album out of a dollar bin a few years ago out of old loyalty to the band and, given that it now fetches a decent little sum, I’m sure I’ll part with it eventually. But I’ll close with some words of praise for a band I’ve enjoyed a lot over the years: after Perfect Symmetry, Fates got this particular bug out of their system, and they never really returned to this style. Matheos in particular had a cool renaissance in the 2000s, and I’m very fond of his collaborations with Chroma Key’s Kevin Moore as OSI and his initial reunion with original Fates vocalist John Arch in 2003. Eh, in a 40-year career, they won’t all be winners right?

44/365

[sunseekerdeluxe]

Tunesday 43

Also heard this week:

Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue Tori Amos - Under the Pink Angel Dust - Marching for Revenge Armored Saint - Delirious Nomad Armored Saint - Saints Will Conquer Blind Guardian - Beyond the Red Mirror Blood Incantation - Starspawn Borknagar - Winter Thrice David Bowie - Blackstar Candlemass - Death Thy Lover Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus Chiaroscuro - Brilliant Pools of Darkness Cobra Spell - 666 Contrarian - Sage of Shekhinah Crimson Glory - Crimson Glory Cruciamentum - Obsidian Refractions Dare - Sacred Ground Deftones - Gore Dokken - Back for the Attack Dokken - Return to the East Live (2016) Dream Theater - LNF: When Dream and Day Unite Demos Dwelling Below - Dwelling Below Dying Fetus - Make Them Beg for Death Dying Wish - Symptoms of Survival Eclipse - Armageddonize Editors - In Dream FM - Indiscreet Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters Giraffe Tongue Orchestra - Broken Lines Insomnium - Winter's Gate Jethro Tull - Aqualung Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance Kayo Dot - Plastic House on Base of Sky Mannequin Pussy - Romantic Mastodon - Remission Mullmuzzler - Keep It to Yourself Nails - You Will Never Be One of Us Nine Inch Nails - Not the Actual Events Omnium Gatherum - Grey Heavens Operation: Mindcrime - Resurrection Phantom Winter - Her Cold Materials Poets of the Fall - Clearview Queensrÿche - Condition Hüman Ra - Duality Sodomisery - Mazzaroth Sumerlands - Sumerlands Ian Fletcher Thornley - Secrets Tremonti - Cauterize Virgin Steele - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part Two Weald and Woe - For the Good of the Realm White Lung - Paradise Chelsea Wolfe - Pain Is Beauty Year of the Cobra - ...In the Shadows Below

[anokha-swad]

“The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me belonged to the rain.”

- Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Such a masterpiece, and perfectly performed! I am almost in tears at the sheer beauty of this...

[nofatclips]

(Mostly the audience singing) We Only Say Goodbye by Fates Warning, live in Athens, Greece, 1999

[metalcultbrigade]

Fates Warning - No Exit 23/03/1988

[mezmer]

[thefairywithboots]

Fates Warning - Chapter 10

Summary: Bruce announces to the band that he is leaving, and they hold his farewell concert. After he says goodbye to everyone and leaves, the band starts talking about packing it in. But Dave convinces them to push forward and look for another singer.

Also on AO3

When summer came around, Bruce announced to the band that he was leaving.

No one was really surprised by this announcement, but no one was particularly happy about this news (except for Nicko, who practically shouted "Good riddance!" in Bruce's face.)

Dave was furious with Bruce for treating Janick like a doormat to the point that he made him cry, but Bruce had been his friend for years, and was the best singer that the band had ever had.

Janick was upset for obvious reasons. He had loved Bruce for three years, and was the reason that he joined Maiden in the first place. Even though he was in love with Dave now, he couldn't imagine where the band might go without him.

Steve seemed to be the only person who was as upset as Janick was. Even though he was in love with Nicko, Bruce had been his best friend for over a decade. He had been frustrated with him, and had been fighting with him a lot recently, but he didn't want him to leave. He had meant so much to him.

But the reality was that Bruce's heart just was not with Maiden anymore. He claimed that he didn't blame anyone for his leaving; not Steve, not Janick. Though he looked visibly pained every time he saw Janick with Dave now. So much so, that he hardly seemed to take notice of Steve and Nicko together.

Bruce of course planned on finishing the Real Live Tour, and they would perform his farewell concert in London in August. He tried multiple times to get Janick alone, to try and talk to him, to try and apologise for the things that happened between them. But Janick pulled away each time, refusing to fall into his trap again, knowing that even if his apology was sincere, it wouldn't last long. He refused to fall for it ever again, ignoring Bruce's pleading brown eyes as he walked past him at breakfast each morning.

It wasn't until Bruce caught Janick and Dave cuddled up together when they fell asleep on the tour bus, that he realised that he fucked up, and that he had truly lost Janick forever.

He hardly talked to anyone after that, though this time it seemed to be more out of shame than spite.

August finally came around, and it was decided upon that their last concert would be collaborating as a horror show with Simon Drake, a popular horror illusionist. There would be several acts planned out, and Bruce would be cinematically "killed" at the end of the show, symbolizing the death of his era with the band.

The day before the show, however, Janick was a nervous wreck. Bruce had made him miserable for the past two years, but he couldn't stop himself from feeling torn up inside about his leaving. The idea of never getting to talk to him, or write with him, again made his heart ache. 

"Are you okay?" Dave asked him one morning while in their hotel room when he noticed how tense Janick was.

Janick nodded. Dave had been supportive of him for months now, not complaining when he woke up crying in the middle of the night, and respecting his boundaries when he said he wasn't ready to be physically intimate yet. 

"It's just... Bruce was my best friend before we..." He trailed off. "And now that he's leaving... it hurts that I'm never going to get to see him again."

Dave wrapped his arms around Janick, enveloping him in his warmth. Janick hugged him back, wanting to bask in his warmth for as long as he could.

"It's okay to feel this way, Jan," Dave said softly. "He was our friend, too. We've toured together for many years, and now he's gone and done this..." It wasn't so much the fact that he was leaving, Dave thought, but how he treated Janick, and even Steve.

Jan hugged him tighter. "Davey?" he said in a small voice.

"Hm?"

"I love you..."

Dave kissed Janick's forehead softly, and his face scrunched up as if he wanted to cry. "I love you, too, Jan..." He hugged him tighter. "More than you can know..."

~~

When the band arrived at the venue the next day, Steve was already beginning to stress how important this gig was, since it would be their last one with Bruce. Janick had a horrible feeling in his stomach because he knew this would be his last time playing with Bruce. But he had to put those personal feelings aside, and act professional.

Dave and Janick were standing by their guitar rigs when Bruce came out of his dressing room. A frown came across his face, and he looked as if he wanted to talk to Janick, but walked away instead. 

The show went surprisingly well, despite the tension between Bruce and the rest of the band. They put on their best performance for their fans, Bruce sang each song as if it would be his last time singing them.

Meanwhile, Simon performed several macabre magic acts between songs, setting an audience member on fire before using the flames to light a cigar, ripping a woman’s heart out for allegedly cheating on him with Nicko, and sawing a bound woman in half at the end of Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter. 

Dave was also dragged off of the stage right before his solo in From Here to Eternity, and his hands were sawed off, and Simon came onstage to mime his solo as Dave played the original solo backstage. 

Just as planned, Bruce was dragged off the stage after the show, and forced into an iron maiden. After the spikes appeared to run through him, Simon wiped them before opening the door that revealed his face, blood pouring out of Bruce’s mouth.

Eddie, their mascot, jumped out from behind the iron maiden, chasing Simon back to centre stage before he was seized by his own dungeon assistants, and impaled on a spike before screaming in pain, and then suddenly going still.

Afterwards, Eddie opened the door to the iron maiden, beheading Bruce, lifting his head up for the audience to see in plain sight, and sticking it onto the same spike that Simon had been impaled on, symbolizing the death of his era with the band.

~~

Janick knew that Bruce was going to want to say goodbye to everyone face-to-face before he left for the airport, and he was bracing himself for it as he waited with the rest of the band in the hotel lobby. Dave sat next to him, clutching his hand. This was probably the only thing preventing Janick from panicking. The mood between them was sombre, and they knew that this was possibly the end of the entire band. What would they do without Bruce?

When Bruce entered through the front entrance and saw them waiting in the lobby, he smiled apologetically, as if he knew that they were all angry with him. Janick did not feel angry anymore, though; he just felt hurt.

Bruce hugged Steve and Dave goodbye, skipping Nicko because he looked as if he would punch him in the face if he so much as even thought about touching him. 

Bruce waited to tell Janick goodbye last, and Janick braced himself for the large puppy dog eyes and crocodile tears, telling him how oh so very sorry he was for how he treated him for the past two and a half years.

"Goodbye, Jan," Bruce said softly before pulling him into a tight hug. Janick hugged him back because he felt obligated to.

The hug lingered longer than the others did, and Janick could feel Bruce not wanting to let him go, as if he was regretting having to leave him. All of their memories together began coming back to him, and Janick began tearing up. 

Bruce finally released him, his hands gripped the sides of his arms, and he looked at him with the large brown eyes that Janick had anticipated.

"I'm...sorry. For everything." Bruce said, his voice breaking slightly as his eyes searched Janick's.

"I forgive you," Janick whispered. The words sounded hollow, even to his own ears. His and Bruce's relationship had emotionally exhausted him, and there was no way he was ever going back. But knowing that this was truly the end for them made him feel like crying. He forgave him, simply because he did not want there to be any bitterness or resentment when he left.

"I love you, Janick."

Janick bit his tongue and averted his eyes, resisting the urge to slap Bruce across the face for such a blatant lie.

A hurt look appeared on Bruce's face when Janick didn't respond, but went back to his seat to sit next to Dave. 

Janick watched as Bruce walked out the door, out of Maiden, and out of his life. He felt as if a massive load was taken off of his chest, but at the same time, he felt as if a chunk of him had been ripped away, leaving a massive, empty hole in his heart. 

Janick didn't realise that he had been crying until Dave's warm hand came to his face, gently wiping away his tears. 

"It's okay, Jan..." he whispered softly. 

Janick silently burst into tears, crying on Dave's warm shoulder. Dave wrapped his arms around Janick, as the four of them sat in the lobby, the sombre atmosphere stronger than ever.

~~

Everyone was upset about Bruce's departure. They had lost their vocalist, and Bruce had been the voice of Maiden, one of the most recognisable aspects of the band's sound. What was the band going to do without him? What choice did they have but to pack it in?

They were hanging out at Steve's house, sitting in his living room while drinking a few beers (Dave had bought a pack at the general store. He had got sick of scotch being the only drink in Steve's fridge.) Janick sat with his head in his hands, appearing to be more distraught than anyone else. Nicko watched him, a sympathetic look on his face. Even he had been upset by Bruce's departure, despite how much he hated to admit it.

Steve was rambling on about what they were going to do next, even considering retiring. Eventually, Dave got tired of having this conversation.

"Look, why the fuck should we give up just 'cause he is?"

Steve looked at him, surprised. It wasn't like Dave to curse so casually. "You mean...look for another singer?"

Janick raised his head when he heard this, a worried look in his greyish-blue eyes. 

"Davey's right," Nicko said while looking down at his own beer. "We shouldn't be givin' up just 'cause Bruce is. We should look for another singer, and start workin' on another album. We ain't dead yet!"

Janick's eyes widened in panick. "But..."

Dave noticed Janick's worried expression, and reached out to squeeze his hand. "It's going to be okay..."

Steve thought the notion through, and sighed. "Fine. I'll call Rod, and let 'im know."

He left the living room to make a call on the house phone, and Janick's eyes met Dave's.

"What are we going to do without Bruce?" he demanded, not caring about how emotional or worried he sounded.

Dave squeezed his hand, but that did little to calm Janick down. "It's all going to work out, okay?"

Word got out quickly that Iron Maiden were searching for a new singer, and mountains of tapes were being sent in by hopeful fans and other singers. The band spent days upon weeks in the studio with their manager, listening to tape after tape, trying their best to narrow down the candidates.

After eventually narrowing the candidates down to twelve singers who would have been able to sing Bruce's parts perfectly, Steve entered the studio announcing that he had found their next vocalist.

The rest of the band stared at him in surprise, because who he had chosen had not even sent a tape in the first place. And while he was in fact a great singer, his style of singing was drastically different than that of Bruce's.

He had chosen Blaze Bayley. 

TO BE CONTINUED...