SPIN IT BACK -- FATES WARNING: DISCONNECTED

By: Philip Sayblack | Phil's Picks

The turn of the century was a key moment for the world. As the clock ticked down to midnight on Dec. 31, 1999, people the world over either celebrated or worried that the world was going to fall into chaos. While the latter did not happen, another huge change did happen once the 21 st century began. That change was the rise of nu-metal. While Korn had already laid the groundwork for the movement way back in 1994 with its self-titled debut album, any number of nu-metal acts suddenly came out of the woodworks thanks to record labels looking for the next big thing, what with the popularity of Slipknot and Limp Bizkit at the time. From Linkin Park to Five Pointe O, to
Relative Ash, to Boiler Room and so many others, so many bands came and went in a flash. While nu-metal was on the rise, plenty of bands not in the nu-metal arena were continuing to make their own places in the clearly changing musical landscape, including Fates Warning.

In the summer of 2000, Fates Warning released what has gone on to become one of its most talked about albums, Disconnected. The band’s ninth album, this 51-minute presentation is a work that has sharply divided audiences. Listeners have either loved or hated it. That is because of the distinct change in sound and style that was exhibited throughout the album. In place of the more rock-leaning sound exhibited in its catalog up to that point, the band opted for a “purer” progressive metal sound that even included some electronics. Right from its outset, the droning guitar and keyboard line that make up ‘Disconnected Pt. 1’ makes that change clear. It sets the mood for what is to come. That increased use of keyboards and electronics in general is evidenced in every song that follows, with each composition being its own unique work that honestly is far more akin to works from Dream Theater, stylistically speaking than the more hair rock type works for which the band had come to be known up to that point.

Throughout the course of the album’s run, every member of the band’s lineup at the time -- longtime front man Ray Alder, drummer Mark Zonder, bassist Joey Vera, guitarist Jim Matheos, and Kevin Moore (Chroma Key, ex-Dream Theater) on keyboards – gets his own moment in the spotlight. The group’s work maintains its own identity from beginning to end, even with the comparison to the band’s fellow prog-metal leaders still fully notable. One could even argue that at points throughout the album, there are clear Tool influences throughout the album, too. Keeping that in mind, the overall musical presentation of Disconnected proves to be a strong starting point for this record that is unquestionably one of Fates Warning’s most important offerings.

While the musical arrangements featured throughout Disconnected serve as a solid starting point for the record’s presentation, what with the clear change that the band took to its musical body, the album’s lyrical presentation deserves just as much attention.

For those who may not know, Disconnected is for all intents and purposes, a concept record. At the same time, it is not a conceptual record in the traditional sense of telling a story with a beginning, middle and end. Rather, it centers on human connection and disconnection, thus the album’s title. That connection and lack thereof plays a direct impact on our lives, on the human condition, including our own personal relationships with those closest to us. Thus, the overarching concept is one of the human experience and how our connection, our communication causes our situations, both good and bad. Right from the outset, listeners get a simple but stark statement as a woman states in 'Disconnected Pt.1,’ “You are disconnected.” The woman sounds like an operator, but her frank delivery makes for a strong impact as the statement serves a dual purpose. On one hand, there is the play on words like someone has been disconnected via phone. By the album’s end, it makes more sense as a statement about a person being disconnected from society.

From beginning to end, what audiences see is the story of someone who is descending (so to speak) into a dark emotional place because of a disconnect from society and from those closes to that individual. It opens with someone longing for that connection, almost pleading that we are all one in the album’s first full track, ‘One.’ As the story progresses, things get increasingly heavy, emotionally speaking. ‘So’ finds the subject becoming increasingly worn down emotionally by trying to make that connection to the world and even those closest to him. In reaching that lowest of points in ‘Pieces of Me’ the song’s subject attempts to start making change in his life to escape those emotional depths before ‘Disconnected Pt. 2’ closes things out. A muffled narrator states in that finale that, essentially love is always there and that those who loved us in life still love us in death. He finishes his statement, noting, “I think we are disconnected,” giving even more power to that opening statement as a reminder that we as a world and race truly are disconnected and if we want to reconnect, the one thing that must be there through it all is love.

Keeping this powerful message in mind, it resonates so deeply. In an age when the world has become so disconnected, when families themselves have become disconnected, the only way to reconnect is through love. It is such a powerful, telling statement that makes the whole of the story here that much more powerful. When that message and story are considered alongside the album’s musical arrangements, the whole makes clear why Disconnected deserves so much more attention and respect that it has received.

Disconnected is available now. More information on the album is available along with
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