ARCH / MATHEOS — Sympathetic Resonance (review)

ARCH / MATHEOS — Sympathetic Resonance album cover

Album · 2011 · Progressive Metal

4/5 · 2011-11-18
Phonebook Eater

8/10

"Sympathetic Resonance" is an orgasmic fix for Prog Metal enthusiasts.

John Arch, Prog Metal veteran, formal singer of Fates Warning, gave to the world early in the millennium a precious EP called "A Twist Of Fate", and until now nothing was heard of him. But in 2011, with guitarist Jim Matheos, another Fates Warning member came out under the name Arch/Matheos "Sympathetic Resonance", one of the great Prog Metal albums of recent years. This project, in the near future, could very easily be the Fates Warning of the new decade, not only because they share half of the members, but because they play the same role, in different eras, in the progressive metal realm.

Like the former band, Arch/Matheos is a prog metal that does not feature keyboards. They are used very rarely, maybe to give a bit of atmosphere. I love keyboards, so when I knew about this feature I wasn't so sure I was going to love it as I do actually. The musicianship of this project is amazing, the musicians are extremely well educated, obviously influenced by Jazz, Prog Rock , and Metal, everyone gets the job done so well: John Arch gives us his unique beautiful voice that I wish more Progressive Metal singers had, Jim Matheos is a great guitarist and proves it once again with beastly riffs and solos, Bobby Jarzombek has been a genuine inspiration to me(being myself a drummer), his technicality is outstanding, his fills mind-blowing. Joey Vera, finally, proves that he can play bass, playing his instrument so that we can actually hear it, for once. Together, they have fun putting all in one song constant time changes, dozen riffs, solos, acoustic moments and what not. Arch/Matheos at this point come from the more complex side of metal.

"Sympathetic Resonance" is maybe a perfect summary of what Fates Warning is, but it sounds to me a much more modern effort. The album is extremely solid, produced extremely well, the sounds are crystal clear and no instrument is overlapping all the others, something I find very rare and something I always enjoy hearing. "Neurotically Wired" and "Stained Glass Sky" are basically perfect songs, that sound so complete, like nothing was missing: you got nice acoustic moments, you got insane bridges with crazier drumming and guitar performances, and tons of beauty, surprisingly. Every riff in these two songs is spectacular and memorable, especially the heavier ones. The softer songs are good too, like "Midnight Serenade" and "Incense And Myrrh", but there's just no comparison in my opinion. "Any Given Day" has a similar song structure to the first two songs I mentioned, and it is possibly just as good, but I sense a little more straightforwardness, however in the end, that's exactly what the album needs, after a while, to make it sound like something that has moments for every kind of metal fan.

A great album I loved listening to and enjoyed a whole lot. I'm not a big Fates Warning expert, but this album just might do it for me, to start listening to them. "Sympathetic Resonance" no doubt has become one of the great releases of this year, possibly one of the very prog metal albums of the last few years. An orgasmic fix for Prog Metal enthusiasts.