LA Weekly blog: The 10 Best Prog Metal Bands

#4 Queensryche has never been remotely progressive unless you mean that they got progressively worse from Empire on....
#2 King Crimson progressive rock, yes, metal, not so much.

I would agree with the 1st three in the proper positions and might consider adding Watchtower somewhere in there.
 
TwizstedJesus said:
#4 Queensryche has never been remotely progressive unless you mean that they got progressively worse from Empire on....
#2 King Crimson progressive rock, yes, metal, not so much.

I would agree with the 1st three in the proper positions and might consider adding Watchtower somewhere in there.
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Funny, but King Crimson is the first band mentioned in 'Mean Deviation', described as probably the first Progressive Metal band. Certainly for their time, they were pretty heavy (noting that they predated Black Sabbath.)

Queensryche is on the list for one album: "Operation: Mindcrime". It was heavily influential and set the stage for Dream Theater.

Really, instead of "best", this is more a list of most influential.
 
I feel like Psychotic Waltz deserve a spot on this list. While Focus would probably make it into my top 10 list of prog metal albums, I'm not sure Cynic is a top 10 band just because of that one release.
 
TheLongshot said:
Queensryche is on the list for one album: "Operation: Mindcrime". It was heavily influential and set the stage for Dream Theater.
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People can choose any definition for "progressive" they like. I tend to be very comfortable using it for bands who actually progress (i.e. do something different). There are few bands who sound as different from album to album as Queensryche did from Warning to Rage to O:Mc to Empire to Promised Land. Combine that with the fact that no one else sounded like they did, and I call that "progressive". Conversely, there is little progressive about long song formats and odd time signatures. Bands have been doing that forever.
 
General Zod said:
People can choose any definition for "progressive" they like. I tend to be very comfortable using it for bands who actually progress (i.e. do something different). There are few bands who sound as different from album to album as Queensryche did from Warning to Rage to O:Mc to Empire to Promised Land. Combine that with the fact that no one else sounded like they did, and I call that "progressive". Conversely, there is little progressive about long song formats and odd time signatures. Bands have been doing that forever.
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Heh, people have argued the definition of "progressive" forever. :heh:

Personally, I agree with you. The time from "Rage To Order" to "Promised Land" was a very interesting one and I'd definitely call it progressive. But where I was coming from was from the perspective of people making these lists, where progressive is more of a label than a description.
 
TheLongshot said:
But where I was coming from was from the perspective of people making these lists, where progressive is more of a label than a description.
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I'm with you. But it does seem they were using the term"progressive" in multiple ways. After all, I don't think I'd call Mastodon "progressive" in the technical sense. Yes, they're excellent musicians. But so are a great number of musicians whose music would never be labeled as such.
 
I can't believe that I can't find the original studio version on youtube, but here is PROGRESSIVE:



The beginning of prog metal???????
 
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I agree with influential. But no matter how much you try, you can't call King Crimson metal If they're prog-metal, then so is Spocks Beard and then they belong on the list also.
Queensryche definitely "progressed" from disc to disc from the E.P. to the "Empire" era, and they had touches of what I consider prog-metal. The rocking out in their pajama's stage was the most progressive move any band has ever made!
 
TwizstedJesus said:
I agree with influential. But no matter how much you try, you can't call King Crimson metal If they're prog-metal, then so is Spocks Beard and then they belong on the list also.
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I was thinking if King Crimson is on the list, then Yes should also be on it. IMHO there wasn't a more progressive band in the '70s than Yes. Think Relayer, and Tales from Topographic Oceans. However, while both King Crimson and Yes were quite progressive, they were progressive rock, not progressive metal. TwizstedJesus is correct pointing that out.

This is an odd list to be sure. Given there are so many prog metal bands worthy to be counted, it is curious why the author of the list chose some bands that clearly should not be there.
 
General Zod said:
People can choose any definition for "progressive" they like. I tend to be very comfortable using it for bands who actually progress (i.e. do something different).
Click to expand...


This horse has well and truly been whipped beyond all possible recognition.

That said, I will offer my two cents. :)

Thrash Metal - When I use that term, it refers to a specific sub genre of metal with a very recognizable sound. Yes. It's formulaic. But everyone knows thrash when they hear it. Let me illustrate it this way. Testament = Thrash. Hammerfall = NOT Thrash. And oddly, no one seems to have a problem with that or wants to debate it endlessly.

However for some unknown reason, when it comes to the term Progressive Metal, there is no such consensus. Which renders it almost useless as a descriptive term.

As I see it, labels for musical genres serve only one purpose - communication. It is a way of telling a person who has never heard a particular band what they can reasonably expect that band to sound like. Nothing more. Nothing less. Put another way, if I ask what Band A is like and someone replies 'they're progressive metal", I should be able to have at least some idea of what to expect from that band.
 
MeTuLHeD said:
It's LA Weekly. 'Nuff said. Those guys are as clueless about metal as Rolling Stone.
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I don't know if your statement necessarily holds value in this case. I mean, would you leave those bands off of a "top prog metal list"?


Opeth
Mastodon
Fates Warning
Queensryche
Dream Theater
King Crimson
Rush
 
AngraRULES said:
I don't know if your statement necessarily holds value in this case. I mean, would you leave those bands off of a "top prog metal list"?
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X Japan - This one truly says all that I need to say re: my clueless comment. Seriously? Has he even LISTENED to this band??? If they are prog metal, then I'm a peanut butter sandwich.

Cynic - Great band. Highly influential. Technical? Yes. Prog metal? No.

Mastodon - Prog metal? Really? Again, a highly influential band. No question about it. Forging their own musical path? Without a doubt. Prog metal? No.

King Crimson - Along with Genesis, Yes, etc. one of the pioneering bands of prog rock. Legends. I would even go so far as to say they paved the way for what we call progressive metal. Without prog rock, there could have been no prog metal. But to classify them as metal is a HUGE stretch...21st Century Schizoid Man notwithstanding.

Rush - Musical giants. Great innovators at every step along the way. In fact, among my musical heroes if you will. However, Rush has not been a metal band for a LONG time now. Don't take my word for it. Read their interviews and they will say the exact same thing. They have long ago left heavy metal behind. In fact, I would argue that their last metal disc was 'Farewell To Kings'. 'Hemispheres' definitely saw the band moving away from metal and in a more prog rock direction. No question about that.

See, here's what I meant by that comment. Most mainstream rock journalists actually hate metal. They scorn it as unsophisticated and hopelessly stuck in the past. A dead genre filled with dead heads. So they really don't listen to it. And they aren't very knowledgeable re: the whole metal sub culture. Therefore, I am never surprised when they get it wrong. Badly wrong. Hopelessly, sadly, albeit unintentionally humorously wrong. Case in point? The year the mainstream music media awarded Jethro Tull a Grammy for 'Best Heavy Metal Album'. :guh: Your honor, the prosecution rests.
 
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