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colin040
Metal freak

Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:00 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 2:07 pm 
 

Arch / Matheos reveals details for new album, 'Winter Ethereal'; launches video for first single, "Straight and Narrow"

Winter Ethereal will be released May 10th on Metal Blade Records. A video for the song "Straight and Narrow" is available now for streaming. Watch the video and pre-order the album in various bundle packages at http://www.metalblade.com/archmatheos

In progressive metal circles, the names of guitarist Jim Matheos and vocalist John Arch are spoken with due reverence. With the former having been a driving force in Fates Warning for thirty-five years, and the latter the original front-man of that band, they also have a single seminal work under the Arch / Matheos banner, 2011's Sympathetic Resonance. In 2019, they have reunited to follow that record up with Winter Ethereal, a more stylistically varied and perhaps deeper collection that explores a lot of sonic territory over the course of nine immersive tracks. "This stems from both of us trying to step out of our comfort zones a bit, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes being pushed," states Matheos. "Having worked together so many times, it would be easy to fall into the same way of doing things, and I think we were both interested in exploring some new areas." Arch concurs and adds: "Each song is notably different from the next, and nothing sounds repetitive. It is not a concept album, but somehow after a full listen from start to finish, there does seem to be continuity between the songs that I can't describe. At over an hour long, I think the fans will agree that it is a full listening experience."

Winter Ethereal will be available in the following formats:
-digipak-CD
-black / white marbled swirl (US exclusive - limited to 700 copies)
-clear w/ blue smoke (US exclusive - limited to 300 copies)
-180g black vinyl (EU exclusive)
-blue / red marbled vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 300 copies)
-ice blue marbled vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 200 copies)
-white vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 100 copies)
-white / black marbled vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 400 copies)
* exclusive bundles with shirts, plus digital options are also available!

Winter Ethereal track-listing
1. Vermilion Moons
2. Wanderlust
3. Solitary Man
4. Wrath of the Universe
5. Tethered
6. Straight and Narrow
7. Pitch Black Prism
8. Never in Your Hands
9. Kindred Spirits


Here's the new song


Well shit, I dig it. The idea of Matheos pushing his musical boundaries seems cool, too.

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Twisted_Psychology
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 2:36 pm 
 

Sounds punchier and more direct than the Sympathetic Resonance material. I'm even more here for this than I already was.
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Trashy_Rambo
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Sep 07, 2008 8:04 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 2:52 pm 
 

Well, that's certainly NOT what I expected, but I like it. That riff is pretty lively!
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Raindream
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:56 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 4:38 pm 
 

Fuck man Arch still sounding like it’s 1985 and shit.

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Jester66
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Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 5:23 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 4:56 pm 
 

That song is great. Arch sounds phenomenal, and the lineup of musicians on this is fantastic. Can't wait for it.

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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 5:44 pm 
 

That was fucking amazing. Arch sounds godly and I can already hear the band pushing their limits.
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zemat
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:02 pm 
 

That song alone crushes whatever Queensryche and Dream Theater last albums are called.....

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Jophelerx
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 12:11 am 
 

Wow, that's pretty good stuff musically, but christ, those lyrics are embarrassingly bad. Arch over pretentious, angsty romance lyrics? No thanks.

I mean it's not really that big a deal, not like it ruins the song for me, but it's definitely a pretty far cry from the 80s material in that regard. Still looking forward to the album, of course. Hopefully not all of the songs have dogshit lyrics.
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Acrobat
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:55 am 
 

I really wish John Arch would work with someone more interested in writing cool riffs. Matheos really isn't into that nowadays.
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Bloodstone
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 7:18 am 
 

This absolutely rips. Cool to hear Arch's voice over more faster, more aggressive stuff, works just as well as with the proggier stuff.

How is the guy's voice simply not aging in any way at all? Michael Kiske also confounds me in the same way. Nothing bad with sounding older (Halford's still fantastic), just weird how 35 years seems to do nothing whatsover to these guys' vocal chords.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:57 am 
 

Jophelerx wrote:
Wow, that's pretty good stuff musically, but christ, those lyrics are embarrassingly bad. Arch over pretentious, angsty romance lyrics? No thanks.

I mean it's not really that big a deal, not like it ruins the song for me, but it's definitely a pretty far cry from the 80s material in that regard. Still looking forward to the album, of course. Hopefully not all of the songs have dogshit lyrics.


I mean say what you will about the subject matter, but the lyrics are far from dogshit... they're well written like anything else FW has done.
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Temple Of Blood
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Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2011 8:16 am
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 9:52 am 
 

Acrobat wrote:
I really wish John Arch would work with someone more interested in writing cool riffs. Matheos really isn't into that nowadays.


That's so true.
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Temple Of Blood
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 10:17 am 
 

I have already ordered this but I have to say .... this is not a strong lead single. Not like "Relentless" or "Stained Glass Sky". Not even close.

The vocals are a bit off at the very beginning too. A little disappointing.

I do like that they are using different musicians on this one though. I am bored with Jarzombek's drum tone and drumming these days.
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Oblarg
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 10:56 am 
 

I think the song's pretty great. Arch is in top form, Matheos is doing some really interesting things and even shreds a bit (am I in a parallel universe?).
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colin040
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Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:00 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 11:12 am 
 

You know, after a few more spins I'm not so excited about the track as I was when I first heard it. Then again, Sympathetic Resonance had some boring shit on it, too, even if it was mostly solid. I'm sure the new album will be something interesting for certain though.

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true_death
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:47 pm
Posts: 2390
PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 11:14 am 
 

The song is great, I've played it six times and I've already ordered the CD. I already like this better than anything on Sympathetic Resonance and I'd argue that this is the best vocal performance Arch has ever given, in his entire career. I don't see any problem with Matheos' riffs and I think the lyrics are awesome! Even the music video is awesome.
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~Guest 334273
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 12:28 pm 
 

Eh, i can't say i'm feeling it :( Flashy and with great vocals but it doesn't really excite me... I hope it's one of the weaker tracks, the debut was amazing

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Abominatrix
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Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2003 12:15 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:38 pm 
 

Hmm, I enjoyed that. i agree with everyone who says that Arch is sounding great nowadays. Sure, the song isn't exactly riff-oriented but it's still a lot more punchy than I was expecting. At nine tracks and an hour of music, I'm guessing this must be tthe shortest one ... makes sense for a lead single I suppose.
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Dembo
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Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:58 am
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:48 pm 
 

Abominatrix wrote:
At nine tracks and an hour of music, I'm guessing this must be tthe shortest one

It is:
https://play.google.com/store/music/alb ... 35zqwqo4ta

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colin040
Metal freak

Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:00 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:51 pm 
 

''Wrath of the Universe'' is an awesome song title though. :lol: Quite the last thing I'd expect of a Matheos/Arch album nowadays.

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failsafeman
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 9:33 pm 
 

I like this a lot. Not as good as "Stained Glass Sky", but it's clearly meant to be a hooky single for an album probably dominated by lengthy prog numbers.
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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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Joined: Fri May 22, 2015 6:38 am
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:29 pm 
 

Jesus Christ, JOHN ARCH!!!!! One of the only few that can bring tears to my eyes with his voice.
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tomcat_ha
Minister of Boiling Water

Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:05 am
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 28, 2019 1:02 pm 
 

song sounds a bit too much like Johns looks but its a decent song for a style im not really into. Certainly less pm than anything on the previous effort.

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Oblarg
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 1:26 am 
 

Acrobat wrote:
I really wish John Arch would work with someone more interested in writing cool riffs. Matheos really isn't into that nowadays.


I'm not sure which Matheos you're listening to.
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manowar are literally five times the band that fates warning are: each member is as good as fates warning alone, then joey's bass solos are like an entire extra fates warning

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Acrobat
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 4:13 am 
 

I think it's same one writing boring drop D prog metal riffs? :P
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colin040
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 4:53 am 
 

Honesty, I do think Arch/Matheos works mostly because of John Arch himself who's clearly able to add some real magic to compositions. Sympathetic Resonance is clearly guitar-oriented, but it's not an album full individual stand out riffs that could knock you out or anything. Not from my experience anyway. That doesn't mean the songs are bad, it's just that for the real ''woah!'' riffs, you're better off listening to the early Arch fronted FW stuff.

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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 8:58 am 
 

I don't think newer FW or Arch/Matheos would be as good if it was like, 80s classic metal riffing or early Fates. It's not supposed to be anything like that - just a different style of music.

Plus if he went totally back to the Awaken the Guardian style like verbatim, that would just feel like redundancy to a lot of people anyway. Kind of a no-win situation for any band like this.
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Dembo
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 12:57 pm 
 

New song:

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~Guest 334273
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 2:53 pm 
 

This is better. With vocals of this caliber you could swap the guitars with a washing machine and i would still be entranced

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Temple Of Blood
Old Man Yells at Cloud

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 3:42 pm 
 

It's not a good sign when an Arch fanboy like me doesn't even listen to the full song before closing the tab.
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colin040
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 4:23 pm 
 

I'm not feeling this one either. It becomes a bit better around the three minute mark though but overall I find the track to be too vocal-oriented. Mweh.

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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:33 pm 
 

Song sounded great to me; got no problem with anything about this so far. Right up my alley even.
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Wombface
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:41 pm 
 

Same here. Ordered the bigass package with both vinyls and I know I won't be disappointed. The two singles have sounded great so far.

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tomcat_ha
Minister of Boiling Water

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PostPosted: Wed May 01, 2019 2:50 pm 
 

better song but not amazing.

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Oblarg
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PostPosted: Wed May 01, 2019 5:16 pm 
 

I think the song rules, tbh. Basically exactly what I wanted.
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manowar are literally five times the band that fates warning are: each member is as good as fates warning alone, then joey's bass solos are like an entire extra fates warning

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aloof
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PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2019 4:03 am 
 

the quiet bits in wanderlust almost made me swoon, but the rest is throwaway. straight and narrow is garbage. daft video, too.

Arch should find another songwriting partner... JM is full of himself and has thrown any quality control to the wind...
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Temple Of Blood
Old Man Yells at Cloud

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PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2019 10:56 am 
 

So many bands talk about how much they love the no-pressure, calm, relaxed studio environment. That's great for them, but have any great albums been produced this way?

I mean, the music of Sympathetic Resonance was created to be a new Fates Warning album so there were expectations there.

This sounds like noodling and leftovers.

R. Lee Ermy (RIP) should've been in the studio with these guys and applied MAXIMUM PRESSURE.
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Dembo
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PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2019 11:06 am 
 

Both songs are great, and I'd be very surprised if the album isn't too.

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Element_man
Metalhead

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PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2019 12:23 pm 
 

I think these songs are super cool. First impressions are even stronger than anything I heard off the last A/M album, which I really enjoyed. Arch sounds fantastic, Jimmy McMopeyface is playing some pretty slick riffs and has a tasty fucking solo in that first track. This is better than 95% of the dumbass old man metal bands putting out music these days. Pretty sure the guys at Frontiers Records would evaporate if Spirits Of Fire had put songs like this on their record.
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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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PostPosted: Tue May 07, 2019 6:06 am 
 

I love "Wanderlust". It's a great song. Arch sounds really really REALLY good and his voice communicates so much feeling. I also enjoy Matheos' guitar playing on this. He is playing for the song instead of being ultra-progressive and it works.
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