Fates Warning is a progressive metal band, formed in 1983 by John Arch, Jim Matheos, Victor Arduini, Joe DiBiase, and Steve Zimmerman in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.

The band directly contributed to the establishment of the progressive metal genre, with its early works considered by many as very important works defining the genre itself. In the liner notes to the 2005 expanded edition of the Awaken the Guardian album, Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy noted that, "very often fans and critics credit Dream Theater for creating a whole new genre of progressive metal music in the late '80s/early '90s, . . . but the truth is Fates Warning were doing it years before us."