- Country: USA
- Style: Progressive metal
- Label: InsideOut Music
- Release date: 1 July 2016
This deep into their career, Fates Warning made one of their heaviest and most focused records. Jim Matheos produced Theories of Flight himself, and his guitar tone is thick and dark, the riffs leaning harder than on most of what the band did in the 2000s. Heavier doesn’t mean colder, though.
“From the Rooftops” starts in hushed, atmospheric territory before the band kicks the door in, and it sets up the album’s pattern of patience followed by force. “Seven Stars” is the catchiest song here, a tight, melodic rocker with Ray Alder at his most soulful, while “SOS” is short, tense and direct. The two long pieces, “The Light and Shade of Things” and “The Ghosts of Home”, are the heart of the record: slow builds, shifting time signatures and some of Matheos’ most emotional writing in years. Frank Aresti drops in for guest solos and adds a nice flash of colour.
Not everything lands. “White Flag” feels a bit stiff next to the epics, and the closing title track ends things on a slightly anticlimactic note. Still, for a band this far along to sound this hungry is something to celebrate.
Best tracks:
The Light and Shade of Things
Seven Stars
The Ghosts of Home
From the Rooftops
Author’s rating: 8.5/10
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