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Member since: 3/27/2007 • Forum posts: 3 • Last visit: 5/17/2018 9:52:19 AM EST
Location: Seattle

I am in my early '30's, enjoy nerd stuff, and work at a job which gives me copious amounts of time to brood over music in quite isolation.

How I Discovered Prog:

I forswore music during my teen years, mostly due to the viral sounds of grunge, rap, and RB which infected popular culture during the era. Of course, none of these could compete with the anxiety-attack inducing popularity of country music, which is simply unexplainable to me. My parents didn't help, since my dad only ever listened to smooth jazz and the Beach Boys, while my mom's radio was tuned regularly to Dr. Laura. So, for most of my youth-- good music simply didn't exist.

Fortunately, when I turned 15 my brother got me 1984 by Van Halen, and Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast , not exactly prog, I know, but these two albums utterly opened my eyes. Thanks to Napster, I devoured as much rock as possible, tip-toeing into the genre with Def Leppard, Journey, and legions of goofy glam metal groups from the '80's.

Finally, at 18, a co-worker introduced me to Rush-- and everything fell into place. At that age I was pissed off at most everything, the least of which was organized religion and finding a "life path", and Rush gave me an optimistic voice to hang on to. Searching for more, this led to numerous musical discoveries, all of which were vital for me surviving my early '20's, to today, where prog helps me maintain an identity and appreciation of life/love/art among lots and lots and lots of very frustrating people.

I owe a lot of musical discoveries, satisfaction, and enrichment thanks to ProgArchives!

Some of My Favorites:

Classic Prog
* Rush (Snakes and Arrows, Moving Pictures)
* Yes (Close to the Edge)
- King Crimson (Discipline, Power to Believe)
- Nektar (Remember the Future, Tab in the Ocean)
- Genesis (Selling England by the Pound)
- Zappa (We're Only In it for the Money, Joe's Garage)
- Van Der Graaf Generator (Godbluff)
- Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon)
- Queen (Queen II)
- Jethro Tull (Standup)

Modern Prog
* Porcupine Tree (In Absentia)
* Anathema (Weather Systems)
- Birds and Buildings (Bantom to Behemoth)
- River Side (Out of Myself)
- Arena (Contagion)
- Marillion (Marbles)
- Anekdoten (Gravity)
- Tangent (Music That Died Alone)
- Phideaux (Doomsday Afternoon)
- Talk Talk (Spirits of Eden)
- Ozric Tentacles (all)

Metal
* Devin Townsend (Epicloud, Ziltoid)
- Opeth (Ghost Reveries)
- Iron Maiden (Number of the Beast)
- Symphony X (Iconoclast)
- Unexpect (In the Flesh Aquarium)
- Kamelot (Black Halo)
- Pain of Salvation (Perfect Element/Remedy Lane)
- Rainbow (Ritche Blackmore's Rainbow)
- Black Sabbath (Heaven and Hell)
- Dream Theater (Metroplis II)

I lean towards the heavy/metal side of things, but when looking at my reviews one will find lots of crossover. I love dynamics, emotion, and energy most, with playing ability and lyrical content right behind.

My Reviews:
I don't pretend to be an expert in my reviews, but I know what I like, and why I like it-- hopefully that might help you make a few good choices in your musical journey.

I score my reviews using four criteria because I think that it's important to acknowledge that there can be good and not so good elements of an album outside of what may be revealed by a single star rating. Each category rated is on a scale of 1-5, which are added together. I then divide by 4, and round off to determine the number of stars. The categories are:
-- Songwriting
-- Instrumental Performances
-- Lyrics/Vocals
-- Style/Emotion/Replay value

1 star= very poor and unenjoyable
2 stars= mediocre, usually bad but sometimes enjoyable
3 stars= good, or otherwise standard for the genre
4 stars= exceptional, either in its delivery, impact, or creativity
5 stars= amazing, always entertaining or dauntlessly creative

For live albums, I use the following categories:
-- Setlist
-- Instrumental Performances
-- Stage Energy
-- Live Experience

Sub-genre Nb of reviews Avg rating 1 Progressive Metal 84 3.24 2 Prog Related 77 3.03 3 Heavy Prog 74 3.31 4 Symphonic Prog 70 3.20 5 Experimental/Post Metal 44 3.55 6 Crossover Prog 39 3.51 7 Eclectic Prog 37 3.41 8 Neo-Prog 31 3.16 9 Psychedelic/Space Rock 29 3.41 10 RIO/Avant-Prog 22 3.23 11 Tech/Extreme Prog Metal 21 3.19 12 Prog Folk 17 3.47 13 Jazz Rock/Fusion 14 3.43 14 Post Rock/Math rock 11 3.18 15 Proto-Prog 10 3.00 16 Progressive Electronic 1 2.00 17 Rock Progressivo Italiano 1 4.00 18 Zeuhl 1 3.00