Progressive Metal That Doesn't Suck?

[Jean-Pierre]

Though Garm is a genius and I worship Ulver and most everything he's done, Simen totally should have been the full-time vocalist for Arcturus. That one song is the best thing he or that band ever produced.

Haha, that was actually the only Arcturus song I've ever found to be worth anything. I always wondered who sang on that track...That dude is a pretty damn good singer, unique voice.

 

[The Grimace]

He's also doing all the backing vocals on the album. Kris Rygg's voice is awesome on Ulver's Perdition City, but Simen is like Roy Orbison and Rob Halford and Mikael Akerfeldt, just opens his mouth and all this shit that makes you pissed off at your lack of singing ability comes pouring out. He didn't get a job working at Dimmu, Inc. for nothing.

 

[unknown]

Someone NEEDS to explain to me what's good about Pain Of Salvation, because everything I've heard from them sounds like bad elevator music.

what elevators have you been riding in?

 

[DaiHard]

The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium

 

[ThePhilosopher]

Someone NEEDS to explain to me what's good about Pain Of Salvation, because everything I've heard from them sounds like bad elevator music.

Well, they're one of the only "prog metal" bands of modern times that are actually progressive in terms of the evolution of their sound. Not only that, they're also one of the few progressive bands where guitar wanking is not the main focus of their music. On the contrary, most of the instrumentation is quite subdued. Pain of Salvation's greatness lies in their ability to write interesting concept albums with out-of-this-world sounding music, brilliant lyrics, and excellent vocals, yet somehow always escaping the stereotypical trappings of many other progressive metal bands. Not only that, the orchestration on their new album "BE" is probably the best usage of traditional instruments mixed with electric instruments I've ever heard.

Their music would be pretty hard for someone who prefers traditional or extreme metal, as there's a lot of odd vocal patterns, weird sounding riffs, and a wealth of "mellow" material scattered throughout their albums. Overall they're a difficult band to get into, and despite most of what I listen to being death metal and black metal, they still remain one of my favorite bands ever. All I can say is they require a lot of patience and a tolerance for mellower sounds.

 

[ThePhilosopher]

I second The Mars Volta.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

I second The Mars Volta.

I third the Mars Volta. Truly fucked-up shit. Even more when you learn it's a man.

Yeah? Well I heard half of Entropia, stopped downloading it, and then deleted it. I don't see how anyone outside of Barry Manilow fans could enjoy that shit.

I'm not a big PoS fan, personally because Gildenlow is an overrated vocalist and the band's music is generally boring. However, I'd suggest listening to the song "Inside" because it has this really crazy piano melody that drives the song and...I dunno, I like it. Check it out. Even if you hate the rest of the band's material.

btw, Mr. Bungle anyone?

 

[Jean-Pierre]

Their music would be pretty hard for someone who prefers traditional or extreme metal, as there's a lot of odd vocal patterns, weird sounding riffs, and a wealth of "mellow" material scattered throughout their albums.

It's not "hard" for me, I just find it to be tremendously overrated and completely dumb. Same goes for anything Mike Patton's ever been involved in.

The best Prog Rock is still the stuff that was done by YES, Rush, Alan Parson's Project, Camel, etc. I've never found anything that equals the older stuff. POS and any of Patton's "HAY GUYS, LETS TRY THIS IT'S DIFFARENT!!!" projects are probably the worst of the modern bunch.

 

[ThePhilosopher]

Well that explains why you don't like them much, as Faith No More and Mr. Bungle are among the main influences they sight. Either way, other than the occasional vocal pattern, Pain of Salvation and those bans have little in common.

 

[ThePhilosopher]

If anything, Pain of Salvation has a lot more in common with the 70s progressive bands. I agree they were the best at it, but PoS carries on in a similar spirit of innovative yet for the most part accessible music, without focusing mostly on instrumental prowess like Dream Theater.

 

[Christie_fell]

Camel

They are amazing. \m/

 

[Jean-Pierre]

If anything, Pain of Salvation has a lot more in common with the 70s progressive bands.

Y'see, to me, that's exactly like when people say the same thing with Opeth. For both bands, it's really just a shoddy and ill concieved imitation of the 70's/80's Prog Rock alumni. A parallel that could be drawn to these bands imitation of older Prog Rock groups is Primal Fear's awkward and hokey Judas Priest worship. And on top of it, you mix mediocre duplication with the whole modern idea of "LETS THROW AS MANY IDEAS AS WE CAN INTO ONE SONG, TRY TO MIX GENRES, DISCARD ANYTHING THAT RESEMBLES STRONG SONGWRITING, AND TAKE ON THE ENTIRE PLANET, GUYS!" rendering music like Opeth or Pain Of Salvation completely worthless to me. I couldn't get into music like that if I fucking wanted to.

 

[Leper_/-\ffinity]

Well, they're one of the only "prog metal" bands of modern times that are actually progressive in terms of the evolution of their sound. Not only that, they're also one of the few progressive bands where guitar wanking is not the main focus of their music. On the contrary, most of the instrumentation is quite subdued. Pain of Salvation's greatness lies in their ability to write interesting concept albums with out-of-this-world sounding music, brilliant lyrics, and excellent vocals, yet somehow always escaping the stereotypical trappings of many other progressive metal bands. Not only that, the orchestration on their new album "BE" is probably the best usage of traditional instruments mixed with electric instruments I've ever heard.

Their music would be pretty hard for someone who prefers traditional or extreme metal, as there's a lot of odd vocal patterns, weird sounding riffs, and a wealth of "mellow" material scattered throughout their albums. Overall they're a difficult band to get into, and despite most of what I listen to being death metal and black metal, they still remain one of my favorite bands ever. All I can say is they require a lot of patience and a tolerance for mellower sounds.

Could not have been said any better...they are my favorite band of all time next to Emperor, Hypocrisy and Morbid Angel.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

Y'see, to me, that's exactly like when people say the same thing with Opeth. For both bands, it's really just a shoddy and ill concieved imitation of the 70's/80's Prog Rock alumni. A parallel that could be drawn to these bands imitation of older Prog Rock groups is Primal Fear's awkward and hokey Judas Priest worship. And on top of it, you mix mediocre duplication with the whole modern idea of "LETS THROW AS MANY IDEAS AS WE CAN INTO ONE SONG, TRY TO MIX GENRES, DISCARD ANYTHING THAT RESEMBLES STRONG SONGWRITING, AND TAKE ON THE ENTIRE PLANET, GUYS!" rendering music like Opeth or Pain Of Salvation completely worthless to me. I couldn't get into music like that if I fucking wanted to.

Listen to the song "Inside" anyway.

 

[Arrakis]

Pain of Salvation

 

[Jean-Pierre]

Y'see, to me, that's exactly like when people say the same thing with Opeth. For both bands, it's really just a shoddy and ill concieved imitation of the 70's/80's Prog Rock alumni. A parallel that could be drawn to these bands imitation of older Prog Rock groups is Primal Fear's awkward and hokey Judas Priest worship. And on top of it, you mix mediocre duplication with the whole modern idea of "LETS THROW AS MANY IDEAS AS WE CAN INTO ONE SONG, TRY TO MIX GENRES, DISCARD ANYTHING THAT RESEMBLES STRONG SONGWRITING, AND TAKE ON THE ENTIRE PLANET, GUYS!" rendering music like Opeth or Pain Of Salvation completely worthless to me. I couldn't get into music like that if I fucking wanted to.

Listen to the song "Inside" anyway.

Haha, that actually made me laugh out loud. But ok, I will...eventually.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

I don't like PoS. Not really. But that song's melodies make me happy.

 

[Gildamere]

Since he's looking for good songwriting interspersed with instrumental kickk-ass stuff, I wouldn't recommend along the lines of Watchtower, Atheist, Cynic and Spiral Architect, which nonetheless are great bands.

Sounds to me, he's looking for stuff like Ayreon, Threshold, maybe Spock's Beard.

I think you should check out Arabesque. The songs are fairly straight, though still in the prog vein. And I like the female vocalist A LOT. Good songwriting as well.

 

[Alex78]

these are some non-gay progressive bands :

Anacrusis (Manic Impressions, Screams And Whispers)
Psychotic Waltz
Atheist
Devin Townsend (Ocean Machine, Terria, Infinity)

 

[Cythraul]

these are some non-gay progressive bands : Devin Townsend (Ocean Machine, Terria, Infinity)

???