By the late 1990´s, the ever-expanding prog-rock genre had seen one of its newborn offspring achieve full potential. Prog-metal was going on full-throttle with hundreds of bands aspiring to establish a name for themselves. Dream Theater wanna-be's were as common as bubblegum pop/rock, and the genre's musical aspirers marveled at the great seminal recordings that bands like Queensrÿche had left behind. Still, this new wave of metal proggers would never have been the same without the presence of one major influential band, Fates Warning. The band had been one of the pillars of the genre for quite a while, but in 1997 its members released a record that would immortalize their name in prog forever, a modest album titled A Pleasant Shade Of Gray.

The dark and melancholic concept album is indeed the most ambitious effort ever conceived by the band. As a matter of fact, every time I refer to A Pleasant Shade Of Gray as an album, I'm somewhat contradicting myself, as the entire record showcases only one song (divided into 12 sections); amounting close to an hour's worth of music. While the storyline develops quite ambiguously with recurring thoughts and memories here and there, the song's emotional message and "feel" are transmitted crystal clear to the listener. The sense of time and space are clearly gone here and replaced with a strict emphasis on emotions and experiences, without any structured order, time-line, or logic.

Part I - Instantly, we can feel a dark atmosphere closing in on us. Rain falling, thunder cracking, synth layers swirling, sustained guitar chords flowing; we are swallowed into the core of the main character's soul, starting to feel the indifference of going on through life's meaningless routine and recalling the sad experiences we've been exposed to in our past, as gothic synths play the song's representative or "key" melody. The previous description may have sounded a bit too drastic but its intent is to place us deep within the character's thoughts in order to appreciate the mood of the song. These feelings have surged after a long stream of recent disappointments that we've been unable to cope with, as a brief intro gives an air of hopelessness to the storyline.

Part II - As a distorted drumbeat and a hard-striking riff emerge, we are properly introduced to the source of our pain, taking us back to our past. The music builds up quickly with fierce pounding rhythms, covering a wide dynamic range, drastically changing the volume between the verses and chorus. Desperation gets the best of us as we scream and shout trying to find someone out there to reach and comfort us. Ray's vocals give life to the stressful emotions withheld in our mind, chaotically swirling without any logic or structured order. As we remember these painful regrets, we begin to fall deeper into our agony, subconsciously enclosing ourselves even more and building walls around us.

Part III - The band adopts a more straightforward approach with an incredible electric guitar riff taking the lead. This section, instead of following any events through the storyline, concentrates more on the description of our emotional state and the scenery around us, finely portraying a mood and a setting. Lines like "Rain falling, Hours crawling" detail these surroundings as well as our vague perception of time. We leave "Part III" with a mellow guitar melody that introduces us to the following section.

Part IV - A short guitar solo serves as an introduction to this next chapter. Alder manages to soothe the stressful vibe from the previous sections by employing a graceful, flowing melody. However, we haven't, by any means, begun to leave this melancholic mood behind; we are simply beginning to feel comfortable with it. Joey Vera also displays some mellow bass lines completing the atmosphere in the scene. A few moments later, the band displays what it is capable of, adopting a fast paced rhythm with some tight musical arrangements, clearly led by an amazing electric guitar melody. As we reach the concluding lines, this section naturally blends in with the next piece.

Part V - A bass-drum pounding resembles our heart's reaction to these sharp memories of strong impact, quickly taking us back into the story. Ambiguous thoughts from a line of past events remind us of a shameful event (portrayed in the lyrics as a killing) in which we decided to close our eyes and portray a disinterested attitude ("Let nothing, bleed into nothing") in order to wash away the memories and thoughts. Now we begin to regret our cowardly decision and feel ashamed of simply "doing nothing at all." Mark Zonder shines on this piece, filling every silence with intricate arrangements and rhythms. Suddenly, the music ceases, leaving only a piano melody behind. Again, we return to the up-tempo approach with an excellent display of musicianship by the band as a whole. The lead guitar plays an astounding chromatic scale riff that gives an unexpected new edge to the story. As you quite obviously noted, this piece is by far the most varying and dynamically complex section of the song, covering every imaginable mood as it naturally develops. The expressive feel of the music keeps rising, leaving us emotionally frail against any outer impacts or strong emotional situations. We've finally set our mind to be ourselves, without worrying with having to comply with the mechanical responses we've been taught by society, refusing to play any more games that involve pretending emotions in a hypocrite way and hiding our true feelings deep within us. Then it appears we are reaching an emotional climax when, immediately, everything freezes and crashes down.

Part VI - Silence. A few notes from a guitar reawaken us. Musical layers start piling up one after another. At first, the bass takes lead, followed by a soothing guitar melody and moments later, giving way to the lyrics. As we regain consciousness after the striking thoughts that had crashed in our mind, we recall a past romantic obsession strongly linked to the questioning of the meeting between strangers, finding ourselves trying to give further meaning to the concepts of fate and coincidence. As soon as the drums come in, we get invaded with feelings of regret, thinking of the "What could have been." We want to create a whole new reality in response to our thoughts, instead of simply remaining in our solitude, holding back to our dreams. Seconds later, our mind drifts right back to our initial thoughts, in search of hope and refuge.

Part VII - The simple piano melody evolves into an intricate, melodic arrangement, ceding the main line to the electric guitar and displaying some dramatic cuts in between the passages. The section develops with the aid of a great guitar riff, while the lyrics basically take us through a quick re-run of most of our previous thoughts, emphasizing the "Let nothing bleed into nothing" line again, where we strongly regret having washed our hands from guilt, instead of following our beliefs. By refusing any kind of responsibility we are now tormented with these haunting memories.

Part VIII - This passage is strictly instrumental. It develops from the musical ideas of the previous section and somehow finds its way to have an identity all of its own. It ends up being a far more complex musical passage, swirling up and down with instruments coming in and out. But still, the last section is worth noting, consisting of an acoustic guitar and piano melody following each other through several verses, gracefully intertwining along their way; indeed, this sub-section can be considered the climax out of the last few chapters from the song.

Part IX - Our mind starts to settle down while we remember one of the most vivid memories we've experienced in quite some time. A soft acoustic arrangement brings a warm, cozy feeling to our agitated mind. Loneliness has been our only loyal companion for as long as we can remember. Now, we find ourselves trying to tie all these loose ends in our mind; trying to fit together the pieces from the puzzle of our lives. A relaxing bass line smoothly reminds us of the never-ending romance we subconsciously revive every other day, giving us a reason to go on. Ironically, we choose to keep these words all to ourselves and treasure them dearly, granting our frail mind the benefit of doubt.

Part X - This section serves only as a small recapitulatory passage. Revolving thoughts take us back again to the intro's melody sequence, giving the atmosphere a darker twist by means of electronic percussions and synthesizers. We quickly leave this piece to give way to another chapter of the story.

Part XI - Odd-tempo beats and rhythms emerge without any definite structure. The guitar leads the music with an awkward chromatic melody, building up the tension for the lyrics to break in. Stress piles up again in our mind as we explode in anger and try to challenge our subconscious in a sarcastic way, as though it was another person. We begin to shamefully criticize our weaker side, blaming all of our past failures on its timid attitudes and forgetting for a while that the burden is in reality on top of our own shoulders.

Part XII - This last section can actually be broken down into three notable parts or sub-sections. As we leave the tension from "Part XI", the music mellows and a terminal synthesizer beat captures the essence of our weary body. Tired and bitter, aware of our unchanged reality, we let the pieces fall and, apparently, begin to lose all signs of faith and hope. The music picks up with an extremely tight arrangement as it reaches the middle section or 2nd subsection. Alder's voice picks up strength and takes us back once again to some of our previous sad memories. We feel no longer frustrated by our past and recall everything as if though it was scenes from a movie. After a few verses, a closing solo throws us back on track as the terminal beat takes us under its wing, but all of a sudden, our mind realizes that this "shade of gray" is just a transient phase that will soon leave us and, just then, we begin to realize that this is only a "pleasant shade of gray"… Tomorrow will be a better day.

It's no mystery that A Pleasant Shade Of Gray transmits strong messages throughout its lyrics and music, conveying a wide array of feelings and drenching every last note in the album with overwhelming emotion. Ironically, while this album uniquely portrays dark and melancholic moods, it ultimately deals with the comfort of being able to look at all of our sad moments in life in an optimistic way, as mere stages, well aware that brighter days will soon come our way. It's truly admiring the way the lyrics develop into a true message that inspires us to find strength and hope in sadness. That's the beauty of it all.

-by Javier Elizondo