HamburgerBoy
Active Member
- Sep 16, 2007
- 15,042
- 4,723
- 113
The John Arch era Fates Warning is a lot closer to traditional metal than later progressive metal, unless bands like Mercyful Fate are also progressive metal bands. Awaken the Guardian is the closest to what I would feel comfortable using that genre title and it's still leagues from what most people classify as progressive metal. There are other bands that i think also tread this line without falling into the genre in a clear way.
I'm not going to say that early Fates Warning, especially Awaken the Guardian, isn't progressive metal, because it could be argued that it is, although it clearly has a lot in common with traditional metal and isn't too similar to what the progressive metal genre became only a few years later. I can fully understand someone generally not enjoying progressive metal while still enjoying the first three Fates Warning albums.
I generally agree with this, although I'd say that it not sounding like later progressive metal doesn't mean too much when you have newer prog metal bands that are arguably simpler but just have that Dream Theater pomp aesthetic. Fates Warning, Mercyful Fate, etc are progressively-minded if not actually "progressive metal".