Top 5 progressive metal albums

[PeterG]

1. Avantasia - The Metal Opera, Vol. 1
2. Time Requiem - s/t
3. Dream Theater - When Dream & Day Unite
4. In Flames - Sounds of a Playground Fading
5. Voivod - Nothingface

[davis]

Dream Theater - Train of Thought
Dimension X - Implications of a Genetic Defense
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray
Stolen Babies - Naught
not sure of #5

[emperorken]

I generally don't like metal, but I at least can come up with 5 albums that I do like:

1. Poverty's No Crime- The Chemical Chaos
2. Jupiter Society- Terraform
3. Guilt Machine- On This Perfect Day
4. Dante- Saturnine
5. Ayreon- Into the Electric Castle

[Rufus]

Wake of Magellan-Savatage
SDOIT-Dream Theater
SFAM-Dream Theater
Empire-Queensryche
Subsurface-Threshold

[progeezer's ghost]

I dig many of the previously cited bands/albums. If I had to pick just 5, I'd go with:
DT- Metropolis Pt. 2: SFaM
Queensryche- Operation: Mindcrime
Threshold- Extinct Instinct
Shadow Gallery- Tyranny
Ayreon- The Human Equation

[the winter tree]

Black Sabbath "Sabotage"
Judas Priest "Sin After Sin"
Black SAbbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
Judas Priest "Nostradamus"
Captain Beyond debut

[PeterG]

Black Sabbath "Sabotage"
Judas Priest "Sin After Sin"
Black SAbbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
Judas Priest "Nostradamus"
Captain Beyond debut

Okay, great albums all, but you're doing your own take on progressive metal then are you?
As for Captain Beyond, doesn't matter how you cook it but there's no way they can possibly be considered as a metal band, I love their stuff, but they aint metal, not even close.

[PeterG]

Nice to see a couple of Threshold albums mentioned!

[spacefreak]

Rush "Hemispheres"
Fates Warning "Awaken the Guardian"
Watchtower "Energetic Disassembly"
Sieges Even "Steps"
Voivod "Dimension Hatröss"

I'm not a fan of the genre and haven't followed its evolution since the early 90s. So my list of these albums I really like, is probably completely innacurate to a connoisseur.

[Garden Dreamer]

Zero Hour - Towers of Avarice
Symphony X - The Odyssey
Symphony X - Paradise Lost
Pagans Mind - Enigmatic Calling
Pagans Mind - Celestial Entrance

[Magic Mountain]

Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane
Tool - Lateralus
Riverside - Second Life Syndrome
Symphony X - Iconoclast
Orphaned Land - Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven

[mnprogger]

not a top 5, but here's a recent list I made for 2000-2009.
http://allmediareviews.blogspot.com/...bums-2000.html

[viukkis]

Dream Theater - Awake
Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian
Queensrÿche - Rage for Order
Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element
Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy

[Joe F.]

Pain of Salvation- The Perfect Element
Spiral Architect- A Sceptic's Universe
Symphony X- V
Fate's Warning- Perfect Symmetry
Ayreon- The Human Equation

[paythesnuka]

In no particular order (all are masterpieces, IMO):
Dream Theater - Images and Words
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray
Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane
Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
Symphony X - V

[proggosaurus]

I generally don't like metal, but I at least can come up with 5 albums that I do like:

1. Poverty's No Crime- The Chemical Chaos

absofuckinlutely - love this one...they never got enough props IMO

Okay, great albums all, but you're doing your own take on progressive metal then are you?
As for Captain Beyond, doesn't matter how you cook it but there's no way they can possibly be considered as a metal band, I love their stuff, but they aint metal, not even close.

I have to disagree about Sabbath, that is only if you're implying they've never been progressive metal. they were certainly progressive in their early years and no doubt metal. maybe not progressive metal as thought of today but back then, hell yes! my opinion of course.

[the winter tree]

Those are my choices, yes.

[NogbadTheBad]

Unexpect - In A Flesh Aquarium
Stolen Babies - There Will Be Squabbles Ahead
Tool - Laterus
Behold The ... Arctopus - Horrorscension
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Singalong Songs For The Damned & Delirious

No particular order, could include Animals As Leaders & Iron Maiden

[Rarebird]

I don't have that many progressive metal albums. Don't even know what would be considered progressive metal.
The only thing in my collection that jumps my mind is:
Anomaly - s/t

[Garden Dreamer]

Interesting that there are five different Symphony X albums listed in the past 10 posts

[PeterG]

I have to disagree about Sabbath, that is only if you're implying they've never been progressive metal. they were certainly progressive in their early years and no doubt metal. maybe not progressive metal as thought of today but back then, hell yes! my opinion of course.

Yes, I am saying they have never been progressive metal, not now and not back then i.e. in the sense that the new term progressive metal is understood by its fans i.e. a mixture of progressive rock with true metal. HOWEVER, when they started they were most definitely part of the progressive underground and their music was progressive in as much as it was cutting edge hard rock of a style that no one had ever heard before but not progressive in the style of prog rock.

BUT it most certainly was not progressive metal because metal as a style really didn't exist & even if it did they weren't mixing it with prog rock anyway. A lot of people forget that early metal and early hard rock were already due to their nature very progressive i.e. groundbreaking, simply by the open nature of the structure and instrumentation in exactly the same way as classical music is. So early BS progressive hard rock, yes! progressive metal, no. And my view is that wecan't aply modern genre tags to music that existed over 30 years before the genre tag was created. Otherwise people could call mid-70s Judas Priest speed metal, and The Beatles indiepop, and Johnny Kidd punkabilly and so on.

[PeterG]

Interesting that there are five different Symphony X albums listed in the past 10 posts

I've never really gotten to grips with Symphony X, maybe I'll give them another go.

[GuitarGeek]

Iron Maiden Somewhere In Time
Iron Maiden Powerslave
Iron Maiden Piece Of Mind
Iron Maiden Number Of The Beast
Iron Maiden Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

[Rufus]

I've never really gotten to grips with Symphony X, maybe I'll give them another go.

Love prog metal but I too can't get into Symphony X. Everything just sounds at breakneck speed with everyone trying to keep up with drummer!!!

[mnprogger]

Symphony X to me has always sounded like an incredibly cheesy Power Metal band.

My feeling is I'd much rather listen to Shadow Gallery.