- advertisement -

RAY ALDER
What The Water Wants
Inside Out Music

He’s mastered his powerful voice behind one of progressive metal’s most legendary bands for the past three decades, and for the first time in his career, he’s ready to try his hand at attempting a true solo album titled What The Water Wants. And as Ray Alder a.k.a. The Voice Of FATES WARNING, his destined solo gig has taken him far away to where his band has transcended far beyond cult status: Madrid, Spain, where the singer has been based for the past three years. His previous music projects outside of FW under the moniker of ENGINE had yielded two solo albums – 1999’s self-titled debut and 2002’s Superholic – but he’d viewed them as “more as a band thing than solo releases” at the time. Now, he says, he’s ready to “branch out and do an album under my own name”.

Helping Alder get his feet wet as his Water works was about to make its big splash would be Tony Hernando, diehard FATES fan/guitarist of seminal Madrid metallers LORDS OF BLACK, who’d been referred to him by the band’s bassist. Hernando’s powerful guitar and bass work on songs such as “Shine”, “Wait” and “A Beautiful Lie” alone would make for Water’s powerful rippling sound; due to his own commitments with his own band, however, Hernando was only able to stick around for the three songs, with the remaining songwriting/playing credit on the album going to FATES’ own touring guitarist Mike Abdow on the other seven songs – particularly his neat slide guitar work on “Lost” and his thumping bass on “Crown Of Thorns”. Rounding out the lineup is skinsman Craig Anderson from OC hardcore bangers INCITE whose solid drumming is prevalent throughout the entire album, particularly on the closing number “The Killing Floor”. And credit towards the production and mixing of the album goes to both Alder himself and Simone Mularone (REDEMPTION) respectively while the album cover design skills of Alder’s wife Cecilia Garrido Stratta also deserve recognition.

Finally, for anyone looking for some sort of deep meaning within the context of What The Water Wants, Alder himself attributes this to “a loose theme” throughout the album which just happens to bring up water in the lyrics. Surprisingly, given that the album which had been recorded by all four members playing their individual parts in Spain and the US has been released at a time where climate change is becoming a main topic and highlighting a significant change in our own habits including limiting the amount of air travel that we take in order to curb the effects of global warming, perhaps Alder’s choice title of What The Water Wants wasn’t just a simple twist of fate in its naming. In any case, after 30+ years of roaming the desert in search of his own material using his own name, Ray Alder can now safely meet his own creative needs with his own sound and vision with his first official mastered work.

5.0 Out Of 5.0

https://www.facebook.com/rayalderofficial
https://www.instagram.com/rayalderofficial
https://twitter.com/realrayalder