Competition for Dream Theater?

Who do you feel are on a close, or on the same level as Dream Theater, as far as musical technicallity is concerned? (only Progressive metal bands please)

Edited by WaywardSon - September 10 2006 at 19:22

Hmmm, I just thought I would unleash a wolf amongst the chickens!

You have a good point there ,Sheehan and Vai are brilliant!

Edited by WaywardSon - September 10 2006 at 18:41

OK Mike, but lets get back to Progressive metal bands..

Edited by WaywardSon - September 10 2006 at 19:24

PLanet X and Symphony X are far better than DT.

AtLossForWords wrote: There is no band that can compete with Dream Theater when we're talking about the shear musical ability of a band.  Pain of Salvation can make a comparable album, but when it comes to just making songs, Dream Theater is in a class all by themselves. If I had to choose any bands that challenge Dream Theater.  Andromeda, Zero Hour, and Pagan's Mind are possibilities, but they just aren't on the same level as Dream Theater.

OpethGuitarist wrote: AtLossForWords wrote: There is no band that can compete with Dream Theater when we're talking about the shear musical ability of a band.  Pain of Salvation can make a comparable album, but when it comes to just making songs, Dream Theater is in a class all by themselves. If I had to choose any bands that challenge Dream Theater.  Andromeda, Zero Hour, and Pagan's Mind are possibilities, but they just aren't on the same level as Dream Theater. you really havent explored too deep have you Vincent Watchtower/Spastic Ink, Spiral Architect both these bands do more "complex" things than Dream Theater

But they're emotionless, dull and boring - at least to me.

Dragonforce

AtLossForWords wrote: OpethGuitarist wrote: AtLossForWords wrote: There is no band that can compete with Dream Theater when we're talking about the shear musical ability of a band.  Pain of Salvation can make a comparable album, but when it comes to just making songs, Dream Theater is in a class all by themselves. If I had to choose any bands that challenge Dream Theater.  Andromeda, Zero Hour, and Pagan's Mind are possibilities, but they just aren't on the same level as Dream Theater. you really havent explored too deep have you Vincent Watchtower/Spastic Ink, Spiral Architect both these bands do more "complex" things than Dream Theater Watchertower and Spiral Architect may be more complex, but there is the whole entertainment factor too.  I just feel like the "chemistry" that Dream Theater has fails to find it's way into other bands.  It's just the way Dream Theater harmonizes and grooves.  There's this huge chord sound, but there's movement with it that other bands just don't have.  It's the interplay between instruments in Dream Theater that makes them such an interesting band.

that may all be, but I thought the original post was aimed at overal technicality, not on their ability to write or not write a good groove. I'll be the first to say that at least in Spiral Architect's case, they are very poor songwriters, but the topic wasn't about that.

In terms of overall feel, yes, PoS is probably the closest to DT, but the topic wasn't about that, at least not to my knowledge.

Honestly? No one.

Pain of Salvation i would say are classier than Dream Theater. Not only are they underrated when it comes to technical ability, but their song writing FAR surpasses DT. Gildenlow has an uncanny ability to create songs that please both aesthetically and emotionally. His arranging is fantastic, and the textures he uses... well you get my point. Dream Theater may have PoS beat in the ability department, but PoS still have some seriously nice chops, and i'm sure they could be a lot flashier if they wanted to be.

If we're talking musical technicality, there are quite a few bands that can stand right next to DT, and above.
I know it's not prog metal, but Necrophagist are a band made up of freaks. They're all insanely good at their instruments.
Cynic, again, are freaks. Reinert has Portnoy beat if you ask me, and Malone may very well have Myung beat, although that's harder to tell. Petrucci is a monster, but the Cynic guitarists are amazingly good as well. I might give this one to Petrucci. Vocals, well that's kinda void, and there is no keyboardist really. There are keys, but they're not a feature.
And as others have mentioned - Symphony X, Spiral Architect, Meshuggah, Planet X, Spastic Ink, Watchtower.