Prog metal keyboardists with the best tones

[batmura]

By 'best' tone, I am actually referring to keyboard plaeyers who are known to emply organic, earthy tones rather than opting for the far-reaching, eclectic styles.

Though I love players from both end of the spectrum, I have been listening Derek Sherinian's work on Dream Theater's Falling into Infinity recently and consider it on of his best tones ever. I also love Sherinian's tones on his first two solo albums, especially Inertia. While good, I'm not too big on his more recent stuff where he relies too much on capturing the tones of the guitar players laying down their leads. Maybe it also has to do with me not being so fond of the writing on those discs; I don't know.

But I really enjoy the earthy tones he utilizes. I consider guys like Kuprij, Wehrkamp, Johansson, Rudess, and Matt Guillory among my favourite players, all for different reasons. I would love to hear your thoughts on your prefered key tones and players. How do you like the keys sounding in your prog? Do you like to see them utilized as an individual component in the mix, standing out and stealing the show at times, or moreso following the guitars and thickening the overall soundscape?

By the way, this thread is more on prog metal keyboardists and not prog rock, as the players in that genre are a totally different topic for discussion, in my opinion.

[MJBrady]

Hey Batmura, interesting question, I wanted to chime in, as for me, having stellar keys is critica in that genre A few from Sweden come to mind Matt Norberg / keyboards in the band Xsavior. Jerry Sahlin with the band ACT, Martin Hedin with Andromeda as well.
Alex Argento is also doing some very good work with various artists like Lalu,
Kevin Codfert sure has done some very good stuff with Adagio, Myrath
Luca Mariotti Lord of Mushrooms - Claviers
Marek Arnold - Subsignal and Toxic Smile
Adam Kuruc / keyboards - from Persona Grata - Slovakia

Kaarel Tamra – keyboards - Xpanda from Estonia

O, and the Haken guys

[Dave]

T Lavitz

[trurl]

T Lavitz

Prog Metal?

[Dave]

Prog Metal?

You are right. I've always struggled with definitions. Does Trey Gunn count?

[nosebone]

Hammond & guitar always works best e.g. Deep Purple

[GuitarGeek]

This sounds like a question from that quiz show sketch on Monty Python, where the contestants were Chairman Mao, Lenin, Che Guevara, and I forget who the fourth one was (Karl Marx?).

"I'm not surprised nobody got that, it is in fact a trick question, Wolverhampton have never won the FA Cup!".

[GuitarGeek]

Hammond & guitar always works best e.g. Deep Purple

Or throw in a Minimoog, just don't route it through a guitar amp like Lord did with his Odyssey during the Who Do We Think We Are?/Burn/Stormbringer era.

[sergio]

Sherinian wanted to be a guitarist, that is why he is trying to emulate guitar tones a lot. how about Henshall-Tejeida/Haken, Wiberg/Opeth, Gerald Peter/Jeremias Foreshadow... As far as fusion a-la Planet X goes, I like contributions from whoever played on last Virgil Donati album (Alex Argento I think).

[ThomasKDye]

"I'm not surprised nobody got that, it is in fact a trick question, Wolverhampton have never won the FA Cup!".

Coventry City.

YES I AM A HORRIBLE MONTY PYTHON PEDANT SO SUE ME.

I think the earthier tones tend to appear in modern stoner metal, like Spiritual Beggars, rather than prog metal. For some reason people like Jordan Rudess are afraid of real Leslie'd-up Hammonds.

[trurl]

"The people control the means of production!!"

[batmura]

Sherinian wanted to be a guitarist, that is why he is trying to emulate guitar tones a lot.

Well, not on his earlier solo albims, Planet X, or Dream Theater, in my opinion. I think he went for the guitar sound when his writing became too formulaic where the focus was to bring in as many guitar heroes as possible with little regard to composition. His tone on Falling into Infinity is one of the finest.

I also agree about Tejeda. He does a great job, especially on the second Haken disc.

[GuitarGeek]

Coventry City.

YES I AM A HORRIBLE MONTY PYTHON PEDANT SO SUE ME.

Sorry, for some reason I can never remember the correct city. If it was a Young Ones bit, or something from The Blues Brothers, Heavy Metal, Meatballs or Sixteen Candles, I would have been just pedantic. Like I was saying, "Coventry City have never won the FA Cup!".

(Actually, they have won the FA Cup, but it was in the mid 80's, 15 years after that skit originally aired).

[Zeuhlmate]

Jens Johansson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcD1jEce3V4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX3Yg16QH_0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34O37svZFZk

[No Pride]

Sherinian wanted to be a guitarist, that is why he is trying to emulate guitar tones a lot.

That's what I think too and I thought that about all of his work. Of course, he and others took their cue from guys like Jan Hammer and Roger Powell. Personally, I prefer keyboard players to make keyboard sounds, just as I generally don't like guitar synths. In either case, there are more than enough choices of sounds; why intersect each other's territory?! I'm with Nosebone; Hammond is the perfect foil for guitar in a hard rock/metal context. I don't feel that it's something that should be vehemently stuck to, just as I don't think that overdriven guitar is the only appropriate heavy rock texture, but they are the meat of the sandwich imo.

[progholio]

i just can't wrap my head around 'good' keyboard tones and metal, i keep comming up with Dream Theater and the like which are the most horrible keys i can think of.

Hammond and guitar generally rocks but not really metal.

For hard rock/metal with good keyboard tones this is about a good as it gets

[sergio]

if we expand on "progmetal" to accomodate "progmetal elements" , I can throw in G Fontaine from Nemo

[Neptune]

i just can't wrap my head around 'good' keyboard tones and metal, i keep comming up with Dream Theater and the like which are the most horrible keys i can think of.

This. Jordan Rudess is obviously very talented, but a lot of the patches he uses really grate on my nerves.

[Jacob Holm-Lupo]

I must be missing something here, because "organic, earthy tones" are just about the last thing I associate with prog metal.
Has the genre taken a quantum leap since last I checked?

[Jimmy Giant]

I must be missing something here, because "organic, earthy tones" are just about the last thing I associate with prog metal.

Agreed.
That said,
Kevin Moore!

[GuitarGeek]

I must be missing something here, because "organic, earthy tones" are just about the last thing I associate with prog metal.
Has the genre taken a quantum leap since last I checked?

Well, I'm not surprised, since this is in fact a trick question. There are no prog metal keyboardists with organic earthy tones!

[Yves]

I really enjoyed Richard West's work on Threshold's "Clone" album. I guess that's because he plays predominately Hammond organ.

[Mikhael]

Agreed.
That said,
Kevin Moore!

I was listening to some live cuts of DT with Moore, and was unpleasantly surprized to find his live tones thin, weak, and unconvincing. Sherinian and Rudess are light-years ahead of what *I* heard with Moore, at least live.

[batmura]

I must be missing something here, because "organic, earthy tones" are just about the last thing I associate with prog metal.
Has the genre taken a quantum leap since last I checked?

Yes, Jacob, these players exist. Several of them have actually been mentioned in this very thread. Not everyone has to play a Mini Moog or Hammond organ to get that sound, you know.

[batmura]

I really enjoyed Richard West's work on Threshold's "Clone" album. I guess that's because he plays predominately Hammond organ.

Yves, Hypothetical is possibly my favourite Threshold disc from a keyboard point of view. Richard West is amazing indeed.