Review by Michael for Fates Warning - The Spectre Within (1985)

Firstly let me preface my review by saying I'm not a fan of power metal style vocals, especially so when they are used to excess as I feel they are across this album. 

At the time (1985) this album was extremely influential, with prog still in its infancy and rarely venturing into the heavier elements of music. The album showcases some great examples of key changes, rhythmical and tonal changes throughout but in my opinion the overbearing vocals take away from the experience. Some outlying songs from the album are below;  

Traveler in Time - The vocalist seems to be singing in a completely different key and rhythm to the rest of the band, which is great when its done skillfully and tied back in regularly, but unfortunately this is not a good example. The tone changes are great, giving a great emphasis on the heavier riffs by dialing it back for a few bars only to come back in heavier than ever.

Orphan Gypsy - Killer riffs throughout, especially at the start but this song is ruined by the out of tune yoko ono shreaking (for reference - https://youtu.be/h9kgu71d81U).

Pirates of the underground - Rhythmically focused riffs that are some of the best on the album, then the vocals come in.. lots of great changes throughout the song which adds to the journey, 4:57 onward being my personal favorite bit! (https://youtu.be/BRi2G3ARoO8?t=1372)

Epitaph - The longest song of the album peaked my interest, I was hoping for a repeating theme built to an epic wall of sound, but what this song delivered was 2 separate songs mascaraing as one.