Recognizing the "new" generation of prog metal?

[Palabra de Dios]

We could debate until the sun and moon disappear about what "progressive" truly means, or what defines "prog metal," but this is more about the newer bands that came out of the metalcore or djent or tech-death realm and have really come into their own lately.

With Native Construct joining the ProgPower roster last year, I think this is new ground for this festival (and its fans) to accept bands that play what I think is a distinctly different kind of "prog metal" than those who follow in the footsteps of Fates Warning / Dream Theater / Redemption, and more or less follow Meshuggah and Between the Buried and Me.

Who loves this style? What bands are you into? What bands have you just discovered? Could we see more of this style at ProgPower? Should we?

I will say that I've really enjoyed the newest outputs by Fallujah, a technical death metal band that has really accepted the more progressive approach. I could list more bands, but I figured that was a good start.

 

[lane_miller]

I certainly enjoyed Native Construct's debut, as well as their performance at PP. Another band in the same vein, and maybe even better, is Sound Struggle. I'm not really into Meshuggah or Between the Buried and Me. Maybe I need to go back and give them another try? To me, Native Construct and Sound Struggle are just "out there" with music that has no formula (or you could say their formula is stochastic, or that their formula is to avoid any formulas, etc.). Being older than the dirt that Jesus walked on, both bands remind me of Tubular Bells, who did the excellent music to The Exorcist in addition to other fine releases. You might check out my thread below for a band called Standing Ovation. The tune I posted probably over emphasizes their wacky lyrics, but they have plenty of chops and a free-form nature to their music.

 

[General Zod]

I love Fallujah's last record. The guitar player is simply amazing. I assume you've checked out Origin?

 

[MelbCro]

 

[Palabra de Dios]

Certainly not a unifying sound. Not saying that Meshuggah and BTBAM are the prototypes for what I'm talking about, but there is certainly a clear divide in sound and aesthetic between bands mentioned in this thread so far, and bands that would be in a similar vein to DT, Pagan's Mind, or Circus Maximus.

 

[Palabra de Dios]

I love Fallujah's last record. The guitar player is simply amazing. I assume you've checked out Origin?

Definitely. Lived near Kansas City for a few times, so I've seen Origin play "hometown" shows quite a few times. Insane live band. Very good on record.

 

[General Zod]

As you rightly noted, we could have this discussion until the sun and moon disappear and would be no closer to common ground. "Prog" as it refers to ProgPower will likely always (loosely) mean "has a traceable lineage to Dream Theater". I think Glenn will always keep us guessing with wildcards and one-offs. But I'd be shocked if this festival ever transformed itself to include the types of bands listed above with any consistency. And I think there's good reason for that; it's always the same three or four people who reply to threads on bands like Fallujah and Origin.

 

[Mardoch]

As you rightly noted, we could have this discussion until the sun and moon disappear and would be no closer to common ground. "Prog" as it refers to ProgPower will likely always (loosely) mean "has a traceable lineage to Dream Theater". I think Glenn will always keep us guessing with wildcards and one-offs. But I'd be shocked if this festival ever transformed itself to include the types of bands listed above with any consistency. And I think there's good reason for that; it's always the same three or four people who reply to threads on bands like Fallujah and Origin.

Quite this. It's essentially the same discussion between Prog and prog, and how to ascribe labels. There are a lot of people who are Prog only, and a similar group who are prog in all its forms, and some crossover (like a lot of us here).

Personally I'm a prog guy who also loves good Prog. I've heard you guys talking up Fallujah but never checked them out (will be changing that shortly). I am into the new tech/djent stuff enough to have written a small web crawler to take new links off of got-djent.com to save me all that clicking while I search for new goodies. I just wish those guys could find vocalists that don't suck, because holy crap.

Oh, you also have the guys who freak out when you use the term "progressive metal" to label someone like Periphery or BtBaM or any other "new school" prog metal. For some reason if that term is used to describe something other than "well we REALLY LIKE Dream Theater" style bands it kills their soul. Those guys are fun sometimes.

 

[Scott B]

I just wish those guys could find vocalists that don't suck, because holy crap.

This. I've reduced my analysis to this:

Instrumental djent= couldn't find a vocalist.

Ok, there are some exceptions to this, but the djent genre is so over stuffed with instrumentals now that I honestly don't check them out anymore.

djent with screaming vocals= couldn't find a vocalist.

I can take the harsh vocals if there are cleans to counterpoint, but the djent + screaming only is pretty much the same boat as instrumental djent: over done and then some.

Maybe someone needs to start the power-djent genre.

 

[MelbCro]

djent with screaming vocals= couldn't find a vocalist.

I don't think that's fair or accurate. There are shitty vocalists in every genre or sub genre, djent is no better or worse. Plenty of examples of great harsh vocals in djent if you look for it.

Maybe someone needs to start the power-djent genre.

Maybe this will be to your liking

 

[Mardoch]

This. I've reduced my analysis to this:

Instrumental djent= couldn't find a vocalist.

Ok, there are some exceptions to this, but the djent genre is so over stuffed with instrumentals now that I honestly don't check them out anymore.

djent with screaming vocals= couldn't find a vocalist.

I can take the harsh vocals if there are cleans to counterpoint, but the djent + screaming only is pretty much the same boat as instrumental djent: over done and then some.

Maybe someone needs to start the power-djent genre.

Power-djent would be awesome as hell as an experiment if nothing else. Though one might argue that Shattered Skies is already that. And possibly Disperse as well.

 

[MelbCro]

dude, there is nothing power metal about Disperse

 

[Mardoch]

I referred only to vocals. They're non-scream non-growl. I'm not making a claim that Disperse is power-y.

 

[Palabra de Dios]

On a side-note, is there any limit to the number of bands and projects that Mats Leven will contribute to?

 

[Mardoch]

I'd really like to highlight Ever Forthright out of this group. They're freakin incredible, and Barretto is awesome in both harsh and clean voice (AND he's a hell of a sax player). He's also now in front of Monuments, whose last album was also quite amazing. And bonus is that I have a pic of him fondling my beard, because of reasons.

 

[Mardoch]

Maybe this will be to your liking

I think this one came out before I was aware of the concept of djent as a whole. I do believe I will be purchasing today.

 

[MelbCro]

I'd really like to highlight Ever Forthright out of this group. They're freakin incredible, and Barretto is awesome in both harsh and clean voice (AND he's a hell of a sax player). He's also now in front of Monuments, whose last album was also quite amazing. And bonus is that I have a pic of him fondling my beard, because of reasons.

Barretto is the man. Worst thing Periphery did was get rid of Barretto, the band has never been the same since for me.

 

[MelbCro]

Europe has some real cool festivals catering to this kind of prog, UK Tech Fest and Euroblast stand out. Just saw the line up for the UK tech fest, its insane.

 

[Mardoch]

For 60 quid!? Holy shit that's an amazing value. Incredible lineup.

 

[Scott B]

I don't think that's fair or accurate. There are shitty vocalists in every genre or sub genre, djent is no better or worse. Plenty of examples of great harsh vocals in djent if you look for it.



Maybe this will be to your liking

The Radiance is good stuff. I bought that a while back.