Album Review: Ray Alder - What The Water Wants

Ray Alder is an interesting case. He's the voice of Fates Warning, but not only has his voice been restricted greatly by time, but there's still a subset of fans who salivate over everything his predecessor does. Ray was also the voice of Redemption, which was a second-position project that I always enjoyed exponentially more than his main gig. The albums he made with Redemption were fantastic, in large part due to him getting to utilize the best attributes of his current voice. His importance was made all the more clear once Tom Englund took over, because that album has been completely forgotten in just a year. Given that disappointment, I am certainly ready to hear Ray doing something more melodic again, which is exactly where this, his first true solo album, comes in.

Voices are all unique, for the most part, and Ray Alder has one of the more unique voices in metal. He can't hit the high notes he used to when he first joined Fates Warning, but the way his voice has aged has given him an emotional resonance that most metal singers simply don't have. His voice sounds lived in, as though it speaks from experience. He's a similar case to former MSG singer Gary Barden, in that they are clearly not what they once were, but they have something rather special about the way the patina of age has changed their instrument. Sometimes, getting worse makes something better.

What I love about this record is that it fuses the two bands Ray is known for, while still sounding completely different. There is plenty of atmospheric sound and soft crooning in the verses of the songs, like there would be in Fates Warning, but there are also beautiful melodies, like we would find in Redemption. But this record is not prog, is not really metal, and certainly isn't experimental. By the way, those are all good things.

What we get on "What The Water Wants" are lovely melodic rock songs that breathe, flow, and deliver a soothing catharsis. With Ray's voice, everything he sings comes across melancholic, and that feeling plays off the melodies in a beautiful way. I don't particularly like the term, but it's a slightly darker sound for a very mainstream-ish record. Ray and his band aren't interested in hitting you over the head with their music, this is more subtle and more nuanced than that. This is reflective music, not rousing music.

Even the more aggressive songs, like "Shine", have a laid-back attitude to them. It's the kind of attitude that seethes rather than rages, an inward turn where most would be exploding. There are going to be plenty of people, mostly extroverts, who don't get this approach. Introverts, or maybe I should say people who erect walls to keep themselves from spilling out, and not the world from getting in, will understand the feeling this album gives me. It's not a common occurrence in rock or metal, for obvious reasons.

If I'm being honest, that's the most important thing I can say here. I could try to point to individual songs for little guitar tidbits, or a specific melody, but that's missing the point. The details are lovely, but the bigger picture is where my focus is. All of the songs here are strong, and there is very little I could criticize if I wanted to, but but I want to leave you with the same impression I get from listening to this record. Yes, the songs are important on their own, and there are some great ones here, but this is a record you feel as much as you hear. It won't resonate with everyone, and that's fine. But if you give it a chance, it might be able to show you a different side of what rock music can be. Power can heal sometimes, and that's what Ray Alder is trying to do.