FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
On November 10, 1986, Fates Warning released their third full-length studio album Awaken the Guardian via Metal Blade Records.
It is the first Fates Warning album to feature guitarist Frank Aresti and the last with original singer John Arch, who was replaced by Ray Alder on their subsequent 1988 album No Exit.
Background:
In 1986, original guitarist Victor Arduini left the band and was replaced by Frank Aresti, and the album, Awaken the Guardian was released in November of that year. It has been regarded as a groundbreaking and essential Progressive Metal release, working towards creating a more mythical atmosphere and a more fully realized progressive approach in song form; with complex and unusual riffs, and numerous tempo changes amidst frenetic and evocative vocal lines, however maintaining a basic fluidity. Awaken the Guardian also made history by becoming the first album released on Metal Blade to enter the Billboard 200 chart, reaching No. 191 and remaining on that chart for four weeks. The subsequent tour in support of the album saw Fates Warning sharing the stage with bands like Queensrÿche and Saxon.
Awaken the Guardian has been reissued several times. The first was as part of a double album with No Exit in 1992, followed by a remastered edition in 1994, and once again as a deluxe Digipak edition on June 28, 2005. The latter includes a bonus disc containing demos and live tracks, as well as a DVD of a concert from December 28, 1986, at the Sundance Club in Long Island, New York; this being the only known video footage of the Awaken the Guardian line-up performing live at that time.
Special 30th Anniversary Reunion:
In 2016, to celebrate 30 years since the album's release, Matheos reassembled the Awaken the Guardian era lineup for two special festival appearances: Keep it True XIX in Lauda-Konigshofen, Germany and Prog Power USA XVII in Atlanta, GA.
Critical Reception:
Robert Taylor at AllMusic gave Awaken the Guardian three stars out of five, calling it "a closet classic from the underground Metal years of the '80s" and the song Guardian being noted as a highlight. As with Fates Warning's previous album The Spectre Within (1985), Taylor recommended it more for fans of Heavy Metal than Progressive Metal, remarking that "the song structures are too rudimentary to be called progressive."
Jeff Wagner at Decibel Magazine ranked the album at No. 134 in the Decibel Hall of Fame, saying it was "one of the celebrated masterworks of the genre."
Adrien Begrand at PopMatters, reviewing the 2005 reissue, called it the best of Fates Warning's catalog, adding that "such a stirring combination of traditional Metal and progressive sounds would never be duplicated by the band", and concluding that "Awaken the Guardian still resonates with life today" and it "solidifies Fates Warning's place in Metal history."
Loudwire named it in No. 4 on its list Top 25 Progressive Metal Albums of All Time.
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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