No Exit is the fourth album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by the progressive metal

Progressive metal

Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...

 group Fates Warning

Fates Warning

Fates Warning is an American progressive metal band, formed in 1982 by vocalist John Arch, guitarists Jim Matheos and Victor Arduini, bassist Joe DiBiase, and drummer Steve Zimmerman in Hartford, Connecticut. Fates Warning has experienced numerous line-up changes...

, released in 1988 (see 1988 in music

1988 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1988.-January-March:* January 1 – André Rieu's Johann Strauss Orchestra plays its first concert....

). Lyrically, No Exit proved a radical departure from Fates Warning's last three albums, as the album focused more on society and dreamscapes than the occult metal embraced by albums such as The Spectre Within

The Spectre Within

The Spectre Within is the second studio album by Fates Warning, released in 1985. It was re-released by Metal Blade Records in 2002 with four bonus tracks.-Track listing:#"Traveler in Time" - 7:12...

and Awaken the Guardian

Awaken the Guardian

Awaken the Guardian is the third album by Fates Warning. It was first released in 1986, and was later re-released as a double album with "No Exit" in 1992...

. This album is the last by Fates Warning to feature Third Image cover art. It also marked the recorded debut of new vocalist Ray Alder

Ray Alder

Ray Alder has been the lead vocalist of the progressive metal band Fates Warning since their 1988 release No Exit. He has released two albums Engine in 1999 and Superholic in 2002 with Engine....

.

A reissue was released September 4, 2007, in celebration of Metal Blade Records

Metal Blade Records

Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...

' 25th anniversary. The reissue includes three bonus tracks, and a Bonus DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

.

The album is conceivably the band's most popular; although it reached only #111 on the US Charts, it remained in the charts for thirteen weeks, longer than any of the band's other albums.http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/searchResult.jsp?No=10&Ntt=Fates+Warning&Ntk=Keyword&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&an=bbcom&Ex=1&Ns=FORMATTED_DATE|1&N=36+4294122492

The album title was inspired from 1944 play No Exit

No Exit

No Exit is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The original French title is Huis Clos, the French equivalent of the legal term in camera, referring to a private discussion behind closed doors; English translations have also been performed under the titles In Camera, No Way Out...

 written by Jean-Paul Sartre http://www.fateswarning.info/cgi-bin/faq/smartfaq.cgi?answer=997763058&id=997762060.

The album was ranked 14th on IGN's Top 25 Metal albums. http://music.ign.com/articles/755/755929p4.html

Track listing

1. "No Exit" (Matheos) – 0:41
2. "Anarchy Divine" (Aresti/Matheos) – 3:46
3. "Silent Cries" (Aresti/DiBiase/Matheos/Zimmerman) – 3:17
4. "In a Word" (Aresti) – 4:25
5. "Shades of Heavenly Death" (Aresti/DiBiase/Matheos/Zimmerman) – 5:57
6. "The Ivory Gate of Dreams" (Matheos) – 21:58
   1. "Innocence" - 1:13
   2. "Cold Daze" - 2:15
   3. "Daylight Dreamers" - 3:06
   4. "Quietus" - 4:25
   5. "Ivory Tower" - 3:17
   6. "Whispers on the Wind" - 2:24
   7. "Acquiescence" - 4:24
   8. "Retrospect" - 1:01

2007 Deluxe Edition bonus tracks

7. "Quietus" [Demo] - 3:59
8. "Ivory Gate of Dreams" [Outtake 1] - 2:04
9. "Ivory Gate of Dreams" [Outtake 2] - 3:14

Bonus DVD

1. "No Exit" tour documentary
2. "Silent Cries" video
3. "Anarchy Divine" video
4. "Valley Of the Dolls" (Live in Philadelphia 1988)

Personnel

• Ray Alder - Vocals, Photography
• Frank Aresti - Guitar
• Joe DiBiase - Bass, Photography
• Phil Magnotti - Engineer
• Jim Matheos - Guitar, Photography
• Max Norman - Mixing
• Roger Probert - Producer, Mixing
• Mick Rock - Photography
• Steve Zimmerman - Percussion, Photography

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1988	The Billboard 200	111