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Thread: Recommend some Progressive Metal!

  1. #1

    Recommend some Progressive Metal!

    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 !

  2. #2
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    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.

  3. #3
    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!

  4. #4
    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 ?

  5. #5
    Member emperorken's Avatar
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    Poverty's No Crime
    Dante
    Jupiter Society

    All excellent

  6. #6
    Member Yanks2014's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gerardo View Post
    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.
    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.

  7. #7
    Member Lou's Avatar
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    Echoes
    Spheric Universe Experience
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    Thought Chamber
    Andromeda
    Threshold
    Karnivool
    Hourglass
    Astra
    Conception
    Affector
    Animations
    Ventura
    Section A

  8. #8
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rufus View Post
    Wondered what oppinions are on Dante & Haken ?
    Haken are absolutely fantastic - one of my favourites of recent years. I love their first two albums (particularly the closing epics on each of them) and I eagerly await their forthcoming third disc! Highly recommended.

    District 97 is another great band.
    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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  9. #9
    Member Yanks2014's Avatar
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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

  10. #10
    Member Yanks2014's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    Haken are absolutely fantastic - one of my favourites of recent years. I love their first two albums (particularly the closing epics on each of them) and I eagerly await their forthcoming third disc! Highly recommended.

    District 97 is another great band.
    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.

  11. #11
    Member Magic Mountain's Avatar
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    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

  12. #12
    Member Yanks2014's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lou View Post
    Echoes
    Astra
    Affector
    Astra, isn't this the retro psychedelic band? Very cool. Not metal at all, but cool.

    Affector - could turn some people off with the book of revelations theme, but the music is VERY strong, and I'm a big fan of Ted Leonard's voice.

  13. #13
    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

  14. #14
    Member Yanks2014's Avatar
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    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

  15. #15
    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 !

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yanks2009 View Post
    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.

    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.

  17. #17
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yanks2009 View Post
    Silent Voices - Think later period DT without as much soloing
    I thought Silent Voices' first album was really good. Then I got the second and it seemed pretty bad - maybe I just didn't give it enough time?

  18. #18
    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.

  19. #19
    Member Yanks2014's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rufus View Post
    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 !
    I'm a big Ayreon fan. But it's such a mix of different styles, while heavy, I don't usually think of Ayreon music as prog-metal. Great music, whatever it is. Less proggy but still a lot of fun is the other major Luccassen project, Star One. Both albums are great.

  20. #20
    Member Yanks2014's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    I thought Silent Voices' first album was really good. Then I got the second and it seemed pretty bad - maybe I just didn't give it enough time?
    Maybe. I really like their 3rd album, "Building Up The Apathy". Never a big fan of the vocalist, but he's tolerable. I believe he left or was fired and they were looking for someone new. But that was a couple years ago, I'm afraid they are done. Hope I'm wrong.

  21. #21
    Member Yanks2014's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gerardo View Post
    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.
    You did, maybe I was a bit harsh, sorry about that.

  22. #22
    Member Plasmatopia's Avatar
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    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.

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yanks2009 View Post
    You did, maybe I was a bit harsh, sorry about that.
    No problem.

  24. #24
    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

  25. #25
    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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