Progressive Rock/Metal Thread

[ow_tiobe_sb]

Greetings again, gentlemen.  I fully intend to share more thoughts about Rush, Dream Theater, and tool, but I thought I would make brief mention of a relatively young progressive metal band that I recently discovered: Andromeda, a Swedish band with quite the impressive guitarist/songwriter, Johan Reinholdz.  I cannot vouch for the band's more recent albums (II=I (2003) and Chimera (2006)), but the debut album, 2001's Extension of the Wish, written by Reinholdz, really blew me away with its technical mastery.  I'll avoid the compulsive comparison to those who set the bar so high within this musical genre (*cough* DT *cough*) and note, instead, that the dueling keyboards and guitar are mesmerising, and the rhythmic variations, from virtuoso speed to raucous thrash (especially on the rather heavy, agressive "In the Deepest of Waters") to more bluesy, melodic metal, should offer a li'l something appealing to every prog metal fan.  I would highly recommend that you check Amazon.com for samples of the band's music.  Enjoy!

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Fop o' th' Morning

[ow_tiobe_sb]

Rush (cont.)

Permanent Waves - An overall solid album with some catchy hooks as well.  Personal favourites include pop-inflected "The Spirit of Radio," "Freewill," "Jacob's Ladder," and "Natural Science."

Moving Pictures - In my view, this album proceeds in the same transitional vein as the previous LP, showing the band's gradual move toward shorter tracks with greater pop appeal and more synthesizer but continuing to demonstrate Rush's trademark instrumental proficiency.  To this day, I am still not a fan of the immensely popular "Tom Sawyer"; however, other tracks--namely, "Red Barchetta," the incredible Peart slugfest "YYZ," the infectiously catchy "Limelight," and "The Camera Eye"--more than compensate for the annoyance that ol' Tom has caused me over the years.

Signals - This album marks a move, IMHO, toward an era that I have less love for; nevertheless, I find myself returning to "Subdivisions," "The Analog Kid," "Digital Man," and "The Weapon" on a fairly regular basis.

Grace Under Pressure - Many of these tracks struck me as songs that failed to allow themselves enough time/space to expand, breathe, and ultimately impress me.  However, I have a degree of respect for "Afterimage," "The Enemy Within," "The Body Electric" (if not for the music, for the Whitman allusion), and "Between the Wheels."

Power Windows - I've met a number of lifelong Rush fans who have professed that this album grew on them over time.  I have yet to enjoy that experience.

Hold Your Fire - I hate to say it, but this album should have been entitled Hold Your Tongue and never released.  When I'm in the mood for it, I can listen to "Time Stand Still" (which is not a great representative of progressive rock at all) but everything else on this album leaves me cold.

This marks the point when I stopped listening to new Rush albums. *somewhere, an owl sheds a tear*

Dream Theater

Personally, I cannot say enough about this spectacular group, but I will try to be as concise as possible.

When Dream and Day Unite - I actually think that Charlie Dominici was a great fit for DT vocally, and I am glad to know that his post-DT career has been a fruitful one.  Nevertheless, I am extremely thankful that James LaBrie would join DT for their sophomore outing and subsequent studio albums.  The already germinating seeds of greatness populate this debut album, "Ytse Jam," the musical suite "The Killing Hand," and "Light Fuse and Get Away" representing my personal favourites.

Images and Words - I actually had higher hopes for this album when I learned of its title before its release, but many of the tracks seem relatively uninspired to me (perhaps in the midst of attempting to be too inspiring lyrically).  With that said, "Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and The Sleeper" (whose revisitation would later produce one of DT's best concept albums of all time, IMHO) and "Under a Glass Moon" still receive heavy rotation.

Awake - This album represents to me the band's continued attempts to negotiate between more mainstream-palatable, pop-inflected numbers and the more intensely progressive style that I love about this band.  Notable tracks include "The Mirror" and "Lie."

A Change of Seasons - This EP represents, to me, the (soon to be interrupted) beginning of DT's picking up momentum by adopting the compositional and stylistic habits that would inform several of their greatest LPs later.  In addition to the extended title track, the record also includes a number of delightful covers of classic songs, such as "The Rover/Achilles' Last Stand/The Song Remains the Same" by Led Zeppelin and "The Big Medley," which includes "In the Flesh?" by Pink Floyd, "Carry on Wayward Son" by Kansas, "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen (With the advent of James LaBrie's band membership, who didn't see this cover coming? ;)), "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" by Journey, "Cruise Control" by Dixie Dregs, and "Turn It On Again" by Genesis.  :wub:

Falling Into Infinity - Falling, as this album does, between two great records, one would have liked to see a steady path toward increasingly impressive work.  Unfortunately, Falling Into Infinity strikes me as a rather hapless victim of record label/studio producer interference (The story goes that DT was under extreme pressure from EastWest records to put out an album with more consistent mainstream appeal.  Subsequent albums would be self-produced by the band to avoid these misguided interventions in the future.)  I still harbour a great deal of respect for "New Millennium," "Lines in the Sand," "Just Let Me Breathe," and "Trial of Tears."

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory - Emerging from the (mercifully) brief national nightmare of Falling Into Infinity, DT hit the ground running with the first album, IMHO, to hit all the right notes.  Introspection, mysticism, multiple speakers/perspectives, pulse-pounding extended jams--this record has it all.  Simply put, you must purchase this album and listen to it repeatedly. ;)

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - Building upon the wide-ranging foundations of Scenes from a Memory, SDOIT roams in even wider stylistic arcs to display the versatility of this pitch-perfect band.  "The Glass Prison," one of my favourite DT songs, showcases some of the most insane, pummeling drum work Mike Portnoy ever composed.  "The Great Debate" provides a very clever approach to current themes with its examination of the pros and cons of stem cell research.  The title suite represents the most mature, nuanced attempt by a metal band to address various psychological ailments that I have ever encountered.  Again, you must purchase this album and listen to it repeatedly. ;)  I should also note that, as far as DT albums go, this record represents the high-water mark, IMHO.

Train of Thought - I was underwhelmed by this louder, more angst-driven album.  Nevertheless, Portnoy comes through with at least two great tracks, "This Dying Soul" and "Honor Thy Father."

Octavarium - Portnoy's "The Root of All Evil" and the twenty-four minute title track offer me a great deal of satisfaction in this otherwise uneven album.

Systematic Chaos - There are some brilliant lights on this dark album, including technically dazzling "In the Presence of Enemies" (parts 1 and 2), "Constant Motion," and "The Ministry of Lost Souls." 

I would also like to mention, perhaps controversially, the "official bootleg" live recording of Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast that DT performed while on tour in 2002.  IMHO, this influential (and terrific, in its original Iron Maiden recording) metal album never sounded better than when DT decided to cover it in toto.  ^_^

My notes on the sometime shock-proggers tool will follow in a subsequent post.  In the meantime, I invite others to share their thoughts about DT's discography, since it appears that there exists some love for the band in this online community. :)

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Phantom Bunburyist and Fop o' th' Morning

[zuludelta]

I think 2112 and A Farewell to Kings were Rush's strongest albums... never really was fond of their later work.

As for Dream Theater... I went crazy over John Petrucci like so many young impressionable guitarists in the 1990s, but my taste in music shifted in a radically different direction soon after the release of Falling Into Infinity (I'd discovered funk, electronica, R&B, and hip-hop), so I didn't really pay attention to them after that. I can't speak for their later, post-1998 albums (none of which I've listened to in-depth), but I never really considered them an outright prog rock band (their earlier albums still straddled the divide between "popular" rock and metal and "proper" prog much like bands like Queensrÿche)... to me, they were closer, in terms of their musical predilections, to guys like the classical and baroque-influenced hard rock outfit Rainbow (the mid-1970s version with Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio, particularly on the 1976 album Rising) than say, prog-rockers King Crimson or Pink Floyd.   

[ow_tiobe_sb]

I never really considered them an outright prog rock band (their earlier albums still straddled the divide between "popular" rock and metal and "proper" prog much like bands like Queensrÿche)... to me, they were closer, in terms of their musical predilections, to guys like the classical and baroque-influenced hard rock outfit Rainbow (the mid-1970s version with Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio, particularly on the 1976 album Rising) than say, prog-rockers King Crimson or Pink Floyd.   

It might be fair to say that progressive rock/metal has been, historically, very much a phase or a persistent habit in a band's career rather than an inherent aspect of each of its songs.  Of all the bands I have mentioned, however, Dream Theater (as well as early King Crimson and post-Barrett/post-psychedelic Pink Floyd) clearly deserves to be labeled progressive.  DT seems to be the natural successor to the progressive experiments of predecessors Iron Maiden, (early) Metallica, et al (and I would hesitate to call these bands progressive in any sense of the word).  When a band like DT opens its debut album with a track that, before a single lyric spills forth (at 1 minute, 21 seconds), undergoes three tempo changes and two time signature changes (which will also recur later in the track), I call that progressive.  This is a trend that DT has never lost, but I will agree that their albums frequently indulge other song styles that fall short of being progressive.  This persistent, progressive characteristic of DT is something that I cannot attribute to Rush, Jethro Tull, or tool, for each of these bands began as hard rock, jazz folk/blues, or grunge-like metal bands, respectively, and would frequently revert to these genres at will.

Yes, I would definitely hesitate to call Queensrÿche progressive.  Rather, I would say that certain songs from their catalogue demonstrate an indebtedness to previous progressive rock.  "Roads to Madness" from The Warning and "Suite Sister Mary" from Operation: Mindcrime might qualify as progressive tracks, but isolated tracks (or occasional concept albums) do not necessarily a progressive band make.

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Phantom Bunburyist and Fop o' th' Morning

[B A D]

Hold Your Fire - I hate to say it, but this album should have been entitled Hold Your Tongue and never released.  When I'm in the mood for it, I can listen to "Time Stand Still" (which is not a great representative of progressive rock at all) but everything else on this album leaves me cold.

That Pretty much sums it . Altough "Turn the Page" really grew on me so much that its on my Itunes.

The only other Rush CD ive bought since this one is Counterparts, and I really reccomend it. Its a nice mix of the old/new sounds , and has at least 5 good tracks on it. I wanted to name a COX toon "coldfire" after the song, but you know another geek already stole it and every concievable variation of said name.

That being said, now that its not "cool" anymore, Moving Pictures is by far their best work, and The Camera Eye is perhaps my favorite Rush song.

[ow_tiobe_sb]

I believe I am prepared to make brief mention (and recommendation) of a French progressive metal band, Spheric Universe Experience.  Their second album, Anima, definitely suggests an homage to Dream Theater (and 'tis not a black mark against 'em for it ;)), but their first album, Mental Torments, convinces me that this is a progressive metal band with a mind of its own worth watching in the future.  Has anyone else given them a listen?

I will post thoughts on tool if my poor suffering son will stop getting teething fevers in the foreseeable future. :(

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Phantom Bunburyist and Fop o' th' Morning

[ow_tiobe_sb]

*dusts off thread*

I wanted to include a few brief mentions I've made elsewhere and then add a few new notes about other excellent prog bands.

Communic - Waves of Visual Decay (2006): This sophomore album by the Norwegian progressive thrash metal trio Communic reminds one of the condition of certain special, serious musical acts: they make music not as a devotion to the beauty of sound but rather as if they were trying to cure themselves of an acute malady.  Waves of Visual Decay blends raw, raucous thrash and progressive metal methods with superior production and vocalist/guitarist Oddleif Stensland's sometimes sweet, sometimes rough, sometimes stratospheric, but always haunting voice on an album that will leave the listener thrilled, (perhaps) a bit frightened, and happily exhausted by record's end.  Highlights include the riff-heavy antiwar opening track, "Under a Luminous Sky," the powerfully crunchy "Frozen Asleep in the Park" (a diatribe against the unnecessary condition of homelessness, society's open dirty secret), the down-tempo "Watching It All Disappear," the darkly sinister "My Bleeding Victim," and, IMHO, one of the band's best, most representative songs, "Fooled by the Serpent," which demonstrates Communic's ability to couple driving and slow tempos with alternating passages of fury and tranquility.

Pagan's Mind - Infinity Divine (2001; rerecorded in 2004): Not just another power-prog metal act with a mystical space travel fixation, Norway's Pagan's Mind features the dual guitar force of Jørn Viggo Lofstad and Thorstein Aaby, the flying fingers of keyboardist Ronny Tegner, and the unique, almost extraterrestrial vocals of Nils K. Rue on the band's stellar (ho-ho!) debut album.  Infinity Divine not only introduces the listener to the themes that would dominate Pagan's Mind's next three albums (Celestial Entrance (2003), Enigmatic: Calling (2005), and God's Equation (2007)) but it also does so in a fashion more faithful to progressive metal methods than the later records, which tend toward more traditional, melodic power metal characteristics.  Highlights include the lyrical ουροβóρος "Infinity Divine" ("You are what you mean you can be..."); the gritty, riff-heavy "Embracing Fear"; the eerie, atmospheric "Astral Projection"; and the soaring, festinate "Angels' Serenity."

Myrath - Hope (2007) - The international debut album by Tunisian progressive metal artists Myrath proves not only satisfying in its true-to-prog complex rhythms, eclectic instrumentation, genre-bending, etc., but also for its subtle use of traditional Middle Eastern musical motifs (whereas most Western prog bands make rather ostentatious use of these motifs).  Myrath tends to add layer upon layer of musical lines--which may be jazz-inflected, heavy metallic, baroque or classical, etc.--until, gradually, the listener recognises the familiar oriental (to use the historically reductive, controversial term) textures.  I find this style refreshing because, instead of providing another example of a European or American prog band mining the (Middle) East for non-standard rock rhythms and riffs, Myrath's music provides an example of the (Middle) Eastern bricoleur using Western musical styles to create a distinctive (Middle) Eastern form of progressive metal (however, the Dream Theater influences should be clear to fans of that artist).  Lead vocalist Zaher Zagati's versatility covers the gamut from clear, sweet, tenor vibrato to raw shrieks to the occasional baritone growls (which, normally, I would detest, but, somehow, Zagati makes it work with Myrath's frequently aggressive sound).  The tracks available on the band's Myspace page (including "Confession") are definitely worth a listen (or three).

To-Mera - Delusions (2008) - Fronted by the (fallen) angelic Julie Kiss (nice surname!), the British progressive metal act To-Mera crafts its heavy prog sound by taking cues from various musical genres too numerous to mention.  In their sophomore outing (following 2006's Transcendental), To-Mera sustains its commitment to performing polymorphic, polyrhythmic, extended metal jams graced by Kiss's exquisite vocals.  The musicians truly know their instruments well and demonstrate a very high level of proficiency without sacrificing riffs and recurrent melodies.  Representative and recommended tracks include "The Lie," "Mirage," "The Glory of a New Day," "Inside the Hourglass," and "A Sorrow to Kill."

Pyramaze - Legend of the Bone Carver (2006) - The Danish progressive power metal outfit Pyramaze impressed me with their 2004 debut album, Melancholy Beast, but they absolutely floored me with Legend of the Bone Carver, a concept album about (IIRC) a magical child who becomes a woodland recluse and, ultimately, the savior of his troubled land (aye, the concept will only appeal to fantasy buffs, to be sure).  Fast-paced, grinding guitars and pounding bass drum meet folk music influences and Lance King's amazing, crystal-clear vocals on this sophomore effort.  If you can bracket the occasional spoken narrative that tends to introduce or bridge various tracks to sustain the album's dark tale, you are likely to bang your head in time with "What Lies Beyond," "Ancient Words Within," "Souls in Pain," and "The Bone Carver."

More to come shortly. :)

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Phantom Bunburyist and Fop o' th' Morning

[The Enigma]

I'm mildly surprised to see no mention of Porcupine Tree here (yet). They straddle the line between prog rock and prog metal quite nicely. I am not at all surprised to see no mention of Liquid Tension Experiment. If you like Dream Theater, you'll probably enjoy the former. The latter is more obscure. Fans of progressive death metal would do well to try and find some Textures, although they're kinda math metaly. Oh and Devin Townsend's work (either with Strapping Young Lad or on his own) is impressive and a personal favourite too.