Here is my list!
Pain of Salvation (Be was the shit....best thing that ever came out of the mastermind of POS. A lot of people didnt get it at first, but its a fantastic album.)
Queensryche
Ayreon
Tool
Dream Theater (sometimes)
ARK
Spastic Ink
Devin Townsend
Labyrinth's latest album (yes its more prog than power this time..)
About Symphony X being prog or power, this is my take on it. Now I prefer not to be the center of discussion since this subject is supposely dead perhaps in this thread. And besides that, it may be months before I come back again to look at this board. So argueing with me is pretty much useless and I rather not argue with fellow metalheads any way over a silly topic. So here goes!
I have NEVER considered it prog and this is the reason why:
1. The themes are clearly related to that of power metal themes. They always do fantasy and mythological shit, and we know the metal genre who does a lot of that......
2. There is nothing PROG about symphony x, they dont do anything extremely unique in my opinion nor have they done much style mixing and experimentation. In fact, I would say there is little differnece than that of...Rhapsody, except they are "heavier" and less symphonic in some cases, and have a few time cool proggy style riffing at times. Just because they got heavier lately doesnt mean they are prog. Maybe at one point they were prog, in the earlier years, but I think lately they kind of skimped on the prog stuff. Besides that...I think all the guitar work sounds the same after a while...I dont think michael romeo has grown much in the past few years as far as skill wise. But that is just my personal opinion, yours may be different.
3. Yes they do have some prog ELEMENTS as far as a few things on the guitar (odd time signatures at times, some skill...), but that doesnt mean they are prog. They arent even really THAT crazy with that stuff any way. Besides that...roots dont seem very much to what the original roots were for prog metal (which is a modified heavier variation of prog rock).
4. Saying Symphony X is prog is like saying Secret Sphere's latest album is Prog, and we all laugh at that fact. So please, Its not an insult to call it power metal. It DOES lean more towards the Power metal side...so I have a proposed term for all of those bands that give us a hard time:
Its all just "Progressive Power Metal." and we will leave it at that....its not exactly prog, not exactly power. And thats the term I prefer to use instead of making a lot of useless arguing with people that insist this or that is prog or power. Besides that, I stopped listening to Symphony X after the odyssey...which I disliked with a passion. But thats for another day and I prefer not getting monkeys jumping on my back becuase I dislike the album.
But Prog metal in general, to me, is being way over saturated with bull crap. The term flies WAY too easily on any band that anybody likes or sounds like DT or FW or whatever. Prog should have no boundries, no set characterisitics except very very FEW losely defined characteristics. The type that if you are a veteran of the music, you can just tell if its Prog or not. A person just coming into the scene should not be able to distinct prog from anything else becuase its suppose to be difficult to define.
Dont get me wrong, I like some bands even if they sound like DT or whatever. But a lot of times bands sound like recycled sounds in this genre after a while. Pagans Mind has a song that sounds so much like DT's Learning to Live. Chroma Key pretty much has that heavy DT influence. And the rest sound like TOOL....or copy TOOL. If you listen to a lot of DT's later albums..they rip Tool A LOT. And FW is beginning to sound like TOOL as well.
Im not Prog metal bashing, I love the genre, but I really hate what its turning into. Its no longer fresh with ideas and pushing the limits and the borders beyond its original little world. I really want to see it reborn again. I will continue listening and exploring; but where its at, right now, is Progressive Rock....surprisingly. Its come alive with really good music again...well at least with a few bands. Which no doubt, there will be 40,000 other clones ripping off the same idea.
It drives me nuts how bands copy sounds way too closely and never develop a personal style. Instead they sit in their little bubble and find musicians EXACTLY like them and so the sound comes out exactly like the band they are trying to copy. Yet they dont want to mix styles and turn out something a bit different.
And yes..probably everything in the world has been done as far as musically, but there are ALWAYS those select few that manage to find a way to push the limits again. Those are the things I want to see from the Prog Metal genre. Its difficult, but its doable for dedicated musicians. Becuase Prog shouldnt have trends....and it does right now and it sucks.
But this is just my opinion, so whatever.
Let's leave it at that! Hahaha.