Classics Appreciation

Classics Appreciation: Fates Warning – The Spectre Within

The Spectre Within is a peculiar album, both out of context and within the one of Fates Warning’s career to that point. Night on Brocken, their debut, was an album that was frankly, very derivative Iron Maiden worship. It isn’t really a terrible album so much as one that shows a young band very unsure of their direction and what they’d actually want to do (Jim Matheos, the main songwriter of the band, reputedly never liked it very much). I submit that The Spectre Within, its immediate successor, represented one of the biggest leaps of maturity and quality in metal history, at least up to that point. And, for a vanishingly small window, it helped position Fates Warning as one of the unquestioned masters of metal genre, both of their era and of all time.

Classics Appreciation

Classics Appreciation: Liege Lord – Master Control Review

I wanted to take a brief moment to step back and look at an album that was crucial in developing and solidifying my tastes. This past week represented the 30th anniversary of Liege Lord’s monumental Master Control, their third and final (so far!) album. Liege Lord are a staple of the United States power metal scene for a reason – all three of their albums; Freedom’s Rise, Burn to my Touch, and Master Control, are undoubtedly classics of the genre. Read more…