NORTH SEA ECHOES: Really Good Terrible Things Friday, 23 February 2024 18:42 by madseason
North Sea Echoes - Really Good Terrible Things

Ray Alder and Jim Matheos' musical legacy is vast and lauded, both as collaborators and individuals.
Alder has been the vocalist and main co-writer for prog metal heroes Fates Warning for the past 35 years. With them he has recorded 10 albums between 1988 (No Exit) and 2020 (Long Day Good Night). Further rounding out his discography are seven albums with Redemption, two solo albums, and the band A-Z with Mark Zonder, which debuted in 2022.
Prolific and pioneering guitarist/producer Matheos is a co-founder of Fates Warning, the lineup debuting with 1984's Night on Bröcken on Metal Blade. In addition to 13 albums with Fates, Matheos' myriad other work includes several solo albums, four albums alongside former Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore, under the name OSI, and new band, Kings of Mercia, a lineup that's been termed "a hybrid; it's heavy, but not metal."

On North Sea Echoes' debut album, Really Good Terrible Things, out today, the duo embarks upon a fresh musical journey, a new chapter of intimate, moody, and evocative songs highlighted by the singles "Open Book," "Empty," "Unmoved."

"Throughout Really Good Terrible Things, Matheos and Alder serve up the kind of seductive melancholy Fates Warning fans will recognize," says Jeff Wagner, author of the Fates Warning book Destination Onward. "Yet there's a thoroughly different approach here: vocals are delivered with a sort of nostalgic sadness, and the guitar work is layered in such a way as to feel dreamlike. These are rich sonic landscapes, visiting places haunting, beautiful, spectral and secret. The Matheos/Alder partnership is taken to some new and wonderful places here," Wagner concludes.

Matheos and Alder began talking about working together again as soon as they completed Fates Warning's Long Day Good Night. "We just didn't know what, when, where" says Matheos. "I had begun work on another Tuesday the Sky record, which is an ambient, mostly instrumental, pet project of mine. But the first songs I'd come up with felt like they were more set up for vocals. Ray and I had done something similar on Long Days Good Night, a song called 'When Winter Falls,' and we both really liked the outcome. So, I asked him if he'd be onto doing a whole record with a similar approach."

The resultant Really Good Terrible Things was produced by Matheos with cover art from Simon Ward (Kings of Mercia, Marillion). The songwriting process was as familiar one for the Fates Warning vets: Matheos demos music, then passes it along to Alder. "If he likes the song, he'll start coming up with lyrics and melodies. After that, the song will tend go through further changes, sometimes minor, sometimes major, as the final form starts to take shape," explains Matheos.

Really Good Terrible Things shows the breadth and versatility of the acclaimed pair, along with a freshness that belies their long musical partnership. "We both still love making music and we really enjoy working together. There's a good amount of chemistry there, I think," Matheos concludes. "We both know what to expect from each other."