Metal Reviews

i'm not doing my neo-prog rant because it doesn't quite apply. I'm just going to say Maudlin of the Well.. one of the strengths of the 70s prog bands was tastefulness (although ELP didn't get the memo) and Maudlin respect that by knowing exactly when to be heavy, when to meander and for how long a melody should be reprised. they're also adept at jazz which is a big consideration in prog.

Maudlin of the Well is what came before KAYO DOT!!!!, by the way.

on the subject of more traditional prog metal, is anyone a fan of Ice Age? I'm told they feature significantly less suck than the average power-prog outfit, is this true?

The Postman Syndrome (my favourite by a long shot, Terraforming is a fucking masterpiece!!!)

Zero Hour, Meshuggah, Maudlin of the Well, Devin Townsend, Tool

at standard Dream Theater style prog metal I'd go with Redemption

Watchtower and Spiral Architect (stylistically they sort of go hand in hand, Spiral Architect perfected the style Watchtower created, if I do say so myself)
Atheist
Meshuggah's latest
Coroner and Anacrusis (for borderline prog, experimental thrash, in their later years of course)

Pain of Salvation has some great material, just not BE. I like Entropia, or Remedy Lane for something more mellow. Beyond Twilight is my first choice for prog/power though, Section X is absolutely fantastic.

Mentioning Maudlin of the Well brought back a few memories, I really enjoyed their first album.

As much as I respect Watchtower, I play Spiral Architect 10 times as often, because it just sounds...better.

Of the more traditional prog/power Symphony X are probably my favorites.

And Atheist had one of the best sounds ever.

Totally. Watchtower is great, Control and Resistance especially is excellent. But Spiral Architect made one of my favorite albums with Sceptic's Universe. They took the style to a whole new level.

Hell yeah! Spiral Architect is THE hardest band to get into. Once you get passed their complexity, you’ll realize that they are one of the best in the genre.

Turns out there's a lot of interesting stuff to check out for me...
Is anyone into Ark by any chance? It features Jorn Lande of Masterplan, and is said to be original and mature prog metal. I've heard some samples of them and they sounded great.


I hear they are very talented musicians, have developed their own sound, and that some of their albums reach the standard of DT-quality. But I haven't heard them no.

As a side note, anyone into Evergrey? Their album Recreation Day is a very solid release, and easy to get into. Heavy, almost brutal, and with great keyboards nicely blended into the mix. I recommend it to all.

Ark's Burn the Sun Album is great. Dont expect anything too heavy though. i just purchased Magnitude 9 first album and it is really good.

Really? I found Magnitude 9 to be pretty boring.

I still need to check out Ark.

There's some nice stuff worth checking:

STRIDE - Imagine
CANVAS SOLARIS - Penumbra Diffuse
SUSPYRE - The Silvery Image
PLATITUDE - Silence Speaks
HUBI MEISEL - Kailash
SECTION A - Parallel Lives

The first two are to be found at Intromental, Suspyre is self-released, Platitude is from Metal Heaven and the last two are from Lion Music.

Generally Lion delivers a lot of good prog bands

If you like symphonic prog metal, try Shadow Gallery or Royal Hunt. Both excellent bands.

As for Pain of Salvation: Entropia and BE are not the easiest albums to get into. IMO their other albums are much more accessible. Very good band.

Circus Maximus seem to be criticized for being a dream theater or symphony X clone. Of course they're a young band (they have only 1 album out) but such things can change over time. Regardless, they already have made some really great songs.



Some call them prog metal, I think they're only a little prog. Hard to define anyway, but Recreation Day is splendid.

I like Canvas Solaris a lot, could you describe the other bands for me so i can decide whether they're worth checking out?

Stride is damn good. They are more prog/power (I doubt you'd like them), and they can write some damn good ballads. Hubi Meisel is kind of girly, but still has its good points (again, I doubt you'd like them). I don't know the others.

STRIDE - mix of Prog/AOR. Some gentle influences of Dream Theater. Nothing extremely inpressive, but worth checking
SUSPYRE - there's a topic somewhere
PLATITUDE - band from Finland, great keyboards in vein of 80's pop music, powerful vocalist, short, catchy songs. I'm not sure if I should call it prog, but...
HUBI MEISEL - http://www.metalreviews.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2916
SECTION A - very solid project of Torben Enevoldsen (great shredder!!!). Concept about transgressing, or whatever, into different, parallel worlds etc. Similar to Dream Theater with influences of Malmsteen...Something like that.

Moreover:

SOUL TAKERS - Italian prog rock band. Very soft, no electronics etc. Violin, piano, guitars, bass, vocals, drums. Very sad and pesimistic music. (check "Tides")
HUGO FLORES/PROJECT CREATION/SONIC PULSAR - projects of Hugo Flores from Portugal. Each one is the representative of different approaches to progressive music. Interesting stuff.
MIND'S EYE - Prog Rock, themes of evolution etc. However, it's a bit boring. (Check "Walking On H2O")
TEARS OF ANGER - Modern Prog Metal, Heavy with nice guitars by Benny Jansson.
RIVERSIDE - Great Prog Metal from Poland! Highly recomended!!!

They aren't pure prog but there definately is a prog side to them.

Some accuse them of being comercial but I don't really think so, the music up till now has been great so I dont care really. I do fear that the new album might be more mainstream though.