howdy

Hi Brandon

I think Ground and Sky is one of the better prog review sites. Keep up the good work.

This is a great forum. Maybe a little too much arguing but I guess that's in the human nature.

Thanks for the nice comments about Ground & Sky, guys.

geezer wrote: This is a great forum. Maybe a little too much arguing but I guess that's in the human nature.

Yeah, pretty much every forum I've been on has its share of arguing. The kind of arguing that seems to go on here, though, is generally the kind I stay out of because frankly I find it pretty useless. "What is prog?" or "Is this band prog?" arguments have no value whatsoever to me. I'm also not really interested in bashing people because they happen to like a band I don't like.

Trouserpress wrote: (though I also love to see a band with a sense of humour rather than the "dark" vibe which often dominates)

The first band that came to my mind is Uz Jsme Doma - have you heard any of their stuff? I also thought of Samla and Hoyry-kone, but then I saw your sig There are some folky RIO bands similar in spirit to Samla like Begnagrad, Miriodor, Etron Fou, Pocket Orchestra, etc who have the jaunty, humorous, upbeat thing going on while still offering some pretty complex and head-twisting music. I'm sure you've heard some of these groups... good stuff. (I'm still partial to the evil stuff though )

progreviews wrote: guess i basically like complex, dark, and heavy stuff in general.

Hi!

My first recommendation would be Meshuggah - Catch 33.

Hey Brandon, great to see someone who appreciates the really extreme types of music. They're looked down upon by most, but IMO much of it is intelligent and deeply spiritual.

To get the recommendations started with stuff that's as extreme as it is deceptively beautiful - are you a fan of Peter Brotzmann or Gorguts? If not, check out "Machine Gun" and "Obscura" respectively.

progreviews wrote: Manunkind wrote: To get the recommendations started with stuff that's as extreme as it is deceptively beautiful - are you a fan of Peter Brotzmann or Gorguts? If not, check out "Machine Gun" and "Obscura" respectively. Weird, I actually just mentioned Gorguts in my last post - Obscura is one of my favorite metal albums ever! Seriously amazing stuff. Too bad none of their other albums come anywhere near it (although From Wisdom to Hate is pretty good in its own right). I just recently missed a chance to see Brotzmann's Tentet here in Washington DC where I live, unfortunately, and I'm not familiar with his recorded work yet. Thanks for the recommendation, it's on my list now

 that's me, reading that someone likes extreme music around here, going haywire because of that and not bothering to read the remaining posts before answering... sorry.

dalt99 wrote: Now, I am NOT an aficionado on dark avant garde music but I do have a couple albums in the "genre". Would you place Anekdoten in there somewhere. They are more symphonic I suppose but maybe on the commercial "cusp" as it were? What are your thoughts on them?

I really like Anekdoten, but I'm a little biased because Vemod was the first CD I really got into when I started exploring the non-British prog scene. I certainly wouldn't call them avant-garde. Definitely symphonic/heavy prog the way King Crimson is. Their last couple albums especially are really probably closer to heavy, moody alternative music than proggy-prog, but I still dig them.

Vemod and Live in Japan are my favorites, easily.

Edited by progreviews