Fates Warning - "A Pleasant Shade of Gray"

Fates Warning - "A Pleasant Shade of Gray"

From 100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal by Brian Slagel

May 4, 2026 · 57 min

About this episode

Brian Slagel interviews Ray Alder about Fates Warning's album 'A Pleasant Shade of Gray' and its production.

Fates Warning - "A Pleasant Shade of Gray" Released April 22, 1997 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel talks to Fates Warning singer Ray Alder about their 1997 album "A Pleasant Shade of Gray": an entire album made up of one song. He also talks about the production of the record with Bill Metoyer, who did some engineering on the album. As always, author Martin Popoff provides some historical significance and impact of the song. You can watch video of the entire unedited version of the interview HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDniJAb7iZ4 Follow Brian Slagel on Instagram and X @Brian Slagel Follow Bill Metoyer on Instagram @Bill_Metoyer Follow 100 Songs That Define Heavy Metal on X, Instagram and TikTok @100Metal Songs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Brian Slagel

Guest: Ray Alder

Topics covered

  • Fates Warning
  • heavy metal
  • album production
  • music history
  • interview

Keywords

  • Fates Warning
  • A Pleasant Shade of Gray
  • Brian Slagel
  • Ray Alder
  • heavy metal
  • album production
  • Bill Metoyer

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Fates Warning, Metal Blade Records, Bill Metoyer

Books & works: A Pleasant Shade of Gray

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