Metal Reviews

I have been recently getting into bands like Porcupine Tree, The Flower Kings, Spocks Beard etc. and enjoying them immensly. Anybody have any suggestions for modern bands that play this style?

Moongarden, Magellan and Tempano all do clever things with music.. Moongarden move towards alt-rock, Magellan towards Prog Metal and Tempano towards funk-jam rock, but all retain the progressive aesthetic. Glass Hammer have a more traditional prog sound; check out their album Lex Rex which is absolutely filler-free..

if you like all those, check out Marillion and IQ who were and still are at the forefront of neo-prog, that is, bands who intentionally make 'prog-rock' and ape Genesis..

then, if you like them too, take a plunge into prog's first wave: king crimson, yes, genesis, floyd, gentle giant, elp, jethro tull, eloy, magma, mike oldfield, nektar, mahavishnu orchestra, gong, novalis, van der graaf generator, rush, strawbs and ozric tentacles, and many more.. maybe the pre-prog generation like zappa, procul harem, the nice, cap'n beefheart and the beatles..

No-one can like every single one of those bands; personally I can't get into Jethro Tull or Marillion, and ELP and Floyd seem to have a lot of filler to me, but each of those bands are unique enough to merit a seperate mention. prog rules.

Marillion with Fish is awesome!

You forgot Kansas,Asia and Emerson, Lake and Palmer in that list Lizardtail.

well, I did miss Kansas and Asia, oops. I did mention ELP though, heehee.

bump for fun. isn't it interesting how so many of the first wave of progressive rock bands were interconnected by their members?

Greg Lake and Peter Sinfield both start in kC before leaving for ELP, Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman both feature in the line-up of the Strawbs, Bill Bruford jumps ship after Wakeman joins Yes to join kC?
After Red, Wetton leaves kC and forms UK with Bruford?

this stuff is all fascinating to me.. I think all the chaotic line-ups and swaps kept the music fresh for so long. one exception is Gentle Giant which kept the same line-up as far as I remember.

*rambles*

LOL I didn't see ELP at first(now I do)but there are a few out there that don't know what ELP stands for so now they know.

I love earlier prog rock especially Rush,Asia and my favorite prog rock band Kansas these guys were the pioneers of good music.