Artist: NORTH SEA ECHOES [FATES WARNING]
Album: REALLY GOOD TERRIBLE THINGS VINYL (LP BLACK)

Year: 23.02.2024
EAN/UPS: 039841607512
Media type: LP

Ray Alder and Jim Matheos' musical legacy is vast and lauded, both as collaborators and individuals. Alder has been the vocalist and main co-writer for prog metal heroes Fates Warning for the past 35 years. With them, he has recorded 10 albums between 1988 (No Exit) and 2020 (Long Day Good Night). Further rounding out his discography are seven albums with Redemption, two solo albums, and the band A-Z with Mark Zonder, which debuted in 2022.

Prolific and pioneering guitarist/producer Matheos is a co-founder of Fates Warning, the lineup debuting with 1984's Night on Bröcken on Metal Blade. In addition to 13 albums with Fates, Matheos' myriad other work includes several solo albums, four albums alongside former Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore, under the name OSI, and new band, Kings of Mercia, a lineup that's been termed "a hybrid; it's heavy, but not metal."

"Throughout Really Good Terrible Things, Matheos and Alder serve up the kind of seductive melancholy Fates Warning fans will recognize," says Jeff Wagner, author of the Fates Warning book Destination Onward. "Yet there's a thoroughly different approach here: vocals are delivered with a sort of nostalgic sadness, and the guitar work is layered in such a way as to feel dreamlike. These are rich sonic landscapes, visiting places haunting, beautiful, spectral and secret. The Matheos/Alder partnership is taken to some new and wonderful places here," Wagner concludes.

CD/ LP:

01. Open Book
02. Flowers in Decay
03. Unmoved
04. Throwing Stones
05. Empty
06. The Mission
07. Where I'm From
08. We Move Around the Sun
09. Touch the Sky
10. No Maps

LINE-UP:

Jim Matheos - guitar
Ray Alder - vocals