My introduction to this album is an interesting story. While still in college in 1985, but flush with cash due to the summer intern engineering job (discussed elsewhere in this blog), I was desperate for new tuneage. I had yet to learn of Goldmine magazine, so I was completely unaware of the rarities I would soon know about. 1985 was a dire year in terms of new music. I suppose if you were an X-Wave fan, or loved corporate rock, it would have been the heyday. I wanted progressive rock or heavy metal! Of the latter, I had little interest in the bonehead variety that was proliferating the shelves at that time. The whole 'I Wanna Rock' scene was boring in 1980, much less 5 years later. So I decided to go through every record in the store to see if anything looked interesting. It was a Sound Warehouse, so a well stocked mainstream record store where everything was sealed. Only one stood out.
From a presentation standpoint, this had everything I was looking for. And the song titles looked appealing, as well as the lengths of the tracks (guessed that since the times weren't listed) indicated some thought would be applied to the compositions. Once I got it home and on the turntable, I knew I had struck gold. Not only was this my introduction to Fates Warning (having no clue this was actually their sophomore effort), but it also opened up a new world for me (and well for everyone really): Progressive Metal. Essentially Fates Warning took the Iron Maiden blueprint, and heaved it over the progressive rock goal line. Iron Maiden, for their part, were prog rock fans and dabbled in progressive themes, especially on the recent Powerslave (1984) album. But they stopped short of going too far, knowing their enormous fan base liked intelligent metal, but they didn't want to get too highbrow.
What I like best about The Spectre Within is it's the anti-Dream Theater. It's dirty and messy. Well played and well executed - yes - but still grimy and "true" metal. I love John Arch's vocals which are way out of bounds, yet there's an odd control about them. The rhythms are complex but not crisp. And the guitar sound is appropriately heavy, more so than Maiden actually.
Historically speaking it was an instant classic. However in real time, not too many people were ready for what Fates Warning were up to. But I was hardly alone in the world looking for music just like this, and they built up a cult following rather quickly. For me, The Spectre Within ranks among my favorite metal albums of all-time. Hearing it again last night, after some 37 years of familiarity, still resulted in a +1 listen.
Ownership: LP: 1985 Metal Blade. Single sleeve. Purchased as told in the review above.
CD: 1994 Metal Blade. Jewel case.
1985; 5/25/12; 7/22/22 (new entry)
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