Fountain of Tears - Fountain of Tears (1999)
Prog-Art-metal. These guys have been getting a lot of comparisons to Dream Theater and Fates Warning. I don't really hear much Fates Warning influence on here but the Dream Theater similarity is noticeable. The biggest difference is that the vocals are done by a female and have been compared to Sarah Mclaughlin, Iona, and Tori Amos. I couldn't really tell you since I don't listen to any of those artists (at least not on purpose.. heh). I can say that the vocals are beautiful, soothing and are not monotonous. They guitars are pretty much kept in the background and the keyboards stand out to create the melody lines. When you can hear the guitars they are absolutely brilliant with very creative leads (that is were I find the most noticeable similarity to Dream Theater). One downfall is that although this is a 10 track-hour long full-length there are really only 5 songs, the last 5 being instrumental versions of the first 5. The lyrics are very abstract and poetic (to the point that one song is an Edgar Allan Poe story that is not sung but rather narrated in spoken word. The music on that one is quite powerful). I like that style but am really wondering if there is any ministry side to this band at all. If you didn't already know that these guys are Christians you would not be able to tell by the lyrics. If you are into the artsy stuff like Dream Theater, Liquid Tension, Fourth Estate, Iona or even Veni Domine you will find this a welcome addition to your collection. If you are into only headbanging intensity then you better steer clear cause this will probably put you to sleep. -- Review by Norm