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Well, it's FINALLY OPEN!! Welcome to the OFFICIAL Progressive Metal Thread!!! Given to us by met3or the great, this thread will be all you need when it comes to the lovely genre that is Progressive Metal!!! For great downloads to great Progressive bands, you can go here. Also make note that there is another link at the top of the page to another site that gives even MORE downloads. Now on to the DEFINITION of progressive metal:




Progressive Metal is a sub-genre of metal which takes its influences from Progressive Rock music from the 1960’s and 1970’s. Like Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal has its own share of complex compositional structures, and the use of abnormal time signatures is prevalent in most bands. Progressive Metal is also considered one of the most experimental and diverse genres out there, due to the use of influences outside metal, as well as the use of neo-classical instrumentation (bands like Symphony X). Jazz and Classical influences are also evident, but are much more obvious in Progressive metal than in other genres.

Progressive Metal artists are usually more proficient than artists from other metal genres. This is mostly due to the complexities and intricate nature of most Progressive metal compositions. Therefore, Progressive artists must compensate for the better instrumentation displayed by most progressive metal songs. Examples of this include Michael Romeo from Symphony X, and Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, and John Myung from Dream Theater. Influences between Progressive Rock and Progressive Metal travel as far as song structure and intricacy level, meaning the proficiency of Progressive Rock artists is more so than most other conventional rock bands.


The roots of Progressive Metal can be drawn from Progressive Rock bands such as King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Yes, Rush, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, and other Progressive Rock bands from the 1960s and 1970s. The genre itself did not fully come out until the 1980s, when artists such as Queensrÿche and Fates Warning took their influences from the Progressive Rock groups of the ‘60s and ‘70s and fused them with the characteristics of heavy metal music. It wasn’t until 1990 that the genre received mainstream exposure when Queensrÿche’s “Silent Lucidity” (from their Empire album) began to receive radio and MTV airplay. Though the song wasn’t typical Progressive Metal, it did open up their music to younger fans. The same thing happened in 1992 with the Dream Theater song “Pull Me Under” (from their Images and Words album).
During the 90s, bands such as Opeth, Symphony X, and Evergrey emerged, churning out their own sound, while departing from the original prog metal sounds influenced by the works of Fates Warning and Dream Theater. Though not classified as Progressive Metal, some bands such as Watchtower, Cynic and Death took some elements from Progressive Metal, mostly the time signatures, creating more “technical” genres.
Today, some bands like Vanden Plas and Threshold, while deriving their sound from earlier Progressive Rock/Metal artists, sound the same to some people. Nevertheless, these bands, plus more unique bands such as Pain of Salvation and Ayreon continue to contribute to a thriving genre that daily gains more popularity.


Anyways, I thought I'd set up a nice section for bands that people (including me) should check out:



If anybody has any others that they'd like to see added to the list, feel free to post it, and i'll add it!


1.) Feel free to talk about Progressive Metal bands, or bands that influenced Progressive Metal as we know it.
2.) No flaming others for their opinion. As long as the opinion is not blatantly insulting to others, respect the opinions held by the other individuals posting in the thread.
3.) Always, and I mean ALWAYS, respect and abide by the Gaia Terms of Services when posting in this thread.
4.) Don't make 10,000 posts about how great Dream Theater is. As much as I like Dream Theater myself, there are dozens of other Progressive bands to talk about
5.) Please don't spam. Try to keep things on-topic.
6.) Going along with the idea that Revengeance set up in his thread, please don't post any illegal download links in your threads.
7.) Most Importantly, HAVE A GOOD TIME!!!

Age Of Silence

What Prog Metal bands do you know of so far, aside from Dream Theater?

no SYL is still Death metal

Biomechanical.

On the topic of huge prog metal bands, I prefer Symphony X to Dream Theater.

Check out Biomechanical more. mad

(That was in a non-aggressive way incase you didn't get it)

Lol calm down, i'll check out both of them. How does that sound?