Fates Warning "Awaken The Guardian (2005 Deluxe Edition)"

Awaken the Guardian is the third studio album by progressive metal band Fates Warning, released in 1986 through Metal Blade Records. The album was the band's first to enter the U.S. Billboard 200, reaching No. 191 and remaining on that chart for four weeks. It is also the first Fates Warning album to feature guitarist Frank Aresti and the last with original singer John Arch, who was replaced by Ray Alder on their subsequent 1988 album No Exit.

Awaken the Guardian has been reissued several times. The first was as part of a double album with No Exit in 1992, followed by a remastered edition in 1994, and once again as a deluxe Digipak edition on June 28, 2005. The latter includes a bonus disc containing demos and live tracks, as well as a DVD of a concert from December 28, 1986 at the Sundance Club in Long Island, New York; this being the only known video footage of the Awaken the Guardian line-up performing live.

Jeff Wagner at Decibel magazine ranked the album at number 134 in the Decibel Hall of Fame, saying it was "one of the celebrated masterworks of the genre." Adrien Begrand at PopMatters, reviewing the 2005 reissue, called it the best of Fates Warning's catalog, adding that "such a stirring combination of traditional metal and progressive sounds would never be duplicated by the band", and concluding that "Awaken the Guardian still resonates with life today" and it "solidifies Fates Warning's place in metal history."

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jim Matheos and John Arch, except where noted.

1. "The Sorceress" 5:44
2. "Valley of the Dolls" 5:22
3. "Fata Morgana" 5:25
4. "Guardian" 7:33
5. "Prelude to Ruin" 7:23
6. "Giant's Lore (Heart of Winter)" (Arch, Frank Aresti) 6:00
7. "Time Long Past" (Matheos) 1:51
8. "Exodus" 8:39

Total length: 47:57

Disc two (CD): 2005 deluxe edition bonus tracks

1. "The Sorceress" (demo) 5:27
2. "Valley of the Dolls" (demo) 5:33
3. "Prelude to Ruin" (demo) 7:06
4. "Fata Morgana" (live) 5:08
5. "Damnation" (live) 5:44
6. "The Apparition" (live) 5:57
7. "The Sorceress" (live) 4:51
8. "Guardian" (live) 6:40
9. "Die Young" (live) 4:04

Total length: 50:30

Disc three (DVD): live at the Sundance club

1. "Valley of the Dolls" 4:28
2. "Pirates of the Underground" 6:57
3. "Orphan Gypsy" 6:25
4. "Fata Morgana" 5:41
5. "Traveler in Time" 6:17
6. "The Sorceress" 4:37
7. "Guardian" 6:54
8. "Prelude to Ruin" 7:10
9. "Damnation" 6:02
10. "The Apparition" 6:00
11. "Die Young" 3:24
12. "Kiss of Death" 5:11

Total length: 69:06

Recording information:

Recorded at Stagg Street Studios & Preferred Sound Sep - Oct 1986.