Prog Metal: Organizing the categories

 

Here's how I see it...

1. HEAVY PROG METAL
2. SYMPHONIC PROG METAL
3. EXPERIMENTAL PROG METAL
4. EXTREME PROG METAL

I think these four major categories are very good, you definitely got everything covered in the "prog metal" subgenres. 

Where I see a problem is in defining under what major category a prog metal band falls into.  I mean even OPETH have put out a straight forward acoustic prog rock album.  I would favor categorizing a band in a general sense but then having the ability to categorize their albums as well UNDER WHATEVER subgenre it falls under would be a most valuable tool as well.

Further, in order to facilitate categorization of the music, I would suggest the following "groupings":

Under HEAVY PROG METAL, I would include HEAVY/POWER/GOTHIC/DOOM.

Under SYMPHONIC PROG METAL, I would include NEO/SYMPHONIC/ORCHESTRAL.

Under EXPERIMENTAL PROG METAL, I would include AVANT GARDE/JAZZ-FUSION/EXPERIMENTAL.

Under EXTREME PROG METAL, I would include DEATH/EXTREME.

Just my .2 cents!  :)

Heavy PRogressive Metal just does not work since it is simply just too darn bland. Power and Doom DOES NOT mix together well. Just compare Anathema with Symphony X... Its just impossible to include that in the same subgenre.

King of Loss wrote: Heavy PRogressive Metal just does not work since it is simply just too darn bland. Power and Doom DOES NOT mix together well. Just compare Anathema with Symphony X... Its just impossible to include that in the same subgenre.

Correct me if I'm wrong but Anathema is currently in Experimental and Symphony X is in Heavy...

Although I would move Anathema to Heavy... I think it's ok, Anathema certainly has more doom elements than experimental I think.

People, the Anathema discussion is over, it's Avant Garde Metal (and yes that genre also features doom metal as influences!) and therefore they are in the avantgarde/experimental section. And if you take a good look you can easily see I'm right. Most of the bands in the heavy section have albums that sound a lot like each other, whereas Anathema have progressed during the years and have EXPERIMENTED with a lot of things.

"Why should it not be considered heavy prog metal?"
Because heavy was a derivitation from power prog, I came up with the name for this subgenre because of the fact that it is mostly speed (doublebass) drumming with fast guitarriffs. Well, Anathema might surely be heavy, but in a more laidback and subtile way and that's what makes it experimental (also if you read the description, you could see that the categorisation is that a lot of bands linger in the space rock corner and you can surely tell which specific huge space rock band was a big influence for them)

king16 wrote: People, the Anathema discussion is over, it's Avant Garde Metal (and yes that genre also features doom metal as influences!) and therefore they are in the avantgarde/experimental section. And if you take a good look you can easily see I'm right. Most of the bands in the heavy section have albums that sound a lot like each other, whereas Anathema have progressed during the years and have EXPERIMENTED with a lot of things. "Why should it not be considered heavy prog metal?" Because heavy was a derivitation from power prog, I came up with the name for this subgenre because of the fact that it is mostly speed (doublebass) drumming with fast guitarriffs. Well, Anathema might surely be heavy, but in a more laidback and subtile way and that's what makes it experimental (also if you read the description, you could see that the categorisation is that a lot of bands linger in the space rock corner and you can surely tell which specific huge space rock band was a big influence for them)

Ok ,you are right  they started as a  Doom/Death band  but have since progressed into experimental.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathema_(band)

Edited by Kohllapse

Anathema experimental or doom?! The two 1st albums were only doom influenced.. The next albums are more prog rock then prog metal...  You can't judge a band by 2 albums! They've progressed onto art rock, me thinks!

MikeEnRegalia wrote: I see you guys were pretty active while I was away ... I made some major updates to the page, check it out. http://uneasy-listening.com/elements/apps/mreviews/https/Pro gMetal.html You should all bookmark the page and check it for changes before you post here.

  I bookmarked it yesterday

 

Edited by Kohllapse

"Bands in ITALICS are not yet in the archives"

Why has it been so long since a new band has been added to the archives?

I know Peccatum is not in red in the bandlist, but I'd like challenge the present classification anyway. Now that I've grown more comfortable with the experimental category (thanks to king16 for his comments), I'd like to move Peccatum there for the following reasons:
1) Read the band page at progarchives: "PECCATUM is an avant garde metal band from Norway.... Their style is generally known as "avant garde metal"; an experimental type of music generated mostly by old black metal musicians. ..... with various influences from classical, fusion, black metal, doom metal, and generally soft music ..... PECCATUM carries the vocal styles similar to EPHEL DUATH.."2) The extreme parts are very few on Moribund people, the latest release.
3)I think it has more similarities with experimental bands than extreme.

It's just a suggestion, I'm not a big fan or expert on Peccatum. What do you others think?


Edited by Progzilla

One problem that I do see about the current categories is that both red columns contain experimental bands. The idea was to have one category for really brutal and agressive bands - they are considered to be offensive by many people who otherwise don't mind overly technical or highly experimental bands.

That is why even extremely technical bands are not in the Extreme genre ... maybe we need another name for the Extreme genre. "Agressive Prog Metal" or "Brutal Prog Metal" are not suitable though, although they perfectly represent what I have in mind.

Any suggestions?