Arch / Matheos Winter Ethereal

In the progressive metal scene, the names of guitarist Jim Matheos and vocalist John Arch are being reverentially spoken. While the former has been the driving force behind Fates Warning for 35 years and the latter was the group's original frontman, the two also work together under the Arch / Matheos banner, which resulted in the album Sympathetic Resonance in 2011. In 2019, the successor Winter Ethereal will be released, a stylistically more diverse and probably also deeper digging work with demanding nine songs. After the completion of Sympathetic Resonance, the duo kept it open to leave it at a one-time thing or to produce another album at some point. Instead of forcing something, the two waited until the time seemed ripe for a successor. They started songwriting in spring 2017, but nothing was considered for a possible record of Fates Warning. Rather, they wrote everything specifically for Arch / Matheos. That's why the record now sounds so individual, and if that hadn't happened so naturally, Winter Ethereal wouldn't even exist, even if it wasn't a concept work, Arch notes: "In the texts one recognizes recurring themes in relation to the elusive burden and transience of human feelings, which often raise more questions than answer. With regard to the title, the winter is less about the season than about "the conditions associated with it, such as isolation and the passing away of a resurrection". The adjective "ethereal" then means "not from this world, extra-worldly" and the combination of both terms "sums up the thematic spectrum of the lyrics". Thanks to modern technology most of the participants could record their parts comfortably in home studios, whereas Matheos recorded the guitars and vocals in his own studio and took over the production. One thing is certain: when fans hear Winter Ethereal, they will realize that the long wait for new music from Arch / Matheos has been worth it. The organic way the material was created makes it all the more special.