A foundation stone of progressive metal. Awaken the Guardian is Fates Warning’s 1986 third album: the soaring, mystical high point of their original John Arch era, and one of the records that helped define the genre.

The short version

The third album by Fates Warning, released in 1986 on Metal Blade Records; eight tracks that stand as one of the foundational works of progressive metal. It is the last album with original vocalist John Arch, whose soaring, acrobatic voice and dense, fantastical lyrics define its character, and the first with guitarist Frank Aresti. Recorded by the classic early line-up of Arch, Jim Matheos, Aresti, Joe DiBiase and Steve Zimmerman, and the band’s first to reach the Billboard 200, it remains a landmark of the genre’s formative years.

The John Arch era at its peak

By 1986 Fates Warning had already released two albums of ambitious heavy metal, but Awaken the Guardian was where their progressive instincts fully bloomed. Guitarist Frank Aresti had joined, giving the band a formidable twin-guitar front line alongside Jim Matheos, the band’s chief composer, and the songwriting reached a new level of sophistication and complexity. It would prove the final album with original singer John Arch, whose extraordinary vocals are central to its legend; he left the following year and was replaced by Ray Alder. Produced with Metal Blade founder Brian Slagel, the album became the band’s first to reach the US charts and a cornerstone of early progressive metal.

The sound

A heady, ambitious blend of power and heavy metal with the emerging language of progressive metal, occasionally brushing up against thrash at its most intense. Dark, Sabbath-tinged riffs and galloping, Maiden-like rhythms are woven into long, shifting arrangements by the twin guitars of Matheos and Aresti, while Joe DiBiase and Steve Zimmerman drive the music with muscle and agility. Above it all soars John Arch’s remarkable voice — high, acrobatic and endlessly expressive — carrying dense, mystical and fantastical lyrics that give the album its distinctive, otherworldly character.

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The songs

The album opens with the dark, powerful The Sorceress and the headlong Valley of the Dolls, takes in the galloping Fata Morgana and the acknowledged masterpiece Guardian, which moves between delicate acoustic passages and soaring, complex heaviness. Prelude to Ruin is another high point, the instrumental Time Long Past offers a moment of respite, and the closing Exodus rounds off a record with barely a weak moment. Throughout, it is the interplay of the twin guitars and Arch’s astonishing vocals that lingers longest.

Reception and legacy

Awaken the Guardian has come to be regarded as a landmark of early progressive metal and one of the most influential albums of its kind, revered above all for John Arch’s performance and the sophistication of its songwriting. Its reputation has only grown since its release, and in 2016 the band reunited the album’s original line-up to perform it in full for its thirtieth anniversary. For many, it remains the defining statement of Fates Warning’s first era.

The verdict

A rich, ambitious and hugely influential album, and the crowning achievement of Fates Warning’s John Arch era: dark, complex, fantastical metal delivered with extraordinary vocal power. Come to it for Guardian, Prelude to Ruin and the soaring voice at the heart of it all. Where the later A Pleasant Shade of Gray shows the band’s atmospheric, Ray Alder-fronted maturity, Awaken the Guardian captures their formative brilliance — and it is essential listening for anyone tracing the roots of progressive metal.

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