Jim Matheos - lead and rhythm guitars

 Ray Alder - vocals Mark Zonder - drums 

Joe DiBiase - basses Frank Aresti - lead guitars 

Joey Vera - basses Kevin Moore - keyboards 

A few session musicians 

Produced by Alder & Matheos. 

released 2003

review  by Dimitris "Heartcollector83" Theodoropoulos____   

I always thought that this band never got what it deserved. Maybe the style of their music is too strange for many people, or too boring but if someone get deeper into this band he’ll discover such wonderful music. Their singer Ray Alder is probably one of the most underrated singers of all time. His voice is so unique and has so much feeling. This double dvd set is a good chance for people who want to get to know this brilliant band. It contains all the videos they did from the beginning of their career until today and it also has some cool extras as well.

            Disc 1 contains the section with all the videos and a special features section. The videos of the band have very good picture and sound quality, even the old ones. The videos can be chosen per album or a play all option is also available although you can’t skip the videos, the action is disabled. The videos included are :

1.Silent Cries

2.Anarchy Divine

3.Through Different Eyes

4.Nothing Left To Say(live clip)

5.Documentary-The Making Of Paralels

6.Point Of View

7.Eye To Eye

8.At Fates Hand (live from Still Life)

9.Prelude To Ruin (live from Still Life)

10.Eleventh Hour (live from Still Life)

11.Point Of View (live from Still Life)

12.Monument

13.A Pleasant Shade Of Gray-Parts 10,11 and 12

14.Documentary-The Making Of Disconnected

The Special Feature is Eleventh Hour filmed live in Athens, Greece and its taken from a bootleg version. The camera is on stage and although it’s a bit shaky the view from the stage is great with the fans down there screaming and the band doing an excellent performance of the song. I should mention the error on the packaging of the dvd that says that this live version of Eleventh Hour is taken from Dynamo but it’s not. When you select the special feature option it says that it’s taken from Greece and also I’ve been in that venue many times and I would recognize it anywhere ;)

Thus ends disc one. Let’s go over to disc 2….

            Disc 2 is titled Live At Dynamo and contains live footage from the bands show filmed on May 30 1998.The tracks are:

1.Pleasant Shade Of Gray-Part 3

2.Pleasant Shade Of Gray-Part 4

3.Pleasant Shade Of Gray-Part 5

4.Pleasant Shade Of Gray-Part 6

5.Pleasant Shade Of Gray-Part 7

6.The Eleventh Hour

7.Point Of View

8.Monument

9.We Only Say Goodbye

Total running time of this live concert is about 50 minutes and this second disc could have more stuff thrown in. There is also a discography section but its meaningless since the album titles and covers are too small and you can’t see them well. The live footage have very good camera work from many angles but the sound is not the best possible. The guitar is far too low in the mix and the heavy songs sounded very weak with just the bass trying to make them sound powerful. The best thing and what makes the whole disc worth is Ray Alder’s performance, the guy was on top form that day and his acting and singing on stage is unbelievable. Hopefully the skip track option is available on this disc at the play all option.

            This double dvd set is a MUST for all Fates Warning and progressive metal fans in general. It covers the whole career of the band and people who’d like to get into their music can also get this dvd. The videos are great to get you into Fates Warning and the live footage will show you what a great singer Ray Alder is!

Rating: 9/10 

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