Well, they say that the third time is the charm and after
two spectacular releases, I kind of was steeling myself for a small letdown
with the latest release from New Mexico’s favorite progressive metal band,
Fateless Tears, and boy howdy, was I ever wrong.  For those not familiar with them, Fateless
Tears consists of fantastic vocalist S. Lee, guitarist extraordinaire Paul
Evans, and multi-instrumentalist and all around good guy, Richard
Baysinger.  There are going to be a lot
of folks that would call this a goth or femme metal release and while I would
agree that those nuances are in abundance, this is more of a straight ahead
progressive metal release to these old ears. 
I’ll throw out a couple of real standouts for me and let you pick this
one up and decide for yourselves.  Don’t
blame me if you don’t pick up your own copy and miss out on some truly great
metal music! 

The album starts off with the track “Cages” – and gives a
very good idea of what it to follow. 
Exceptional guitar work by both Paul and Richard is followed by the
ethereal vocals of S Lee and Rich’s nicely understated doom metal
growling.  Overall, a great way to start
the show.

Next up is “Mercury Dreams” and is a personal favorite for
me.  The great vocal harmonies nailed
this one for me.  Well, that and some
very nicely understated keyboard work.  
Again, the growls act in a kind of After Forever fashion and that is to
compliment rather than overpower the female vocals.  Also, more exceptional guitar work throughout
this track.

Next track is “My Endarkened 
Self” and the band really calms it down for this one.  This is one track that I associate more with
the “Goth” aspect of Fateless Tears and no, I can’t tell you why exactly, it
just does.  S Lee’s vocals are really
showcased on this one as well as Richard doing some pretty cool clean vocals as
well before throwing down some of the best growls on the entire album.

Three of the remaining tracks, “Mind Box,” “Since Nascence,”
“Mesmerized” are all outstanding examples of what extremely talented musician’s
with a true desire to bring their work to the world can do.  I need to say that one of the most impressive
things (for me anyways) is that this release is self produced, self recorded,
and pretty much self marketed and I, for one, am as impressed with that as the
fact that there are bands like Fateless Tears brave enough to commit to a
project like this and then make it available for the rest of us.

Now, I get to write about the last track on “My Doom
Box”.  ”Annwyn”, more than any of the other
tracks on this cd, is the one that really struck me as being the true
stand-out.  Nothing more than
synthesizers, S Lee and Richard’s voices, and voila, you get what is in my
opinion the best song of the entire cd, hands down.   What an unbelievable way to close out an
unbelievable release!

Well,
that’s about enough out of me.  Go to www.progpalaceradio.com and request
something from “My Doom Box” and decide for yourselves.  If you are a fan of the likes of Nightwish,
After Forever, Leave’s Eye, and other female fronted goth/progressive metal
bands, you need to treat yourself to the one band I hope will be someday
mentioned with these others, Fateless Tears. 
Treat yourselves and then treat your friends!