Who do you think are the best prog metal bands today?

hibernal_dream said:
hmm... a form of music based on the strictest set of composition rules in existence?

PS thanks VVVV for clearing that up

shut up.
 
Bach was not part of the Classical era; he was part of the Baroque era. Anyway, that stuff and contemporary classical are all part of the same "lineage", or something like that. At any rate, contemporary classical music is and has been for a long time more progressive than metal probably ever will be.

edit: that's not to say that metal bands haven't done some really interesting things.
 
V.V.V.V.V. said:
Just to clear things up...

Progressive metal means "sounds like old classic prog rock played in a metal context with more time signature interplay, intricate melody, clean (sometimes harsh) vocals, et al."

Yes but thats a retarded use of the word progressive and is wrong, whether its accepted by the majority or not. (IMO)
 
Cythraul said:
Bach was not part of the Classical era; he was part of the Baroque era. Anyway, that stuff and contemporary classical are all part of the same "lineage", or something like that. At any rate, contemporary classical music is and has been for a long time more progressive than metal probably ever will be.

edit: that's not to say that metal bands haven't done some really interesting things.

ignore my post why don't you, asshole
 
Scourge of Malice said:
Yes but thats a retarded use of the word progressive and is wrong
.
wrong indeed, but this nu-meaning has been perpetuated for so long by people who don't know any better it's pretty much a lost cause

and being avant-garde is completely different than being progressive... that doesn't mean they can't overlap
 
Karsa said:
ignore my post why don't you, asshole

oh, sorry :erk:

Normally, I'd recommend Dead Can Dance but you're already familiar with them. If you ever read interviews with Elend they name Richard Strauss, Penderecki, and Ligeti as some of their primary influences. The works of Penderecki and Ligeti range from nearly unlistenable atonal music to relatively non-atonal choral music, piano music, etc. The atonal and microtonal experimentation that these guys do is pretty much the influence for all those violent, chaotic parts you hear on Elend albums. That said, I think you'd appreciate some of the following (not all of this is weird atonal stuff so if you don't like that kind of thing there's still plenty you'd appreciate).

Penderecki: De Natura Sonoris No. 1 & No. 2, Canticum Canticorum Salomonis, Sinfonietta for Strings, Benedicamus Domino, Lacrimosa for Soprano, Chorus and Orchestra (this one is a personal favorite of mine), Violin Sonata No. 1

Ligeti: Requiem (another favorite)

Bela Bartok: Violin Sonata No. 1, Violin Sonata No. 2

Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra

and of course...Wagner :oops:
 
I can NOT see how people can tolerate Spiral Architect for very long. It's interesting, but just bores me after 10 minutes.

Images and Words by Dream Theater is the best progressive CD hands down for me.

Avalon is damn good.
Vanden Plas is sweet.
Mayadome is really good, but hard to find.
 
Killbot said:
I'll go with that as well.
Also Subterranean Masquerade.

I heard good things about Subterranean Masquerade so I bought the album. It's now the ONLY album I have ever gotten rid of. Ridiculously pretentious, average musicianship "masquerading" as art and terrible vocals. Nothing interesting at all except for the song that has Kobi Farhi doing vox, and that ended up being a rip off of Orphaned Land anyway.

As for Pain of Salvation, they have brilliant moments and they are genuinely original but honestly, "Be" has got to be the biggest wankfest in history. Each song has like four subtitles and the whole storyline of the album, if you read it, it sounds like Ozzy Osbourne trying to write James fucking Joyce
 
Well i was talking of course about prog metal in general, old and new. Though i listen to all progressive in general. I'm not really a fan of symphony x, but i see there are different styles here. For instance i like Shadow Gallery, Enchant or Fates Warning. Still there are other sounds. Sieges Even is a band i admire a lot, not known of many, these guys were already doing very technical prog at the end of the eighties, a mix between, probably, Fates Warning, Rush and jazz. In 2005 they released "The art of navigating by the stars", well worth a listening, more heavy, more mature, much better.
There's also Sylvan, a german band that released a couple of albums, beeing their latest a very strong album. Still, today there are bands like Riverside, Porcupine Tree and Pain of Salvation which i think do very modern prog. Porcupine Tree is more of an outsider to metal, but they're simply amazing. As for Pain of Salvation, another good band, and Riverside with their dark and moody atmospheres, reminding Porcupine Tree, Opeth and Pink Floyd. For me progressive can be very interesting like this, with the mix of different styles.
 
challenge_everything said:
I heard good things about Subterranean Masquerade so I bought the album. It's now the ONLY album I have ever gotten rid of. Ridiculously pretentious, average musicianship "masquerading" as art and terrible vocals. Nothing interesting at all except for the song that has Kobi Farhi doing vox, and that ended up being a rip off of Orphaned Land anyway.
meh, I still like 'em.