Your Favorite Prog Metal Albums

[Ben101]

Dream Theater - Awake This was the first prog album I heard and I bought it on a whim. I can't describe how weird it was hearing a song like 6:00 after mostly listening to really heavy metal. Many listens later after wrapping my head around what was going on in the music this album settled in my brain and I grew to love this album. This is sill my favourite DT release along with Images and Words.

Symphony X - Twilight In Olympus Easily my favourite Symphony X release. This may not be as consistent as other SX albums, but I think Smoke & Mirrors, Church Of The Machine, In The Dragons Den, Through The Looking Glass and Lady Of The Snow all rank among their best material.

Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine & Terria I had been a Dev fan for a while and new his SYL stuff was amazing, but these two albums alone opened my mind as to how really complex music can be incredibly moving, chaotic, epic and memorable at the same time.

Pagans Mind - Enigmatic: Calling & God's Equation These two albums just have some of the most incredible vocals and arrangements with some amazing guitar playing. They show how prog can be really fun and energetic and rock hard while being incredibly diverse and really catchy.

Therion - Gothic Kabbalah The Perrenial Sophia, Son Of The Staves Of Time, Trul & TOF - The Trinity, need I say more?

Death - Symbolic You could argue all day as to whether or not this is progressive, but imo this is in it's own right. Gene Hoglans drumming on this album is amazing and Chuck's songwriting reached its peak, this is a near flawless metal album.

Mudvayne - LD50 Some may scoff at this album as the band is more likened to radio-metal, but I can asure you that if you give this album a chance you will definately be able to appreciate the quality of the songwriting, the complexity of the rhythm section, the way the vocals are constructed, the simple but incredibly fitting guitars, and the overall concept of the album and how well the music represents the lyrics. As far as I'm concerned this album IS PROGRESSIVE, I don't think they wrote anything close to LD50 on following albums but this one is an amazing piece of work.

Angra - Temple Of Shadows/Aurora Consurgens I realise how power metal-ish most of this material is, but when the band go progressive they wrote some incredible music.

Threshold - Psychadelicatessan.

 

[OfSinsAndShred]

Wow, Ben. You and me must have really similar taste. Twilight is also my favorite SX album (I went with V just because it's more "prog," but I love the songs on Twilight). Temple of Shadows is my favorite Angra (Again, I listed Rebirth for the same reason). Symbolic is my favorite Death album, and honestly, I'm a huge fan of LD50. What a solid and interesting album with some seriously great moments.

 

[DoomsdayZach]

Time for me to be "that guy"

Iced Earth - The Dark Saga

Though I'd never consider Iced Earth even remotely progressive, this is ironically their LEAST progressive and most straightforward album in the entire IE catalogue... by my estimation anyway.

Don't know if I'd call Emperor prog metal... ~~ But Nightside is definitely one of my favorite albums

I think Prometheus is very progressive, but their early black metal stuff, i will agree, is black metal. Awesome, but still "just" black metal.

Ayreon-Universal Migrator part 2
Not part 1, part 1 is ass.

I don't even know how to respond to this! Part 1 is amazing (not to mention far more "prog" than part 2). Part 2 is better because i'm more of a metal fan than prog fan, but part 1 is absolutely nothing to scoff at.

 

[Marwen]

Symphony X - V
Liquid Tension Experiment (both)
Death - Symbolic (agreed Ben )
Spiral Architect - A Sceptic's Universe
Cynic - Focus
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Dream Theater - Images and Words

 

[razoredge]

Though I'd never consider Iced Earth even remotely progressive, this is ironically their LEAST progressive and most straightforward album in the entire IE catalogue... by my estimation anyway.

True, this is why I said some may not consider these progressive or even metal. The metal statement was regarding Fates later work, the progressive comment Dark Saga. Dark Saga however is a concept album and is easily as progressive in that context as Pink Floyd who are considered progressive rock right along side of ELP and so many others who are all considerably different. So I dont look at progressive music in the same strictness that people do today. Regardless Dark Saga is a piece of work I really like, right up there with the rest of my post rock era favorites. My rock era favorites are
ELP - Tarkus
Alice Cooper Killer (again, not all progressive but who cares... when it is... it is)
Rush - Caress of Steel
Crack the Sky - self titled, Animal Notes and Safety in Numbers
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Jethro Tull - Aqualung and Thick as a Brick
Kansas - Masque and Left Overature

that come to mind


so my idea of progressive is not what is common today. I even think Megadeth has been pretty darn progressive, but so many metal bands are in reality.

 

[Vimana]

Right now one I can think of is

Myrath - Hope

God, I love this album so much.

 

[Progbass]

Dream Theater - Images and Words, Awake
Symphony X - V, Divine Wings of Tragedy
Pain of Salvation - One Hour by the Concrete Lake, The Perfect Element
Opeth - Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries
Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
Fates Warning - Pleasant Shade of Gray, Parallels

 

[mark b]

Right now one I can think of is

Myrath - Hope

God, I love this album so much.

Its not a bad album, but they are huge Symphony X rip offs, the singer even tries to be Russel Allen!!

 

[Marwen]

^ Agreed.
I know those guys (they're from the same country as I... Tunisia), and while they're better than all those shitty bands here (imo), they're huge SymX fans and they're letting their music reflect that way more than what I would see as a mere influence, especially the vocals.

 

[PurpleDink]

Oh,I forgot Images & Words.

I too sometimes forget my children at the mall.

 

[Taliwakker]

Ark=Burn the sun

Ayreon-The Human Equation

Seventh Wonder-Mercy Falls

Minds Eye-A Gentlemans Hurricane

DT-Images and Words

Pain of Salvation-The Perfect Element

Symphony X-The Odyssey

Frost*-Milliontown

 

[mark b]

I too sometimes forget my children at the mall.

 

[mark b]

Ayreon-The Human Equation

Seventh Wonder-Mercy Falls

Minds Eye-A Gentlemans Hurricane

DT-Images and Words

Pain of Salvation-The Perfect Element

Symphony X-The Odyssey

Frost*-Milliontown

Now, thats a great list!!

 

[Vimana]

Its not a bad album, but they are huge Symphony X rip offs, the singer even tries to be Russel Allen!!

Are you joking? There is very little Russel Allen in their singer. If I could call it a ripoff of anything I might say that it sounds a bit like a Dream Theater ripoff with a middle-eastern twist. I'm not going to go out and say they're unique but they certainly are not a ripoff.

 

[mark b]

Are you joking? There is very little Russel Allen in their singer. If I could call it a ripoff of anything I might say that it sounds a bit like a Dream Theater ripoff with a middle-eastern twist. I'm not going to go out and say they're unique but they certainly are not a ripoff.

imo, i believe they are a direct rip off, the band claims Sym X as their main influence and and to my ears and a few of my friends think the same, they are a talented band though.

 

[ToastedOveries]

Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime - Classic, possibly THE prog metal album.

Fates Warning - Pleasant Shade of Gray, Parallels - agree with opinions above

Tool - AEnima, Lateralus - theres a kind of emotional depth, like king crimson, which i like. almost emotionaly progressive, rather than technically

SX - Odyssey - nuff said.

King Crimson - Discipline, In the court of the Crimson King - fucking classic albums

Orphaned Land - Mabool - Great album from an Isreali band, full of eastern melodies and interludes, something i love.

Rainbow - Rising - Not fully progressive, but still has a strong progressive element to it, and once again an utter classic.


Those are probably up there for me, theres probably a few more that don't come to mind.

 

[razoredge]

Im enjoying the love for Fates and OMC here. I just been watching the PSoG vids lately. I want to buy that DVD. Seems theres little substitute for the origional progressive metal bands and they were more different from each other than the later bands that drew influence from all of them. Not many people much into Threshold ? I've been digging them.

 

[symphonyXjapan]

Top 3 in order:


Symphony X-V

Adagio- Underworld

Pain of Salvation- BE


other favorites in no particular order:

Ayreon- The Human Equation

Savatage- Wake of Magellan (I managed to lose my copy of this some years ago and can't find either a physical copy or an active seed anymore)

Evergrey- In Search of Truth

Symphony X- Twilight in Olympus

Sun Caged- s/t

Pain of Salvation- Remedy Lane

Ayreon- Into the Electric Castle

Pagan's Mind- God's Equation

Cea Serin- Where memories combine..

Opeth- Ghost Reveries

Zero Hour- Towers of Avarice

Winds- The Imaginary Direction of Time ("Prominence and Demise" is good too although I have yet to listen to it enough for it to really grow on me)

Angra- Rebirth (proggy enough for me...the idea of uroboros goes through my mind as the album theme seems to be a neverending cycle)

Darkwater- Calling the earth to witness (I am not really sure on this one; however, I have recently been giving it more listens and it is growing on me more....back when I first got it I thought it was just "ok".....more interested in where they will go with their next album)

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Im enjoying the love for Fates and OMC here. I just been watching the PSoG vids lately. I want to buy that DVD. Seems theres little substitute for the origional progressive metal bands and they were more different from each other than the later bands that drew influence from all of them. Not many people much into Threshold ? I've been digging them.

I've been a Threshold fan for a long time. Not just of any one or two eras/linups. I happen to like ALL of it....

 

[DoomsdayZach]

Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime - Classic, possibly THE prog metal album.

King Crimson - Discipline, In the court of the Crimson King - fucking classic albums

Rainbow - Rising - Not fully progressive, but still has a strong progressive element to it, and once again an utter classic.


Those are probably up there for me, theres probably a few more that don't come to mind.

Fucking CORRECT!