Progressive and Power Metal

These are my two favorite styles of music. I like them because the songs last, the drum beats don't often repeat and they rock. If you like it discuss it here. Tell me why you don't if you don't.

Talk about your favorite band and please reccomend some to me.

My list of bests -

Prog
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-Dream Theater
-Fates Warning
-Symphony X
-Queensryche
-Tool
-Yngwie Malmstine

Power
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-Dragonforce
-Angra
-Kamelot (look at my sig)
-Blind Guardian
-Helloween
-Fairyland (yes....fairyland)
-Elvenking
-Dream Evil
-Demons and Wizards

I like them all and recommend them to you all (Blind Guardian and Helloween to a lesser extent.)

I definately wouldn't put Tool in the same group as DT, Symphony X and the like. Tool is art/prog. rock. The others are more like neoclassical/progressive metal.

I used to like those genres a lot more than I do now, but I still really like Symphony X, Blind Guardian, Elvenking and Demons & Wizards. And Tool, but I don't place them anywhere near those other bands.

I haven't heard a big variety of this kind of metal but I love the power metal like Dragonforce! The music just... ARGH! It did something like got my blood pumping, it was just wow! And music generally doesn't effect me like that. I heard one of Dragonforce's songs and I was just hooked. But my favourite of this kind is Rhapsody (of Fire). Wow.

CoCa = mjaor win.

Im pretty sure theyre prog.

Power metal is generally the worst form of metal around, it has so much amazing potential but FAR too often the bands settle for very mediocre levels of quality. Bands such as The Lord Weird Slough Feg, Godiva, and Virgin Steele however do give it some redeeming qualities, sadly they don't save the genre as a whole - I mean bands like Rhapsody, Stratovarius, and Sonata Arctica still exist after all.

Progressive metal on the other hand is pretty much just as ****ty as power is, but it has a few major saving graces and those are Pain of Salvation (best band ever as far as I'm concerned) and those bands that manage to emulation Pain of Salvaiton.

Originally Posted by Aldhissla

I definately wouldn't put Tool in the same group as DT, Symphony X and the like. Tool is art/prog. rock. The others are more like neoclassical/progressive metal.

I used to like those genres a lot more than I do now, but I still really like Symphony X, Blind Guardian, Elvenking and Demons & Wizards. And Tool, but I don't place them anywhere near those other bands.

Yeah I guess Tool, wouldn't really be in that same group. So any recommendations?

A Perfect Circle?

A Perfect Circle is like Tool without any of the interesting elements. Aside from their song "The Package" there's absolutely nothing worth listening to by them.

As far as progressive metal goes (and if you don't mind including the early folk metal albums, as well as the newest progressive/folk hybrid), Vintersorg really can't be beat, due to Mr. V's incredible vocal talent and extensive creativity in songwriting. The Lord Weird Slough Feg (almost always shortened to Slough Feg) work pretty well if you want heavy metal with some progressive, eclectic bits and pieces thrown in here and there. Hammers of Misfortune is sort of an off-shoot of Slough Feg that features the same vocalist and members from other bands like GWAR; their albums are both concept albums, though the first is sort of a power metal saga and the second explores doom metal and has a more modern sound (I can't comment on the third, but apparently it has some classic rock influences). Opeth fits into sort of a strange prog/doom/death/folk niche that seems to vary from album to album. Pain of Salvation is an incredible band with an equally incredible vocalist, though since I only have one album of theirs, BE, I can't recommend absolutely everything by them, although what I've heard is very favourable; they tend to dabble in many forms of music, from Broadway-styled show-tunes and even feature occasional rap elements. Liquid Tension Experiment is a supergroup with two albums that features several members of Dream Theater; it's all instrumental, and actually fairly good most of the time, though it can't help but sound like Dream Theater with a bit less metal and more random wankery. ISIS falls into a post-hardcore/post-rock/progressive-metal niche, and are phenomenal, so you may enjoy them, although they tend to be very ambient at times, and crushing at others. Finally, Enslaved comes to mind due to a number of progressive elements on their later albums, though their black metal roots are probably off-putting for most.

I'm not much of a fan of power metal; Blind Guardian is really all I can stand, and that's only a fairly small selection of their music. Demons & Wizards is a little more tolerable for me (at least the first album), ridiculous title and all. Persuader have a few good songs, though I can't recommend them on the whole; their vocalist is very similar at times to the one from Blind Guardian. Nevermore is a pretty good group that feels sort of like a combination of 80s thrash metal with modern heavy and power metal. Bands like Children of Bodom, Norther, Ensiferum, etc. straddle the line of melodic death metal, power metal, and, in the case of the latter, Viking metal, so they may be worth investigating for you. Into Eternity represent a proggy combination of power and death metal, but I don't know if I could recommend them to someone who doesn't like growling and blastbeats. Mercenary, meanwhile, have changed from a melodic death metal band into a power metal band over the years, so their later albums might be worth checking out if you don't want to hear any growling.

Related to progressive metal is avant-garde metal, though it's a completely distinguishable genre in itself. Arcturus, Solefald, Dødheimsgard, Ulver, Diabolical Masquerade, and possibly Celtic Frost all inhabit it, and Vintersorg arguably has some albums that fit in there as well. However, since avant-garde metal tends to stem from black metal bands, you may not enjoy all or any of it.

Only metal I listen to is mostly stuff without heavy use of vocals...or at least that's what I find I prefer. I don't think any of them could be considered power or progressive metal (though I admit I am completely oblivious to most of the subgenres of metal still). I remember checking out Pain of Salvation months ago on the reccomendation of someone from here, and being really torn over whether I was into them or not...so maybe I'll give them another crack now that I've expanded my pallet to include metal, so to speak.

Originally Posted by Galedeep

Only metal I listen to is mostly stuff without heavy use of vocals...or at least that's what I find I prefer. I don't think any of them could be considered power or progressive metal (though I admit I am completely oblivious to most of the subgenres of metal still). I remember checking out Pain of Salvation months ago on the reccomendation of someone from here, and being really torn over whether I was into them or not...so maybe I'll give them another crack now that I've expanded my pallet to include metal, so to speak.

Well, Power metal is an easy genre to identify, usually playing quite fast, and heavy, it is hard to explain but listen to a few bands and you will know. Angra and Dragonforce are good examples. Progressive is harder to identify...and I can't really explain it.

Power metal is generally fast-paced metal with a neoclassical edge that features high-pitched cleanly-sung vocals, often overlaid to create choir-like effects, as well as bright, usually fake-sounding keyboards featuring brass and string instruments in a prominent role, fast-drums that often make use of double-bass (but not blastbeats and the like), generic thrash metal-esque guitar riffs interspersed with flourishes, possibly tremolo picking, sustained power chords during choruses, and often very fast and melodic guitar leads with lots of sweep-picking and the like. Major scales tend to be fairly common in songwriting, unlike most metal, which is usually either minor or atonal. Ballads are fairly common and often feature soft pianos, clean guitars (though rarely acoustic) and soaring operatic vocals. Most of the genre's lyrics revolve around fantasy, taking inspiration from Lord of the Rings and other similar works, though mythology, paganism, romance, and even ridiculously immature "metal-ness" (made popular by Manowar) are also fairly common.

That is the stereotypical example, of course, but the majority of power metal bands feature most of those qualities. For modern power metal, see HammerFall, Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian (though their earlier albums lean towards speed metal), Falconer, Freedom Call (perfect example of nauseatingly bright, happy and cheesy "flower" metal), DragonForce (who claim to be "extreme power metal", which just means that their songs are faster than most other bands' and that they modify their playing using computers because they're not good enough to play half of their songs properly) and Sonata Arctica.

They're not prog, but Coheed and Cambria have some prog metal tendencies. Though, honestly, it only shines through occasionally. Sometimes they're straight up prog, sometimes they're power-pop with a touch of punk or metal (people incorrectly label these songs as "emo," but they simply aren't), and straight up classic rock-inspired songs. So they're not pure prog by any means, but if you have an open mind and can tolerate Geddy Lee-esque vocals and some songs that are on the poppy side, they're a fun band to get into.

They're considered a "concept band" because each of the albums tell a sci-fi story that continues throughout the course of their discography. I guess the diversity of their sound could have something to do with this, as stories are very rarely epic, brooding, sad, or happy throughout. It's pretty interesting, though more than a little confusing, but it's being told through a series of comics called The Amory Wars (of which 3 issues have already been released). They also have an amazing graphic novel called Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Vol. 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness, based on the album of the same name. You can read all about that here and here.

Their best songs are their "epic" ones though, and the big changes in the story usually happen in these. They're also the ones where their prog influences shine through the most. So if you're really into prog you might just want to listen to those ones (since I know prog fans can be extremely picky and intolerant of things that aren't absolutely amazing), since certain songs like their radio singles -- which are totally uncharacteristic of their overall sound -- probably won't appeal to you all that much.

Try listening to the song "Welcome Home" here. If you like that, try downloading the following:

In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Cuts Marked in the March of Men
The Crowing
21:13
The Willing Well I: Fuel for the Feeding End
The Willing Well II: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
The Willing Well III: Apollo II: The Telling Truth
The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut

Honestly, Coheed and Cambria only have a handful of songs that come even close to resembling metal, though aside from their vocals they really aren't that bad. I'd say they more follow along the lines of hard rock, though.

I just don't understand why this music isn't pupular with the mainstream, all they feature in the mainstream is a bunch of people who suck.

Originally Posted by Flames of Valor

I just don't understand why this music isn't pupular with the mainstream, all they feature in the mainstream is a bunch of people who suck.

Its because MTV, MuchMusic or any radio station out there spoon feeds them to the general public.

You shouldnt even be asking that question.

Originally Posted by Moop

Its because MTV, MuchMusic or any radio station out there spoon feeds them to the general public.

You shouldnt even be asking that question.

And why shouldn't I?

There's no place for most metal in the mainstream. You can't sit there and honestly say that the majority of the population is going to enjoy most metal. There is mainstream metal (System of a Garbage, SlipGarbage, etc etc), but the vast majority of metal has absolutely no mainstream appeal. Try to imagine hearing a really fast speed metal or whatever really intense type of metal you want to think of on the radio when you're in the car with your parents, or playing in the background of a commercial on MTV. Doesn't even seem feasable, let alone likely to happen.

Lots of music doesn't fit into the mainstream, there's more stuff outside the mainstream than there is inside of it. Being played on the radio isn't a stamp of approval, it just says that the song appeals to a large enough portion of the populace that it can be played in the mainstream/public. Metal has always been a niche genre, and will probably continue to be.