What ProgPower has done for me.

[BARfest]

Its kind of wierd- I am still in drug-like recovery from this festival. It is hard to think that 6 months ago I did not know ProgPower, nor did I know about the majority of the bands on the festival. I happened to discover the site through a search for Symphony X videos on yahoo I think. All I knew was Symphony X, DT, Sava, and Queensryche. After looking through the ProgPower website, I saw all the cool bands that were on there, and gradually started checking them out. Thus has started a 6 month obsession. I can't believe how burned out I was on the majority of US music- There was nothing out there that really spoke to me. Within a few weeks, I had purchased a few CD's of Kamelot, Sonata Arctica, Angra etc. I have bought probably 300 CD's over the past few months, and it just keeps getting better. This style of music is everything that music should be, emotional, agressive, complex. It is all that I dreamed of 20 years ago listening to Yes, King Crimson, Kansas, Puccini, Verdi, Mozart, Montoya, etc., etc.,

I was so happy when I could get to the festival, through the kind providences of nightwish58! I flew into the festival from California and was blown away by everything- hanging out w/ Corey, Ray, the Spherians, etc., etc., hitting on the cute bartender, and just being blown away by the bands, the camaradie at the festival, and the fact that everybody was enjoying themselves without being drunk off their ass. After seeing Maiden the week before, it was refreshing.

Cheers to Glen for doing this festival- This has awakened an obession with me. The bands that you have brought to this show will be bands that I will follow for years to come, all their side projects and former bands (I am trying to track down obscure Corey Brown projects right now!) This has made all the difference to me this year- I have had a number of tragedies this year, and the memories of this festival put a smile on my face that will not be erased.

If the record companies could see festivals like this, they would give up on their damn fights against Kazaa, and try to promote things intelligently. Sharing music is good- you have to promote the music for people to buy - and they do!

I long for this next year, and look forward to discovering more great bands in the greatest of musical genres.

 

[metal dreams]

I think you have spoken for everybody here who has come to the pp website through searching for what's missing on the radio. I get a lot of my music from the bands people talk about here and from Century Media (God bless them). The band I want to share with you is Dark Tranquillity if you haven't heard of them before. I promote them whenever I can, wherever I go. They have a special place in my heart and they are really great.

 

[Pixelherder]

Amen. You've pretty much just described my foray into prog and power metal.

For years, the only thing I really liked was Queensryche (okay, I'm a rabid fan of everything before 1996), and I'd dabbled a bit in Dream Theater. Beyond that, I sort of drifted between goth, industrial, and alternative, never really settling on anything, and bored with everything. I had NO IDEA that these bands were out there.

It wasn't until I started working in a studio in Florida that I got introduced to really good prog stuff. One of my studiomates, Paul, a musician himself, found out about my Queensryche obsession and started handing me CDs left and right. Try this, try that. Pretty soon I fell deeply in love with everything from Dream Theater to Dark Tranquillity, and Symphony X went on regular rotation on the CD player.

I can't remember how I ended up on proggedradio, but that's opened my ears even more. On their website, I started seeing banner ads for ProgPower IV, and I knew I had to go. As soon as the lineup was confirmed, I started buying CDs from the featured bands. In two months, I've fallen in love with Rage, Nightwish, Circle II Circle (local guys!), and Evergrey.

I feel like I've come home. These bands are exactly what I've been looking for since I was a teenager. I grew up on (and grew out of) the hair-bands of the mid to late 80's, and Queensryche lost me around '96. There was a void there, and prog fills it: more mature, more complex, more emotional, more driving, more of everything I wanted. I'm hooked for life, and I want more.

Thanks for sharing your story, dhatchell. Hopefully, through sites and forums like this one, we can help spread more news about prog and maybe even see more bands tour the States on a regular basis.

-- Laura

 

[aemolina]

I whole-heartedly identify with all of you. I've felt a void in my music enjoyment for years now. I turned to Jazz a while back to try and quench my desire for virtuosic instrument mastery, and quality compositions, but most jazz has never filled my desire for the power and "slam your foot on the accelerator" feeling metal always used to give me. I too was an 80's rock freak, hair and all! I've never gotten over Queensryche going to shit with Hear in the Now Frontier, and although there are few things I can say absolutely about my love for music, I'm fairly certain that the best record I have ever heard is Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime, with Empire and most of Living Colour's stuff in close second.

Dream Theater has kept me sane for these past 10 years, but it's not enough, so about a year ago I started looking for more stuff. Found some great Devin Townsend records like "Ocean Machine - Biomech," but not much more. Then at a Dream Theater/Satriani concert here in San Diego, this dude told me all the good had moved overseas, and that I had to check out Pain of Salvation. That was it! I've been searching for good prog metal ever since. Not to keen on Symphony X, cuz it's just sounds too neoclassical for my taste (arpegios get old). Lately I was turned on to "Section A - The Seventh Sign," "Pagan's Mind - Celestial Entrance," and "Vanden Plas - Beyond Daylight" (which I can't stop playing). I love progressive metal with lots of melody. dhatchell: You mentioned you've bought over 300 metal cd's lately. Are there any suggestions you might make, along the lines of these groups I've mentioned? I'm dying for more great tunes. Can you include your opinion on the best albums of each?

Thanks in Advance,

Alexis Molina
San Diego, CA

 

[warmwetos]

I couldn't have said the opening statement any better. I have always been into the more "mainstream" stuff (or what I consider mainstream) like Dream Theater, Kings X, Savatage, Queensryche, Symphony X, etc but then a few years back I just started to really get back to metal. I heard of bands like Nightwish, Therion, Sins of thy Beloved and started to listen to that genre as well.

Then I found this CD at Tower Records by a band called Adagio, album "Sanctus Ignis". Now I know many of you have heard of this incredible band with some of the best musicians in the world but there was a real cool story in this. I picked the album cover mainly because it had a cool design, a free pick and then a little black label saying something along the lines members of Elegy, Pink Cream 69...I said what the hell it can't be all that bad.

It turned out to be one of the best debut albums I have ever heard...the last album that had this sort of impact on me was Dream Theater's Images and Words (which is one of my top 10 ever). Anyway, yo make a long story short, somehow by posting on various metal boards I got in contact with a Seismic Radio DJ (Shawn aka DJ_Zerouhour...WASUPP MY BROTHA!!!! ) and things just went flying. Shawn helped me become a DJ for Seismic radio which is something I always wanted to do and also told me about Progpower...in fact he got me a Gold Badge for the show (actually sold it to me but who cares). In the months before PP I was introduced to so many cool bands by listening to the other DJ's on the radio, reading the boards, etc. My collection in the span of 6 months must have grown from roughly around 2000 CDs(I know that is a lot to begin with) to around 3500 ( a lot of these are thanks to all the cool labels that have sent me promos to play on the radio and review).

OH yeah and in between there, I have gotten to know Stephan Forte and the guys from Adagio that we started a US fan club (see below and sorry for the shameless promotion ). Music is so cool but what is really the best are the people that make these things happen like Glenn and everyone else involved in the show. I walked away the same way you all did like riding on a natural high that just won't come down...meeting all the great people and friends and bands.

I need something more to fill that lil black hole I had in music and I came away with a freakin' universe! Funny thing is, that I am constantly hearing new stuff every day now and always searching and listening for more!!!

You all rock!!! Keep the faith!!

Cheers, Tony

 

[Creeps]

Yup this sounds sorta like me too (which is another reason this forum is soo coool, there's lots of us).. anyhow after hair-metal fell to the shadows thanks to Nirvana & Pearl Jam (bastards) I dove even more into the speed/thrash music and slipped into the new hardcore-metal badns as well; Biohazard, Pro-Pain, Bodycount, Gwar, Lungbrush, Sick Of It All, etc.. as well as thrash mainstays Slayer, Overkill, etc..

Every now and then I'd come across something from the satellite heavy metal station and I'd pick it up. Or go to the now deceased local metal record store (Ace's in Tampa for you local boys & girls) and just try new things or have Heather and the boys put on some stuff to check out.

Then I was doing random net searches on metal and found a band and found a link to ProgPower and it was all over for me. I think it was the PP overseas site and they had a link for 100s of reviews and soundclips from all kinds of cool bands.

My wallet hates me, but my music collection loves me for it.

People here give great reviews and opinions on bands and discs that they like and that's prompted me to pick up some things too.. like all the mad-hype about Pagan's Mind over the last year or so. I would have never heard of them except for that (and of course seeing them live this year).

I also like to keep an eye on that "now playing" down at the bottom of everyone's messages.

By the way - pick up the disc from CONSPIRACY if you haven't already if you liked Yes. Chris Squire and Billy Sherwood in it.