Awaken the Guardian Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Awaken the Guardian? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Awaken the Guardian. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Awaken the Guardian ReviewI'm going to review here this new edition, more than the original album. We all know (and those who don't, should) that John Arch wrote some historic pages as the first vocalist of Fates Warning. This 2CDs/1DVD extended reissue of "Awaken the Guardian" has made a superb job in documenting that golden époque of these progressive metal pioneers.
First of all, the remastered version of the classic album (CD#1) has indeed a brighter sound than the original; but of course there is nothing new at this point in there. As expected, the haunting and unorthodox melodies of John Arch are the "meat" of this release, while the rest of the band completed the recipe with a bunch of odd tempo changes, a bold musicianship and a great attitude. For John Arch this was his third album, so at that moment he had finally found his voice and style. The finished product is simply a brilliant, revolutionary and beautiful work of art; and a milestone in the history of metal music.
CD#2 contains demo versions of three songs of the album, plus six other live songs. The value of this CD is more historical than anything else, as the quality of the sound is far from being top notch. However, the "rawer" feeling of it all transported me to those years when the history of progressive metal had still to be written. This second CD, at the very end, is a draft produced by the original writers of the final paper. The creation of something new can be felt in its most spontaneous form by listening to this CD. That's why I welcome it with open arms -- and ears.
Finally, enters the DVD. Seeing John Arch performing live, even if his performance was not perfect at all, is a sheer of an experience. You see how the guy cared about delivering the goods to his public, how he tried so hard to make his best on the stage in spite of the demanding pieces he had to sing. The sound and the image are certainly poor; but as Matheos has stated, this probably is the only existing live video footage of the 1986 line-up. And you'll see there that Zimmerman, Aresti, DiBiase and Matheos were already skilled musicians, even if they still were very young back then.
By the way, there are two things that impressed me on the DVD. Firstly, the introductory words from Mike Portnoy in the booklet. The sacred cow from Dream Theater gives credit to Fates Warning for creating a genre in which he and his bandmates made an entire career afterwards. A gentleman, this Portnoy! Secondly, there's a slideshow with more than 50 pictures, while the song "Guardian" plays in the background. That was all nostalgia and melancholy... I kind of relived the eighties thanks to it. In fact, it was like seeing pictures of my old good friends, back to a time when we cared about nothing but the next morning. We were so young, so naïve, so cool, so great! -- Thank you for the music, Fates! And you see? There are too many reasons for me to give to this whole package no less than all the stars in the Universe. Long live Fates! _\m/Awaken the Guardian Overview

Want to learn more information about Awaken the Guardian?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now