Location: Ljubljana / Orto Bar / Slovenia
Date: Tuesday, 10/15/2013
Fates Warning! A name that makes fans of the classic eighties metal era prick up their ears. They’re one of the first American bands to build on the legacy of the British wave of heavy metal and, with the help of the speed metal formula, start shaping it into the unique direction of progressive metal in the mid-eighties, which is why they’re so highly respected among metal audiences. But Fates Warning didn’t stay stuck in the eighties. Even after the golden age of metal ended, they marched confidently down the path of their own vision and, over thirty years, grew into one of the most distinctive metal bands on the planet. Bands of their caliber aren’t frequent visitors to Slovenian club stages, so their debut gig in the little country under Triglav last year was a real mini-celebration, and the success of that show convinced the promoter to bring the band back to our neck of the woods almost exactly a year and a half later.
This year, after an almost decade-long studio drought, Fates Warning came back with the album “Darkness in a Different Light,” one of the darkest releases of their career, and promoting it was the reason for a new European tour, which stopped at Ljubljana’s Orto Bar in mid-October.
Before the Americans, though, the Slovenian crowd got to meet Norway’s Divided Multitude, a band whose roots reach deep back to the mid-nineties. The five-piece fought a lack of space the whole time: the already cramped stage was further limited by a double drum kit (one was already waiting for Bobby Jarzombek), so they couldn’t turn all the energy their musical style holds into movement. Divided Multitude work in progressive metal waters, but rather than sophisticated arrangements, they focus on building atmosphere with a high dose of melody, so some of the choruses even veered into epic power metal anthems in the vein of Edguy. Keyboardist Eskild Kloften wasn’t having his day – not only was he hidden in the dark behind a speaker on the far right side of the stage, but the sound of his keyboards was muddy in the mix, so we were deprived of all the complexity the band is actually capable of. All the sonic building blocks gravitated toward singable melodicism, but frontman Sindre Antonsen, with a not-quite-charismatic enough voice, couldn’t add the finishing touch it needed. The Norwegians won over some sympathy from the Ljubljana crowd and, judging by a post on their Facebook profile, they enjoyed the show themselves. Everybody’s happy, then!
A break followed, which unexpectedly dragged on for a few extra minutes because the crew had forgotten guitarist Jim Matheos at the hotel. Besides him, the lineup consisted of frontman Ray Adler, bassist Joey Vera, the aforementioned drummer Bobby Jarzombek, and on this tour the second classic guitarist, Frank Aresti, was replaced by young Mike Abdow.
From the opening bars, Fates Warning showed how it’s done! I remember a few years ago the legendary Štorklja said this is one of the very few bands capable of playing their studio originals perfectly live. He probably wasn’t far off. The crystal-clear sound of Orto Bar only amplified the quintet’s incredible tightness and live power, and in true form they kicked off the show in fifth gear right away.
Though their compositions are much more elementary than those of the more famous Dream Theater, Fates Warning also cultivate a progressive, technically demanding style of music in the true sense of the word. The twin-guitar attack gives them hard riffing grips, which Ray Adler uses as a springboard for his vocal performance. Adler is an exceptionally charismatic personality with an innate feel for interpretation, which, given the deep meaning in their lyrics, is one of the strongest aspects of the band’s execution. This time, too, Adler was the main point of interaction between band and crowd, who joined the upbeat frontman (with his recognizable sleek hair grown back) in singing along to the biggest classics, such as Life in Still Water, The Eleventh Hour, Point of View and Through Different Eyes. On the left side of the stage, none other than the man with the bushy hairdo reigned: guitarist Jim Matheos. The band’s main creative force came across as pensive and deadly serious on stage, handing the conductor’s baton over to Adler, and his simple, natural approach seemingly contradicted the technically demanding lines that flowed from his fingers with textbook precision. Just as flawless was stand-in guitarist Mike Abdow, replacing Frank Aresti, who recently moved to California and simply ran out of time for the current tour. Abdow found himself in the thankless role of standing in Aresti’s big boots, but he handled it well. He’s a technically well-schooled guitarist, so not once during the show did he glance at the tabs he kept at his side just in case. For the band’s fanatical followers, Fates Warning are hard to imagine without the Matheos / Aresti duo, so the broken partnership was definitely the minus of this tour, but the Americans still managed to squeeze the most out of the situation. The tempo was dictated by two seasoned musical old hands, Jarzombek and Vera, the main culprits behind the band’s tightness. How else could you explain the near-perfect performance of Part III (Shade of Gray), where knowing each other’s playing inside out was key.
The setlist didn’t change much from last year’s, except for three tracks from the still-fresh-off-the-press “Darkness in a Different Light.” Fates Warning fully trust their post-eighties material, so (sadly for many of their fans) they almost completely ignore the era of the albums “No Exit” (1988) and “Perfect Symmetry” (1989), the years when they turned into a true prog metal beast. Coming back for the encore, besides the standard closer Still Remains, they surprisingly treated us to A Handful Of Doubt as a parting gift, yet another in a line of deeply expressive, atmospheric highlights of the evening!
We ended last year’s Rockline report on the Fates Warning gig with the hope that the band would someday make it to our parts again. That happened very soon indeed. Fates Warning have once again delivered an extraordinary trip through the depths of their unique formula, which, teamed up with the sonic perfection of Orto Bar, turned into a mecca for prog metal fans near and far for a good hour and a half.
author: Urban Bolta
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
FATES WARNING:
1. One Thousand Fires
2. Life in Still Water
3. One
4. A Pleasant Shade of Gray, Part III
5. Another Perfect Day
6. Down to the Wire
7. A Pleasant Shade of Gray, Part VI
8. Pieces of Me
9. I Am
10. The Eleventh Hour
11. Point of View
12. Firefly
13. Through Different Eyes
14. A Pleasant Shade of Gray, Part XI
15. Monument
—encore—
16. Still Remains
17. A Handful Of Doubt
DIVIDED MULTITUDE:
1. Esperanto
2. Feed On Your Misery
3. Scars
4. Promised Land
5. The World Is Watching
6. Enter Paradise
7. 247
8. What I See
