Who was the first to play metal-prog ?

I still believe that prog metal started in the mid-80s. For me, Progressive Metal is riff oriented, with occasional double bass, tapping solos etc. Sea Shanties is nice, but it lacks all qualities that I associate with Progressive Metal. The only common quality is the heavy distortion, but that's hardly a progressive quality ...

MikeEnRegalia wrote: I still believe that prog metal started in the mid-80s. For me, Progressive Metal is riff oriented, with occasional double bass, tapping solos etc. Sea Shanties is nice, but it lacks all qualities that I associate with Progressive Metal. The only common quality is the heavy distortion, but that's hardly a progressive quality ...

Certainly, IMO, prog metal as it is now known started with Metallica's "Master Of Puppets" - although I would argue for "Ride The Lightning". "RTL" has the sound and attitude (if on the aggressive side!) as well as most of the building blocks for prog metal.

However, before Metallica, Diamond Head were known as the first progressive metal band - the phrase was pretty much coined for them by the media at the time, even though most people recognise that Rush's music constitutes prog metal after a fashion. Diamond Head's is more riff-based; at the time, they were hailed as the new Led Zeppelin - but their music was very different to Zeppelin's.

Every other candidate in the metal world before "Master..." can be seen as a prototype for prog metal, however - classics such as Riot's "Narita", much Blue Oyster Cult, Budgie, Queensryche, Judas Priest, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Led Zep, Black Sabbath Spooky Tooth, etc... none really made it into the prog genre, as most concentrated more on the metal path, with Spooky Tooth an obvious exception.

Black Sabbath - who were the first heavy metal band proper, despite the metal aspects of earlier bands - even Blue Cheer - were also first with the sound and produciton that seems to underpin prog metal, IMO - indeed, almost all metal, from the moment they released "Heaven and Hell".

That single album transformed 1970s HM into 1980s HM, and I would suggest is the very first prototype for prog metal as it is now known.

Unless anyone knows of an earlier example of that sound.

Edited by Certif1ed