I don't think I have ever started a thread here so I though I would give it a shot. I want to know what got you informed and into prog/power metal in the first place.
For me, I started getting annoyed of the same regurgetated music that the U.S. music industry throws at us. I got into a Japanese legendary metal band called X-Japan. Their music brought me a whole new view on how music should be written and played. They had great metal guitar playing, the most fast paced techinical drums I have ever heard, and added a flare of piano, violin, and even organs and harpsichord in some cases. A friend of mines' dad during that time would sell prog/metal music because he ordered cd's with his business license and wanted to listen to them and try to sell some as well. He would listen to the music at the store he managed and I would always hear the different bands he played of progressive and power metal. I found myself starting to enjoy the techinicality of the guitars and drums, and the sopistication of the many sounds and harmonies these bands would make using keyboards. They reminded me so much of X-Japan in that they mixed awesome metal music with other symphonic sounds that I thought were so great. The main difference is that they had a little more technicality with their guitars than X-Japan did and X-Japan always used a real piano and mostly violins as their "odd" instruments (mind I still think X-Japan has their own originality I still love till this day). I decided to purchase my first prog cd and did so by seeing a cd that had just come out by Symphony X called V. I asked the manager if he would pop it in to see what I though and I heard the intro and first part of Evolution and immediately fell in love with SX. Who would have thought that to this day my first prog metal band is still by a good margin my favorite.
Well that was a long story...sorry. So what is your story? I know that this sub genre of music is barely even heard of to the common person so I am interested to hear.
For me, I started getting annoyed of the same regurgetated music that the U.S. music industry throws at us. I got into a Japanese legendary metal band called X-Japan. Their music brought me a whole new view on how music should be written and played. They had great metal guitar playing, the most fast paced techinical drums I have ever heard, and added a flare of piano, violin, and even organs and harpsichord in some cases. A friend of mines' dad during that time would sell prog/metal music because he ordered cd's with his business license and wanted to listen to them and try to sell some as well. He would listen to the music at the store he managed and I would always hear the different bands he played of progressive and power metal. I found myself starting to enjoy the techinicality of the guitars and drums, and the sopistication of the many sounds and harmonies these bands would make using keyboards. They reminded me so much of X-Japan in that they mixed awesome metal music with other symphonic sounds that I thought were so great. The main difference is that they had a little more technicality with their guitars than X-Japan did and X-Japan always used a real piano and mostly violins as their "odd" instruments (mind I still think X-Japan has their own originality I still love till this day). I decided to purchase my first prog cd and did so by seeing a cd that had just come out by Symphony X called V. I asked the manager if he would pop it in to see what I though and I heard the intro and first part of Evolution and immediately fell in love with SX. Who would have thought that to this day my first prog metal band is still by a good margin my favorite.
Well that was a long story...sorry. So what is your story? I know that this sub genre of music is barely even heard of to the common person so I am interested to hear.
(hehe) in the 60s, Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Tull, etc in early 70s, Canadian "folkie" music phase in 80s,,,,removed myself from the trash and hype in the 90s till I found Symphony X ("V") and realized immediately that this is where the true and honest talent is at and shall remain. Also found out that a few others understand this too (you guys). My wife and 3 kids are prog metal fans too, and the people at work call it my "midlife crisis". ("He'll snap out of it") 
