Progressive Metal: Most important band

No mention of those who inventend prog metal in the year 1969: High Tide. They were the first and are the best.

BaldJean wrote: No mention of those who inventend prog metal in the year 1969: High Tide. They were the first and are the best.

There is no way for me to know about them ... there are no samples, no tracks in the P2P network, no preview on amazon.com, no CDs in stores. Shrug ...

Both "Sea Shanties" and "High Tide" by High Tide are available from amazon.com. And nine ratings for "Sea Shanties"; seven give 5 stars and two 4 stars out of 5 possible ones.


Edited by BaldFriede

MikeEnRegalia wrote: BaldFriede wrote: Both "Sea Shanties" and "High Tide" by High Tide are available from amazon.com. And nine ratings for "Sea Shanties"; seven give 5 stars and two 4 stars out of 5 possible ones. I looked for them on amazon.com ... there ARE samples available on amazon.de. But they seem more like an early version of the Doors, or Camel, with heavy folk influences. But the samples are not a good basis for a solid opinion ...

They are NOWHERE like that! They are much much heavier! They invented prog metal. "Sea Shanties" is a relentless album that gets 5 stars from me. The self-titled 2nd album is a little less heavy, but still heavy enough; due to its shortness (just 32 minures) I give it only 4 stars though.. But both are excellent. "Death Warmed Up", the instrumental from their first album, is one of the wildest tracks ever!!!
What is true though is that the vocals sound a little like the Doors. But the Doors were never even close to that heavy!


Edited by BaldFriede

Just buy "Sea Shanties" and the 2nd self-titled album by High Tide. There may be harder bands today, but High Tide were the first. And pioneers should always be respected. The wild guitar and the furious violin battling all of the time were absolutely new at that time. And no-one in his or her right mind can deny the guitar and the violin are wild and furious.

"But are they prog?" you may ask. Definitely! The structures of the musical themes are very complicated, and there are even examples of polyphony, which is very rare, even among prog rockers. Also, as heavy as they may be, High Tide are very much on the psychedelic side. If I had to brand their style I would call it "psychedelic hard-fusion", though even that doesn't do them justice; elements of blues as well as folk are also there. Their music defies being named. Just listen to them.

Just to show you how different the view on them can be: Tibor Kneif mentions "High Tide" as an example for jazz-rock in his book "Sachlexikon der Rock Musik" ("Encyclopedia of Rock Music Terms")! Now as excellent as this book is elsewhere, I think he is wide off the mark here, although one can certainly hear what gave him the idea to file them there.

Don't hesitate, get "Sea Shanties" and "High Tide" now! And also "Precious Cargo", though this one is in a completely different style; it is definitely a psychedelic album, and the heaviness is almost gone completely. But still excellent! 5 stars for "Sea Shanties", 4 for "High Tide" and "Precious Cargo".

By the way, you just have to read the comments of listeners about "Sea Shanties" at amazon to know this is a VERY heavy album.

BaldFriede wrote: Just buy "Sea Shanties" and the 2nd self-titled album by High Tide. There may be harder bands today, but High Tide were the first. And pioneers should always be respected. The wild guitar and the furious violin battling all of the time were absolutely new at that time. And no-one in his or her right mind can deny the guitar and the violin are wild and furious. "But are they prog?" you may ask. Definitely! The structures of the musical themes are very complicated, and there are even examples of polyphony, which is very rare, even among prog rockers. Also, as heavy as they may be, High Tide are very much on the psychedelic side. If I had to brand their style I would call it "psychedelic hard-fusion", though even that doesn't do them justice; elements of blues as well as folk are also there. Their music defies being named. Just listen to them. Just to show you how different the view on them can be: Tibor Kneif mentions "High Tide" as an example for jazz-rock in his book "Sachlexikon der Rock Musik" ("Encyclopedia of Rock Music Terms")! Now as excellent as this book is elsewhere, I think he is wide off the mark here, although one can certainly hear what gave him the idea to file them there. Don't hesitate, get "Sea Shanties" and "High Tide" now! And also "Precious Cargo", though this one is in a completely different style; it is definitely a psychedelic album, and the heaviness is almost gone completely. But still excellent! 5 stars for "Sea Shanties", 4 for "High Tide" and "Precious Cargo". By the way, you just have to read the comments of listeners about "Sea Shanties" at amazon to know this is a VERY heavy album.

I'll add them to my list of bands that I should check out ... I agree that it is absolutely vital to explore the origins of one's favorite band or genre.

1. Dream Theater          ;           ;           ;           ;           ;           ;           ;           ;           ;           ;           ;   

2. Symphony X

no watchtower? no fates warning? no sieges even? no secrecy? no mekong delta? no quuensryche?  no soul cages? ..................................................no psycho tic waltz???? from the list i choose DT, because they used to be great and they influenced a lot. 

   Has to be Pain of Salvation, also because DT is not my thing.

Second is Shadow Gallery, their latest album is great!!

MikeEnRegalia wrote: glass house wrote:    Has to be Pain of Salvation, also because DT is not my thing. Second is Shadow Gallery, their latest album is great!! You should write a review ... it's a shame that there are only a handful Room V reviews, compared to the Octavarium spam madness.

Believe it or not, I also go for PoS as the most important, with Shadow Gallery as second, because both bands are very distinct and in their own ways, have pushed back the somewhat narrow boundaries of Prog Metal back, to broaden the playing field... I love Room V btw (4 stars; and I'm very stingy!).