66 replies to this topic

[Chukchi Husky]

Most of the music I listen to comes from what is considered the worst genre of music ever created, progressive rock. If you like punk music in any form then you will immediately hate everything that I listen to.

Once of the key characteristics is song length, a short song might last 6 minutes, with the longest reaching 20 minutes and beyond. One band I listen to made a song that lasts 42 minutes. If they ever released singles, they are often cut versions to fit a shorter 3 to 5 minute length.

Spoiler

This is a video from Threshold, an English progressive metal band whose first album came out in 1993 and had a revolving door of singers, long after progressive rock ceased being popular. This song on the album is close to 10 minutes, but for the video it's cut to just less than 4.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:34 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

I wasn't sure what to choose today. I wondered if I should go with Yes or Genesis, so I went with Dream Theater instead.

Spoiler

Dream Theater are an American progressive metal band formed in the late eighties, and one of the most popular of the modern progressive rock bands (along with Porcupine Tree and Opeth).

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:35 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Today I found out it's Earth Day, so I decided to post the Devin Townsend song of the same name.

Spoiler

Devin Townsend is a Canadian musician best known for the extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad, but under his own name he releases more progressive, experimental and often crazy music. He is sometimes referred to as the 'Mad Scientist of Metal', and I think he actually spent some time in a mental hospital.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:35 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Before Genesis were an eighties pop band, they were a seventies progressive rock band, and had two more members. One of them was Peter Gabriel, the other guitarist Steve Hackett, whose playing would later influence Eddie Van Halen, Alex Lifeson of Rush and Brian May, along with many technical metal guitarists.

Spoiler

This is the first song from the album "Selling England by the Pound", often considered the best Genesis album. Now it's only used as a recurring joke on Top Gear.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:35 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

One of the bands considered the most pretentious of the progressive rock bands is Yes. Today they are mostly known for the song "Owner of a Lonely Heart", which was from a band lineup that ended up using the name Yes because of the record company. Before then Yes had split up and, during the previous album, had The Buggles as members. Another thing Yes were known for is their revolving door line up, with members leaving for a couple of albums then returning. In their history, eighteen people have been members of the band.

Spoiler

"Awaken" is often considered the best Yes song ever made, including by members of the band. It appeared on the album "Going for the One", which was released in 1977, at the height of punk rock. Oddly enough this is actually a shorter epic length song then those that appeared on earlier albums.

I found a video that doesn't show the album art. Yes normally have Roger Dean paintings for their album art, but for "Going for the One", they went with Hipgnosis, who do the Pink Floyd album art. The cover ended up being a naked man staring at some skyscrapers.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:36 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Emerson, Lake & Palmer, one of the earliest supergroups, possibly the most pretentious of the seventies progressive rock bands, and at one time one of the biggest bands in the world. They were known for their rearrangements of classical pieces into rock music, including a live performance of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Now, at least in England, they are only known for the Christmas song "I Believe in Father Christmas".

Spoiler

I was trying to think of what song of theirs to post. I decided to go with the one about pirates, and I found someone on YouTube made a video for it.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:36 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

When progressive rock was at it's height in Britain during the seventies, there weren't many American progressive rock bands. One of the few was Kansas, who were often called the American Genesis.

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Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:36 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Symphony X are a progressive power metal band. The basic history of power metal begins with the bands Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Rainbow. Compared to most other kinds of metal, power metal is much more uplifting, with high pitched, almost operatic vocals, often with a kind of horse gallop rhythm, and usually based on fantasy. Sometimes these bands would use symphonic elements, which is one of the main characteristics of progressive rock. Even from as early as Iron Maiden tried to add the complexity of progressive rock to their sound. One of the bands that combines this kind of metal with progressive rock is Symphony X, who like Emerson, Lake and Palmer, often have songs that start as rearrangements of classical pieces, and their sound is often compared to that of Kansas. The singer of Symphony X, Russell Allen, is probably one of the best metal singers in the world, impressive enough that other musicians call him 'Sir'. The band is often seen as a rival of sorts to Dream Theater.

Spoiler

This song is Through the Looking Glass, which is based on the story of the same name.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:37 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

In Canada, progressive rock came from the band Rush, who started as an early seventies hard rock band. In the late seventies to early eighties, they moved to progressive rock, then after the album Moving Pictures, moved onto eighties electronic rock music.

Spoiler

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:37 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

In the early nineties, a Dutch musician by the name of Arjen Anthony Lucassen wanted to create an album that combined heavy metal with progressive rock in the form of a rock opera, a genre that the record label said was dead. He played nearly all the main instruments himself with the exception of the drums and the less traditional rock instruments, and tried to get as many singers as he could to play the parts. The result was an album called "Ayreon - The Final Experiment", a story about a blind minstrel living in Arthurian Britain who receives messages from the year 2084, when mankind has destroyed itself and the Earth. The album was a success, and he created more albums, using the name Ayreon for the project. With the exception of one album "Actual Fantasy", each album followed a story that ultimately linked to the same concept.

Spoiler

This song is taken from the album "The Human Equation", a story about a man who enters a coma after a car crash, who has to face his emotions while revisiting his past in a similar way to A Christmas Carol. I think the video was made to show how the album was put together, with many of the guest musicians appearing even if they didn't have roles in that song.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:37 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

After releasing four Ayreon albums, Arjen Anthony Lucassen created another project called Star One. This project is more focused on metal, with an actual band line up and only four singers, and instead of being based on a story, each song is based on a different science fiction film or series.

Spoiler

This song, "The Eye of Ra", as made obvious by the video, is based on Stargate.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:38 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

After the last Ayreon album and a second Star One album, Arjen released a mostly solo album called "Lost in the New Real". It follows a story that can fit in a way with the Ayreon concept. A man in the present day is diagnosed with an incurable disease and so is cryogenically frozen until a cure is found. He is woken in the future and has a doctor assigned to him so he can adjust to the future world.

Spoiler

This video contains a general trivia track, which goes into some detail of how the album was made.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:38 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Mostly Autumn are a progressive rock band from Yorkshire, whose sound is often described as being a cross between Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac. Their songs can vary in such a way that when the band released a compilation, there were three discs, with each disc showing off a different sound. The first is rock, the second folk and the third epics.

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Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:38 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

I'm not going to be here for a couple of days, so I decided to post a longer epic.

Spoiler

"A Change of Seasons" is Dream Theater's third longest song. It was released as an EP in 1995 with some live cover songs. This video is from a live performance in 2000 as part of a three hour long set, which included the then newly released album "Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory" in full. That album ended up being used a the soundtrack for the Dragon Ball Z special "The History of Trunks". One complaint about that special was the horrible music.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:39 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

I've come back, and I find my thread has the highest views for some reason.

Spoiler

Riverside are a progressive metal band from Poland, where all the members were once in a death metal band. There was a joke I heard from someone that when people in extreme metal bands retire they end up in a progressive rock band.

The sound of Riverside to me is kind of like a heavier Marillion.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:39 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Another example of modern day progressive rock.

Spoiler

Mastodon are a metal band from Atlanta, Georgia. They started as a sludge metal band, but by the album Crack the Skye. they became a progressive metal band that sound like of like a darker, heaving kind of Genesis.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:39 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

The Flower Kings are a Swedish progressive rock band, known for having an upbeat sound similar to Yes or Genesis. Most of their albums are double albums, and I think one of them has a song that lasts almost an hour. Sweden does have other progressive bands, the most famous being Opeth, along with it's many heavy metal bands (the countries of Scandinavia have the highest rate of metal bands per person in the world).

Spoiler

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:39 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Another Swedish band. Pain of Salvation are progressive metal, even though most people won't say it's metal because it's not heavy enough. All of their albums except I think their last two each revolve around a central story, featuring dark and bleak themes A couple of years ago Pain of Salvation were nearly Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Spoiler

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:40 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

As I've mentioned them before, I decided to post a song from Opeth. This is from their last album Heritage, which was hated when it was released in Britain, mainly because it wasn't heavy and it lacked death vocals. When I listened to the album, it reminded me of King Crimson.

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Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:40 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Porcupine Tree are a band that has gone through three different phases, but have ended up being called a progressive rock band. Their first phase was a psychedelic band in the style of Pink Floyd, the second a more pop phase, and the third a heavier, almost metal phase. The band leader, Steven Wilson, did not like that the band was called progressive rock, simply because he thought his music wasn't complex enough.

Spoiler

This is from Deadwing, which is one of their heavy albums.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:40 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

The Gathering (whose name is taken from Highlander) are a Dutch band who started as a death metal band, but two albums in they got themselves a new singer, and ended up inventing what would become female fronted metal. For two albums, Mandylion and Nighttime Birds, they stayed a metal band, incorporating progressive elements, then when they made the next album, how to measure a planet?, they changed their sound into a softer, more experimental style.

Spoiler

This is from the album Mandylion.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:40 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

I posted a Threshold song before, but that was a single edit.

Spoiler

This is a live version of "Sanity's End", a song from their first album "Wounded Land". I couldn't find the album version on YouTube for some reason. The main difference is that on that first album, they had a different singer, who sung with a higher voice. I know one person compared to Ozzy Osborne, and was also compared to Robert Plant. That singer also performed on their third and latest albums, along with two Ayreon albums and is a member of Star One.

The singer of this version was with the band for five albums, joining for the fourth and leaving after the eighth, and unfortunately soon after died.

On their second album, the band had another, different singer.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:41 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Space rock is a genre related to progressive rock, with some people saying it's a sub genre of progressive rock, The most famous space rock band is probably Pink Floyd, but another well known band is Hawkwind. Hawkwind were considered one of the pioneers of space rock, but now they are only known as the band Lemmy was in before he formed Motörhead.

Spoiler

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:41 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

During the eighties most of the old progressive rock bands had either disappeared or moved in a different musical direction. The most famous being Genesis, who became a pop rock band. Around the same time. new kind of progressive rock was created, with combined the progressive rock of the seventies with the new wave sounds of the eighties. This is now known as neo progressive rock. The most famous of these bands is Marillion, named after The Silmarillion. One of their songs, "Kayleigh", was so famous that it popularised the girl's name Kayleigh, which was either mostly unknown or made up for the song.

Spoiler

This is "Script for a Jester's Tear", from their first album of the same name.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:41 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Blind Guardian are a German power metal band known for having Queen style choir vocals. For a couple of albums they added more progressive elements to their music. The album considered the most progressive is "Nightfall in Middle-earth", a concept album based on The Silmarillion.

Spoiler

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 19 May 2013 - 06:41 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Rhapsody of Fire are an Italian symphonic power metal band who use some progressive elements in their songs.  All their albums follow a storyline set in a fantasy world, with their last story arc, the Dark Secret Saga, spanned five albums..

 

Spoiler

 

This is "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream", from the album "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret".  This version of the song features singing from Christopher Lee, who provided narration through the album.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 21 May 2013 - 06:48 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Epica, who take their name from a Kamelot album, are a Dutch metal band that blend progressive metal, symphonic metal and gothic metal.  They are one of the "beauty and the beast" bands, which is a band with a female operatic vocalist and a male death metal vocalist.  I think all of Epica's albums all revolve around a concept, usually religion, with suites that can span their albums (with one started when the founding member was in another band).

 

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Edited by Chukchi Husky, 23 May 2013 - 12:32 PM.

[Chukchi Husky]

This is Karnataka, a Welsh band that's similar to Mostly Autumn. but with solely female vocals.

 

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Edited by Chukchi Husky, 24 May 2013 - 07:47 AM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Kamelot are an American band that plays European style symphonic power metal, and are known for "integrating progressive elements" in their music.  It varies depending on the album, with some leaning more towards progressive metal with concept albums and lengthy epics, while others lean more towards power metal with shorter songs.  Their newest album, "Silverthorn" is one that is based on a central story (which seems similar to Dream Theater's album "Metropolis Pt. 2, Scenes from a Memory").

 

Spoiler

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 25 May 2013 - 12:04 PM.

[Chukchi Husky]

Iron Maiden, one of the most well known heavy metal bands in the world, and one of the bands who could claim to have helped create modern day heavy metal.  Throughout the years, Iron Maiden have experimented with adding progressive elements to their songs.   Their later albums,have headed more towards a progressive direction, described by bassist Steve Harris as being progressive not "in the modern sense, but like Dream Theater, more in a 70s way."

 

Spoiler

 

"Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" was the first album that the band was attempted to be more progressive.

Edited by Chukchi Husky, 27 May 2013 - 06:21 AM.