𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
August 22, 1989 — Fates Warning released their fifth studio album, Perfect Symmetry via Metal Blade Records (Music For Nations in the UK). (Listen)
A remastered edition was reissued on June 10, 2008 together with a bonus disc containing studio demos, as well as a DVD of live performances from the 1989–90 Perfect Symmetry world tour. It was with this album that the band's more modern, progressive direction was established.
The album was recorded at Carriage House Studios, Stamford, Connecticut.
More About Perfect Symmetry:
Perfect Symmetry was Fates Warning's second album with singer Ray Alder, who fully participated in the writing of the album.
Guitarist and founding band member Jim Matheos describes Alder as having "𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚟𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 (𝚘𝚗 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚂𝚢𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚢). 𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚏𝚏. 𝙸𝚝‘𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝’𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚠𝚊𝚢. 𝙱𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖, 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎, '𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛!'"
(𝚁𝚊𝚢 𝙰𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚕 𝙳𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝟷𝟿𝟾𝟿 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚂𝚢𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢)
It was also the band's first album with drummer Mark Zonder, who, according to Matheos, "𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚜 𝚐𝚘 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚘 𝚒𝚗. 𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚁𝚊𝚢 𝚓𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚏𝚎𝚠 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎."
Zonder confirmed in a 2011 interview that Matheos was pushing the songwriting in a more progressive direction:
"𝙸𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚢. 𝚂𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙹𝚒𝚖 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚢-𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚞𝚙 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗."
Nothing Left to Say was featured on the soundtrack to the 1991 film Freddy's Dead - The Final Nightmare.
An instrumental version of At Fates Hands, renamed At Fate's Fingers, was released on the 1991 compilation album Guitar's Practicing Musicians Vol. 2.
Critical Reception:
Critical reception for Perfect Symmetry has been mostly positive. Robert Taylor at AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars and said, "𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝙵𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚕𝚞𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚙‘𝚜 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍; 𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝚉𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛‘𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚚𝚞𝚎 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌."
(𝙵𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚂𝚢𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚛, 𝟷𝟿𝟾𝟿)
Trey Spencer at Sputnikmusic gave the album five stars out of five, describing it as "𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎" and saying, “𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚐 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚖 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚋𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚞𝚙 𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎."
The album was relatively successful in the charts, reaching No. 141 on the U.S. Billboard 200 (the second-highest position in the band's history) and remaining on that chart for nine weeks. Fates Warning would not have another album enter the Billboard 200 until Darkness in a Different Light in 2013.
(𝙼𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙿𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚗𝚘𝚢, 𝙹𝚒𝚖 𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚘𝚜, 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝚉𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙺𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚘𝚛𝚎)
Watch the Official Music Video for Through Different Eyes.
Notice: Any 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
Follow Us:
