From a song with the line “Xbox is my god” to an hour and a half metal opera that could be called “Puzzle” about adults.
Progressive metal is, to put it mildly, a very heterogeneous sub-genre of metal. Wikipedia writes about the huge difference between the sound of many bands and cites King’s X and Opeth as examples. But it’s much more interesting: it’s easy to find an abyss of differences between neighboring tracks from the same band on the same album. In prog metal, even pieces of the same song often sound like they are from five different genres.
To make it a little easier for you to navigate through the chaos, here are albums, which we recommend to listen to for those who are not familiar with this prog-metal. Yes, it is not possible to cover all forms of progressive metal, it is too diverse – but you will get acquainted with many great representatives of this genre.
There is a rule in the list: one band – one album. Albums will go in a weird order, from more old-fashioned sounding to more modern, from quieter to more extreme and growling. Even if this is a very conventional scheme, it will still be easier for many people to start with something more familiar than death metal with jazz harmonies.
Voivod – Nothingface
In a nutshell, progressive metal was born in the mid-80s when bands like Fates Warning and Queensrÿche experimented with heavy, thrash and speed metal. They gradually added ideas from progressive rock – that is, experiments with composition structures, non-standard rhythms and melodies, unusual tuning of instruments, elements of folk, jazz, baroque music and other music of past eras.
So let the first album in the selection be Nothingface from 1989 by the Canadian band Voivod. It’s already like just a heavier version of prog-rock – which is especially emphasized by the cover of Astronomy Domine by Pink Floyd. Thrash metal with unconventional for it riffs, futuristic sound, absence of verse-chorus structure, cardinal change of rhythm within the songs.
King’s X – Gretchen Goes To Nebraska
We propose to close the prog metal theme of the 80’s with the album Gretchen Goes To Nebraska impregnated with Christian allegories. In its time it was not very popular, but years later you can see how King’s X anticipated the sound of many prog metal bands. Not as fast-paced or aggressive sounding as their more nascent peers, but more varied in sound and more instruments: in addition to the usual electric guitars and drums King’s X used wood flute, sitar and dulcimer.
Dream Theater – Images and Words
Dream Theater essentially took the work of their predecessors and improved on literally every aspect that distinguishes the style. As a result, their record defined for decades to come what much of prog metal would sound like. The album’s first song, Pull Me Under, is almost the most famous composition of the subgenre, and has been inspired by many hundreds of musicians. And John Petrucci became the most famous guitarist of progressive metal.
Umpfel – Cactus
To avoid getting stuck in prog metal classics for a long time, let’s take a short trip from 1989 to 2015 and listen to Umpfel’s debut album. This is probably the least known band on the list – but their debut album can still be called one of the best prog metal records of the decade: you don’t often see so much energy and cheerfulness in a subgenre. Even in a track about a man going insane from insomnia while counting sheep.
Riverside – Second Life Syndrome.
Let’s continue with the even darker Second Life Syndrome, which actually turned Riverside into one of the major prog metal bands of the “noughties.” Whatever they play, everything is rich and savory – even when the lyrical protagonist of the song is filled with endless sadness. And when they play despair – hang on, it will be performed with all the passion possible.
Rishloo – Living as Ghosts with Buildings as Teeth
Another young representative of modern progressive metal, dramatic and fickle. Listen at least to the way the melodies in the song Dead Rope Machine shimmer.
It starts out calm, albeit melancholic. Then the passions escalate sharply – and soon it’s back to normal in just two seconds. After a while, the cycle repeats – but then the song turns into a scream and an almost random drumbeat, which seamlessly transitions into a rhythmic, quiet melody. The tempo of the rhythm grows and grows, everything transforms into screaming and chaos again, and then everything dies down, leaving only a quiet, sad guitar overdubbing.
In many respects it is for such compositions that one wants to listen to prog-metal.
Opeth – Blackwater Park
The real masterpiece and the album worth listening to for everyone who is just getting acquainted with prog metal. Rolling growling and classic clean vocals, aggressive death metal and melancholic acoustic guitar riffs – it’s even amazing how Mikael Okerfeldt, the band leader, manages to combine all this so organically that sometimes you don’t even notice the transitions between the songs with completely different sounding and you just enjoy it.
Gojira – From Mars to Sirius
Here we get to the really “heavy” music in the selection. Technical death metal with an admixture of groove and industrial makes the band sound really thunderous, just like its name (“Gojira” is the original Japanese name of Godzilla). The inclusions of serene melodies and abrupt rhythm changes only emphasize the horror of the album’s main theme – climate change.
Devin Townsend – Terria
And I’d like to finish this selection with Devin Townsend’s solo album. This is one of the first records where his totally unlike anything else style was fully developed, in which uplifting peacefulness and sarcastic extremity can be so energetically combined. His unique voice alone is worth mentioning: there are not many people on earth who can instantly switch from growling and screaming to pure, almost operatic vocals – and then back again, while managing to play the guitar at the same time.
