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- Metal Hammer
- Gojira. When brothers Joe and Mario Duplantier co-founded a bedroom band called Godzilla, they just wanted to imitate their heroes Machine Head and Morbid Angel.
- Symphony X. Led by virtuoso guitarist Michael Romeo, Symphony X are never knowingly under-the-top. Exploding into view with their self-titled debut in 1994, the Americans took the template laid down by Dream Theater, Queensryche and the rest, and cranked the intensity up to boiling point.
- Iron Maiden. No one would dispute Iron Maiden’s credentials as one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time, but their status as authentic prog metallers is somewhat less celebrated.
- Enslaved. Enslaved are hailed as leaders of Viking metal, but their palate ventures far beyond that. Mayhem guitarist Euronymous turned the band on to Tangerine Dream in his record shop, Helvete, and it ignited a passion for esoteric sounds that made them second-wave black metal’s most genre-smashing band.
Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal or prog) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral or quasi-classical compositions of the latter.
- Opeth, 'Blackwater Park' (2001) With ‘Blackwater Park’, Opeth mastered what could be capable with progressive metal. It’s an album filled with personality and careful attention to detail, easily blending together moments of dissonance and harmony.
- Dream Theater, 'Images and Words' (1992) It’s almost hard to imagine the thought and care that went into crafting Dream Theater’s opus, ‘Images and Words.’
- Queensryche, 'Operation Mindcrime' (1988) ‘Operation Mindcrime’ helped bring progressive metal to the masses, showing how appealing the guitar work and sound could be to anybody.
- Fates Warning, 'Awaken the Guardian' (1986) Fates Warning would become godfathers of progressive metal, constantly evolving their work from one song to the next.
- Opeth – Blackwater Park (2001) Opeth’s Blackwater Park helped pave the way for bands from the more extreme end of the musical spectrum to spread their creative wings, and 20 years later it remains an album that has rarely (if ever) been bettered in prog-metal terms.
- Queensryche – Operation: Mindcrime (1988) Progressive metal as a recognisable entity in its own right stemmed largely from two bands: Queensrÿche and Fates Warning (with Dream Theater arriving not far behind to form the scene’s ‘Big Three’).
- Fates Warning – Perfect Symmetry (1989) It might not have had the same impact as Queensrÿche’s crowning moment, but Perfect Symmetry by Fates Warning was another seminal moment in the development of prog-metal.
- Dream Theater – Images and Words (1992) If Queensrÿche and Fates Warning lit the torch, Dream Theater picked it up and did a runner with it. Over the course of more than three decades, they’ve become the quintessential prog-metal band.
Progressive Metal blends the attack, volume, and aggression of metal with the grandiose, pseudo-classical ambitions of prog-rock. Of course, certain bands emphasize one influence over the other -- Dream Theater, for instance, leaned toward prog more than some of their peers -- but they all shared this one basic ambition.
Often shortened to prog metal, progressive metal is a fusion genre that melds the amplified, aggressive elements of heavy metal with the complex composition, non-standard song structures, and broad influences typical of progressive rock.
Dec 21, 2020 · 10 essential progressive metal albums. By Rich Wilson. ( Classic Rock ) last updated 21 December 2020. When heavy metal jumped into bed with prog rock, it looked like a one-night stand. Instead it resulted in a long-standing love affair. (Image credit: Roadrunner)
