Am aware & fan of the big guns of this genre i.e DT, Queensryche, Threshold & Savatage but thats about it. Feel like I have so much more of this genre to discover.
Recommendations please of bands similar to those mentioned !
Am aware & fan of the big guns of this genre i.e DT, Queensryche, Threshold & Savatage but thats about it. Feel like I have so much more of this genre to discover.
Recommendations please of bands similar to those mentioned !
Personally, I would go the other way and recommend you prog metal bands that don't sound like those you mentioned and that have their own more original sound and don't have that Dream Theater wannabe sound going on. Personally, I enjoy bands like Pain of Salvation, Evergrey, Dead Soul Tribe, Spiritual Beggars, and Indukti. If you consider Riverside prog metal (I don't) then I would recommend them too. Closer to your description of similar bands you mentioned, I enjoy Symphony X, Shadow Gallery and Redemption. Former Dream Theater singer Charlie Dominici released two great records under the Dominici name in the last few years. I don't know if it is considered prog metal, but Erik Norlander's The Galactive Collective (both the studio and the live cd are highly recommended) would fit the bill if you like reworked instrumental versions of his past work, both solo and with Rocket Scientists. Derek Sherinian's solo albums have a lot of heavy instrumental playing as well.
Most of these have been on my podcast: Factory of Dreams (female vocal), Circus Maximus, Omega Experiment (little bit of growling in there if you can handle it), Anubis Gate, Hemina, To-Mera (also female vocal), Aeon Zen, Seventh Wonder. Plenty more to choose from. Here's a new Circus Maximus video:
Progtopia is a podcast devoted to interviewing progressive rock, metal, and electronic artists from the past and present, featuring their songs and exclusive interviews. Artists interviewed on the show have included Steve Hackett, Sound of Contact, Larry Fast, Circus Maximus, Anubis Gate, Spock's Beard, and many more. http://progtopia.podomatic.com See you in a land called Progtopia!
Thanks so far , will check those bands out ! Am not a fan of cookie monster vocals though, could never get into Opeth for that reason. Wondered what oppinions are on Dante & Haken ?
Poverty's No Crime
Dante
Jupiter Society
All excellent
You made some good recommendations, but it's kind of silly to immediately try to move him onto something else. Imagine if it were a thread asking for Italian prog recommendations. Would you instead recommend Swedish prog? Makes about as much sense. My start in prog-metal was of course DT and Queensryche, and it did eventually lead me to bands like Pain of Salvation and Indukti. But really, if someone wants to stick to the more melodic, "traditional" type of prog-metal, there is plenty to choose from, and nothing wrong with that at all. Eventually that might not be enough, and natural curiosity will lead to less traditional types of prog-metal. That was the case with me for sure. But I still go back to the more traditional side, it's still a big part of my music listening, always will be.
Echoes
Spheric Universe Experience
Soundscape
Thought Chamber
Andromeda
Threshold
Karnivool
Hourglass
Astra
Conception
Affector
Animations
Ventura
Section A
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
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Bands along the more "traditional" route:
Riverside - other than their latest, I DO consider them prog-metal. The latest one though is still really good.
Spheric Universe Experience - don't hear them mentioned enough, their "Unreal" album is exactly that, a total scorcher
Silent Voices - Think later period DT without as much soloing
Redemption - Ray Alder from Fates Warning on vocals -much heavier than Fates, but still melodic
Adagio - Think a darker Symphony X. First 2 albums are growl free and really great
Andromeda - great Swedish prog-metal, DT inspired for sure, but vocals are more rock than metal
Circus Maximus - similar to Andromeda, maybe less chops focused, but with higher pitched vocals
Fates Warning - classic band, not far off from Queensryche, but proggier. Major influence on DT, plus Kevin Moore has guested a few times on keys
Lord of Mushrooms - odd name, cool band, DT-ish, quite melodic
Mayadome - great Swedish prog-metal, a DT influence but far less commercial
Shadow Gallery - concept albums are big part of their thing, along with blistering chops
Soundscape - over the top vocal work, but Grave New World should be a classic, but isn't due to a 9 year delay in release.
Sun Caged - Monster prog-metal act out of Holland led by guitarist Marcel Coenen. Great vocals as well.
Lemur Voice - Former band of Marcel Coenen, not as heavy as Sun Caged, big DT influence, very melodic
Symphony X - The king of neo-classical prog-metal, though they have gone a bit heavier and less classical influenced of late. Not a bad thing either, those albums are killer.
Thought Chamber - Enchant's Ted Leonard is the vocalist, but this is far heavier and chops laden.
Vanden Plas - not a fan of the vocalist, and they can sound rather slick at times, but great riffs and overall strong sound
Haken are terrific, and kind of a strange mix or prog and prog-metal, and some very brief death-metal growling. Don't let that scare you, they are terrific.
D97 are a great young band, and the instrumentation borders on metal at times, but they are not prog-metal. Vocalist Leslie Hunt is one of the best around. Yes, she really was on American Idol, don't hold that against her. Definitely check them out.
Some bands that were not mentioned:
Fate's Warning
Green Carnation
The Gathering (Esp Mandylion)
Leprous
Haken
Tool
Opeth (growling vocals)
Devin Townsend
Vanden Plas
Voyager
Zero Hour
Pinkroom
Sieges Even
Votum
Orphaned Land
Myrath
many many more
See if you might dig this one, from Chile:
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Along the less traditional route I offer the following, some already mentioned:
Zero Hour
Indukti
Spiral Architect
Spastic Ink
Twisted Into Form
Pain of Salvation - first 4 albums only
Degree Absolute
Cynthesis
Canvas Solaris
Aghora
Thanks for all the recommendations so far . Yanks2009 your reply was especially very helpful ! Forgot to mention I am also a fan of Ayreon , surprised no one mentioned them !
Well, I *did* give him some recommendations closer to his description. I don't think it's silly, I just thought he might be open to other bands that are considered prog metal and are not similar to Dream Theater. All of the bands that I suggested in the other direction are melodic too, just that their sound is different; and none of them have that cookie monster vocal thing going on.
Just as others have mentioned, Circus Maximus and Vanden Plas are great choices if your looking for the Dream Theater style of Prog Metal.
I would also add, or concur with others, on Riverside, Green Carnation, Deadsoul Tribe, O.S.I., Amplifier, the last few Porcupine Tree albums(edit:early albums are great, but not Metal influenced in any shape or form), Age of Nemesis, The Tea Party, Ayreon(edit: didn't read the entire thread, doh!!), Cynic, and the Devin Townsend Band.
Maybe not Prog, but Fair to Midland is worth checking out as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66R8ayavwR4
Last edited by Raiders757; 06-09-2013 at 03:21 PM.
My favorite thing Arjen L. did (besides a couple of the Ayreon albums) is Guilt Machine. Not really prog-metal to me though.
I second the Haken recommendations.
From the top of my head:
Pain Of Salvation
Andromeda
Redemption
Riverside
Threshold
Conception
Cynic
Dead Soul Tribe
Devin Townsend
Heaven's Cry
Kingcrow
Myrath
Shadow Gallery
Superior
Suspyre
Symphony X
Vanden Plas
Voyager
Zero Hour
Octavarium (the song) by DT if you haven't.
Haken, Sieges Even, Shadow Gallery, Vanden Plas, Sun Caged and Thought Chamber (and related but not quite prog-metal band Enchant) are some of the few that I quite like.
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