Honestly this is Fates Warning at their best. The guitar work by Jim Matheos and the vocal performance of John Arch are both excellent and even though Awaken The Guardian is not the most mainstream release by the band, it is jammed pack with excellent riffs, great progression, and great techincal skills with a nice thick coat of melodic and mysterious soundscape.

Track Review

The Sorceress 9/10
Valley of the Dolls 8.5/10.
Fata Morgana 9.5/10
Guardian 9.5/10
Prelude to Ruin 9/10
Giant's Lore ... read more

SilentScream213

For their third album, Fates Warning followed mostly the same sound of their acclaimed sophomore album The Spectre Within. The band’s highly melodic and often progressive yet deceptively simple music offers accessible entertainment. Most of the power metal influence from their last album is gone unfortunately, resulting in a slower and more sustained delivery.

John’s vocals, while never outstanding, are certainly stronger here than ever before, and his passionate delivery ... read more

VicHugoSA

One of the best Heavy Metal/Prog albums of all time, very underrated at that unfortunately.

The Sorceress 9/10
Valley of the Dolls 9/10
Fata Morgana 10/10
Guardian 10/10
Prelude to Ruin 8/10
Giant's Lore (Heart of Winter) 9/10
Time Long Past 8/10
Exodus 9/10