A-Z – A-Z² (Album Review)

I didn’t expect to enjoy an album that went out of its way to incorporate so many of the traits that made much 80s music unbearable to me, but the debut from the band that reunited Fates Warning alumni Ray Alder and Mark Zonder was just too damn good not to enjoy. Just shy of that album’s third birthday, this addictive collective is set to release their follow-up, the cleverly titled A-Z², and I’m grateful to report that it’s a record that’s worth what really doesn’t seem like much of a wait.

The first thing that’ll jump out at most listeners is that A-Z have decided to forgo the more overt 80s trappings that their first record somehow had me enjoying. In place of the beer commercials and Miami Vice vibes, we get 80s-inspired melodies and sensibilities, again dressed up with contemporary production. It’s a move I welcome.

The next thing we notice is that there’s been a shakeup in personnel, with Vivien Lalu and Joop Wolters being replaced by keyboardist Jimmy Waldo and guitarists Nick van Dyk and Simone Mularoni, effectively turning A-Z into a Warlord/ Redemption hybrid. It’s not a scenario I’d had on my 2025 lotería card, but again, it’s a move I welcome.

Why? Quite frankly, because both the songwriting and the execution on A-Z² freaking smokes. The compositions are concise and catchy, yet dynamic and kinetic, and sound nothing like one would expect from a band with such a curious lineup. You’ll find neither Redemption’s complexity nor Warlord’s iniquity, because A-Z is a beast unto itself.

That’s not to say you won’t hear similarities. The verses on the opening track “Fire Away” bear an eerie resemblance to Redemption’s “Walls,” but the A-Z guys are wise enough to keep references to earlier work with their other bands nice and subtle. As if to announce that the Alder/ van Dyk duo has reunited, “Fire Away,” also recalls the stellar “Black and White World” in the refrain without bringing too much attention to this citation – I only noticed it after about ten listens. How can this be, you ask?

To start, Alder is in as fine a form as he’s ever been, and his melodies never fail to fit so perfectly over what his bandmates are doing that you can ever fool yourself into thinking that anything else would work better. This man just bleeds hooks, and his ability to create such sinless melodies remains intact and unmatched. Meanwhile, Mularoni and van Dyk focus on texture in the song’s intro while letting Zonder and bassist Phil Bynoe do the heavy lifting. Behaving as if its title is a mission statement, “Fire Away” does just that; it seizes your attention and enjoyment, you deliver those things to it whether you want to give it that satisfaction or not, and you do so while recognizing that you admire this cut not for its nods to Alder and van Dyk’s history, but it for its own merits.

Alder makes it a point to grease things up a bit on “A-Z²,” rasping his voice just a hair when reaching for the higher notes in the verses to “Running in Place.” Lesser singers (and I’m thinking specifically of one of Ray’s contemporaries) often distort to hide the fact that they’ve lost their range, but Ray has the skills and the cred to make it work, regardless of whether he can hit that note without straining or not. He’s not doing it to hide anything at all. He’s doing it to add character to an already aggressively mellifluent line. The refrain on “Running in Place” also employs gang vocals more typical of older thrash to offset the downright prettiness of what Waldo calls the song’s b-section. In an album overflowing with bangers, this is one of the better ones.

Ray isn’t the only one who’s letting loose a bit more. Under direction from Zonder, Phil Bynoe has let himself go off in cuts like “Nothing is Over,”  “This Chaotic Symphony,” and especially in the bridge on “Now I Walk Away,” cautiously not overdoing anything within the setting of a band who has deliberately shunned overshredding. Often overlooked if they’re not playing like Lars Norberg or Sean Malone, bassists like Bynoe are a rare commodity in that while he certainly does more than simply pump away at the root or gallop a-la Steve Harris, he manages to elevate the song without hogging the spotlight.

A case in point is the album’s clear showpiece, “A Wordless Prison,” where he carries an already expertly crafted composition to near-epic proportions. I stress “near” because not overdoing things is part of the A-Z manifesto. “A Wordless Prison” may indeed start off sounding a bit like Disconnected era Fates Warning, and its title may sound like it could be an Emperor cover, and while it does approach progressive territory, it sticks closely enough to the basics to just barely toe the line.

Meanwhile, “The Remedy” opens with octave lines that recall Dream Theater’s “Under a Glass Moon,” but like the rest of the album, otherwise remains firmly planted in Not Prog territory, even as Mularoni solos his heart out while the rest of the band holds things firmly together. Zonder then adds just a skosh of technical flair underneath, just as Ray brings the rasp as the song reaches its conclusion.

“I Am Numb” is another instance where a song with a character all its own tips its hat to the band that first brought Mark and Ray together (you’ll hear it about two minutes in), and Bynoe even brings out his cello and his fretless bass for “This Chaotic Symphony,” where we also hear Waldo the most prominently and where the band approaches progressive land while also playing a few passages would only shock you to hear on modern rock radio because they just sound so damn good.

While certainly heavier and less retro than its predecessor, “A-Z²,” remains true to what Mark and Ray set out to do when they formed the band. This album is direct and infectious enough to border on pop, relies on riffs enough for it to be decidedly metal, and exhaustively avoids prog metal excess while still allowing these monster musicians to shine. More importantly, the songs themselves are forged wonderfully, with each one grabbing the listener’s attention and denying them the option to reclaim it. Is this why Hugh Syme seems to be saving all of his actual creativity for this band?

Release Date: June 6^th, 2025
Record Label: Metal Blade Records
Genre: Progressive-Tinged Hard Rock

Musicians:

• Ray Alder / Vocals
• Mark Zonder / Drums
• Phil Bynoe / Bass
• Simone Mularoni / Guitars
• Nick van Dyk / Guitars
• Jimmy Waldo /Keys

A-Z² Track-list:

1. Fire Away Running in Place
2. Nothing is Over
3. A Wordless Prison
4. Reaching Out
5. The Remedy
6. I Am Numb
7. This Chaotic Symphony
8. Learning to Fly
9. Now I Walk Away