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Petrovsk Mizinski 
Prog Reviewer
Joined: December 24 2007
Location: Ukraine
Status: Offline
Points: 25210
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 Posted: June 11 2008 at 13:02 |
 Majestic_Mayhem wrote:
HughesJB4 wrote:
Ah cool. In recent weeks I've also checked out Behold... The Arctopus and I quite like them as well. |
Harry, Ive got 3 bands for you:
Coprofago
Theory in Practice
Canvas Solaris (instrumental)
Now go and check them out.
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A little bit of a late response, but I've been listening to Canvas Solaris. They get the thumbs up from me. They are technical, but they avoid the excessive flashiness syndrome 
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Dim
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 17 2007
Location: Austin TX
Status: Offline
Points: 6890
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Posted: June 12 2008 at 13:42 |
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Any of you guys check out Negura Bunget? They're an experimental black metal band from Transylvania Romania. They're extremely creepy, and their album OM is practically a masterpiece!
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Moatilliatta
Prog Reviewer
Joined: December 01 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 3083
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Posted: June 12 2008 at 14:08 |
MisterProg2112 wrote:
I just recently saw BTBAM and Opeth on ProgNation08, and I find it so suprising how a band like BTBAM can be so tech and sound so great live (although Tommy's growls I find to be a bit better on the album). Paul's "Selkies" solo was dead on, not one mistake. As a matter of fact I didn't find a single flaw in any of the music. Opeth was amazing as well.
Anyone else see BTBAM recently? Has anyone seen the perform "Colors" in its entirety? |
I saw them on the tour as well. Wish the set could have been longer, and wish the sound guy did them justice, but they were as you said. There is a Colors DVD coming out in October; should be cool.
And I'm jumping into this thread late, but Colors is hands down the best album in the genre. I haven't been so blown away by a band like that ever! Not even Opeth (came close though)
I have a tough time with half of this genre. It can be so unbelievably good (BTBAM, Opeth, Meshuggah, Protest the Hero, Dillinger Escape Plan, to name a few) and it can be so unbelievably obnoxious and/or run-of-the-mill (PsyOpus, Red Chord, Ion Dissonance, etc.). I usually go for the bands who experiment a lot and have a variety of sounds/styles/vocals, with good atmosphere, and don't steer clear of emotion (Meshuggah is an exception to some of that).
Looking at the recent name drops, I saw Daath and Twisted into Form. Daath is utterly boring to me. They don't seem exceptionally skilled or inventive with their writing. I don't get anything out of their songs, and I don't find them memorable. Twisted into Form could be a great band, but I think they need to focus on their production a bit more. Their album has no atmosphere. Also, the music feels too mechanical. I'd like to see them stretch out a bit more sonically and structurally.
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www.last.fm/user/ThisCenotaph
 
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The Pessimist
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 13 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 3834
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Posted: June 12 2008 at 15:48 |
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OPETH!!!!!!!
They absolutely rock, my favourite band at the moment, and totally prog as well.
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"Market value is irrelevant to intrinsic value."
Arnold Schoenberg
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BaldFriede
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 02 2005
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 10261
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Posted: June 12 2008 at 21:03 |
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Well, I have to say that these bands fall into the same pit that some jazz-rock artists fell into before (Al DiMeola, for example).
First of all, the mere name "Tech Metal" is already misleading; technique is being confused with speed here. There are lots of other instrumental techniques than mere speed, many of which can NOT be used at high speed, or at least even if they can be used they lose their effect. This seems to be something which many people forget. Listen to an acoustic guitar piece by Steve Hackett; it much more deserves to be named "technical", even if it is a lot slower. Paganini could certainly play breathtakingly fast, but he got the most "awws" when he played slowly and used some other extraordinary techniques then. Read up on him if you don't believe me.
The "complex" time signatures are nothing to go "aww" about either, it is all a matter of counting, and compared to Indian rhythms these are still simple ones. But the biggest issue I have with this kind of music is that it seems to be deliberately designed for the "aww" effect and nothing more. As Certif1ed already pointed out, there is no real development; there are just bits and bits put together, like patchwork. The result is a quilt. But it is nothing that impresses me in the least. I can play breathtakingly fast too and will on occasion, but it certainly becomes a bit boring when it continues on and on. I might as well cut out pieces of several fast prog songs and patch them together by sampling to get the same result; it would not be more incoherent in the least.
That's my five cents about the genre. Music lives from contrasts.
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 BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue.
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explodingjosh
Forum Senior Member
Joined: February 10 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 507
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Posted: June 12 2008 at 21:04 |
I got Special Defects in the mail today!  I finally get to hear it in non pirated-mp3 quality!
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Demonoid
Forum Groupie
Joined: May 10 2008
Status: Offline
Points: 50
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Posted: June 13 2008 at 03:43 |
Should check out zero hour's dark deceiver. Excellent technical progressive metal Something like spiral architect. Intense vocals too.(not harsh/extreme vocals) Also, i second all the watchtower/Blotted Science/Spastic Ink suggestions in this thread!
Edited by Demonoid - June 13 2008 at 03:46
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Norbert
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 20 2005
Location: Hungary
Status: Offline
Points: 2506
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Posted: June 13 2008 at 09:58 |
It 's a bit funny that Canvas Solaris, Meshuggah, Mastodon, Ved Buens Ende and Enslaved sit in the same subgenre, (I favor CS, and last 2 from these 5)but at least no reasonable person can say that all bands listed here sound exactly the same.
There are plenty of treasures here, for instance I certainly would like to hear Negura Bunget, Wolves in the Thone Room, Twisted Into Form and some more.
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MikeEnRegalia
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 22 2005
Location: Sweden
Status: Offline
Points: 21149
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Posted: June 13 2008 at 10:17 |
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^ it's not a sub genre ... it's more like a collection of styles which share some attributes.
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TheProgtologist
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
Joined: May 23 2005
Location: Baltimore,Md US
Status: Offline
Points: 27802
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Posted: June 13 2008 at 14:29 |
I recently added a excellent band to Tech/Extreme called Persefone.
Check them out on Myspace,fans of Opeth should really dig them.I also highly recommend their newest album "Core".
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TheProgtologist
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
Joined: May 23 2005
Location: Baltimore,Md US
Status: Offline
Points: 27802
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Posted: June 13 2008 at 14:31 |
Demonoid wrote:
Should check out zero hour's dark deceiver.
Excellent technical progressive metal
Something like spiral architect.
Intense vocals too.(not harsh/extreme vocals)
Also, i second all the watchtower/Blotted Science/Spastic Ink suggestions in this thread!
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I LOVE Zero Hour's new album,easily their best in years.Troy Tipton's bass work is absolutely stunning on Dark Deceiver.
BTW....have you ever heard the Zero Hour side-project called Death Machine?
Edited by TheProgtologist - June 13 2008 at 14:35
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Petrovsk Mizinski
Prog Reviewer
Joined: December 24 2007
Location: Ukraine
Status: Offline
Points: 25210
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Posted: June 18 2008 at 08:41 |
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^I really love Troy Tipton's playing and his brother is pretty awesome as well (better than some people realise)
There is a Youtube video of him doing sweep picked arpeggios with his thumb at insane speeds, very incredible stuff.
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tokenrove
Forum Newbie
Joined: January 10 2008
Location: Montreal
Status: Offline
Points: 34
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Posted: June 18 2008 at 09:44 |
TheProgtologist wrote:
I LOVE Zero Hour's new album,easily their best in years.Troy Tipton's bass work is absolutely stunning on Dark Deceiver.
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That's good to hear... I've been let down by everything after Towers.
TheProgtologist wrote:
BTW....have you ever heard the Zero Hour side-project called Death Machine?
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Just IMHO of course, but Death Machine is one of the worst bands, and biggest letdowns, I've ever heard. I picked up the album when it came out, being a fan of Zero Hour at the time... it struck me as an attempt to cash in on nu-metal. There are some technical moments, but it's definitely not progressive. Just a warning for anyone going in expecting something like Towers of Avarice but heavier.
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MikeEnRegalia
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 22 2005
Location: Sweden
Status: Offline
Points: 21149
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Posted: June 18 2008 at 10:02 |
BaldFriede wrote:
Well, I have to say that these bands fall into the same pit that some jazz-rock artists fell into before (Al DiMeola, for example).
First of all, the mere name "Tech Metal" is already misleading; technique is being confused with speed here. There are lots of other instrumental techniques than mere speed, many of which can NOT be used at high speed, or at least even if they can be used they lose their effect. This seems to be something which many people forget. Listen to an acoustic guitar piece by Steve Hackett; it much more deserves to be named "technical", even if it is a lot slower. Paganini could certainly play breathtakingly fast, but he got the most "awws" when he played slowly and used some other extraordinary techniques then. Read up on him if you don't believe me.
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As a rule of thumb, the difficulty of any piece of music increases with speed. Therefore if you try to group pieces by technical difficulty, this group is bound to contain more fast pieces than slow ones. However, of course it is true that slow parts can also be difficult to play. Having said that, most of the bands in Tech Metal don't play fast all the time ...
BaldFriede wrote:
The "complex" time signatures are nothing to go "aww" about either, it is all a matter of counting, and compared to Indian rhythms these are still simple ones. But the biggest issue I have with this kind of music is that it seems to be deliberately designed for the "aww" effect and nothing more. As Certif1ed already pointed out, there is no real development; there are just bits and bits put together, like patchwork.
The result is a quilt. But it is nothing that impresses me in the least. I can play breathtakingly fast too and will on occasion, but it certainly becomes a bit boring when it continues on and on. I might as well cut out pieces of several fast prog songs and patch them together by sampling to get the same result; it would not be more incoherent in the least.
That's my five cents about the genre. Music lives from contrasts.
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You're free to ignore all that's good in metal ... fortunately even many "hard to please" critics like Certif1ed acknowledge that some of the bands listed here have true potential, and some albums are even interesting for prog fans. BTW: It's true that prog metal tends to be a bit more "flashy" than prog rock ... but there are many exceptions, and even when some players are flashy it doesn't necessarily mean that they're arrogant, or that there's not much more to their music than their technical ability.
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Hugo Dionisio
Forum Newbie
Joined: August 04 2005
Location: Portugal
Status: Offline
Points: 2
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Posted: June 18 2008 at 10:03 |
I don't understand what' your problem in considering this kind of music like a variant of prog-rock.
Shall I remember that metal came from rock?
Shall I remember that progressive rock is progressive? not conservative. So I don't understand the conservative opinions of some self-intitled prog lovers.
If i take in consideration the discussion about the last opeth's album, I think that is no discussion about the progressive character of rthe band. Some of the reviewers say that Opeth is not a prog-rock band because they are a Death Metal Band. Is this true? Of course not. Opeth are a progressive band with some death metal flavour, and only in some tracks. Maybe they came from death metal, its true, but is this a obstacule to be a prog band?
The last Opeth album is a prog album of course, because of its progressive ideas. Its progressive inside Death Metal, because they show no bondaries inside theyr concept of death metal and its a prog rock album because they show no bondaries inside theyr concept of rock. So they mix all those flavours in a progressive way and with a lots of respect for the instrunmental parts and the quality of theyr music. They make the music they like, without boundaries or borders, without being preocupied for what people can think about what they do and trying to be innovative. Is this a progressive way of doing music? I think so.
Some people say that Opeth sounds like Slayer, what I can say is that they don't know Slayer. And Slayer is not a prog band, do you Know why, because they are traditional and conservative in theyr way of doing music (and I love Slayer), like Iron Maiden, Ozzy or Dio.
And like every stile, there is always a band that influenced all the others, or Genesis or King Krimson are not inluenced porcupine tree or riverside?
Are Marillion different of genesis except in the the quality? Are they prog bands. Yes They are.
If you want to fix a traditional way of doing prog rock and ban new kinds of music like extreme prog metal from theb concept, you are killing prog, because you are stopping its evolution, and prog evolution cannot be a directed one, there are no boundaries for a progressive ideal.
Let us be open for new kinds of prog.
Hugo Dionisio
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give some prog to you life
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Petrovsk Mizinski
Prog Reviewer
Joined: December 24 2007
Location: Ukraine
Status: Offline
Points: 25210
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Posted: June 18 2008 at 10:25 |
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From memory, this is indeed an appreciation thread.
I've went back over the thread, and people have shown nothing but love for the genre and the bands in the genre they like, until this page.
The whole point of an appreciation thread is just that. APPRECIATION.
I might not like some of the bands in the genre and if that's the case, I wont bash them, I'll just move on and let anyone else listen to them, because they are more than entitled do so without having to put up with anyone needlessly bashing them and/or the band.
Some people might not like the genre either, which is more than fair enough, because there was a time when I didn't like it much either, but I've come to love it now. But again, an appreciation thread is to show the for Tech/Extreme Prog Metal.
If people want to voice other opinions on it, it's easy just to make a thread about it.
I'm talking about this in general, it seems to happen in various appreciation threads and frankly, if I have nothing nice to say about a band/genre, I'm not going to voice that opinion in an appreciation because I don't believe it's fair on the others that love it and it can start needless immature flame wars.
I love Tech/Extreme Prog as a genre, for all it's virtuosity, for all it's extreme vocal styles and for the many bands taking metal to new heights and in thread.
There are guys like MikeEnRegalia, Jody, and The T who throw their hearts into the genre and for that, I will show this thread all the respect and love it deserves.
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JayDee
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: September 07 2005
Location: Elysian Fields
Status: Offline
Points: 10063
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Posted: June 18 2008 at 10:38 |
I love you Harry, same goes for Tech/Extreme Metal. Now having said that, go listen to Coprofago you n00b. 
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Petrovsk Mizinski
Prog Reviewer
Joined: December 24 2007
Location: Ukraine
Status: Offline
Points: 25210
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Posted: June 18 2008 at 11:22 |
I will man. I gotta get me some Voivod soon too. I find it odd I like thrash so much, but I don't even own any Voivod albums yet. RIP Piggy  It's been several years now since he left us, but I still can't get over it, he was only 45.
Edited by HughesJB4 - June 18 2008 at 11:24
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Drakk
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 09 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 340
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Posted: June 19 2008 at 16:58 |
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[QUOTE=darkshade] [QUOTE=Sckxyss]
I'm disappointed - neither of these players are avant-garde!
Al di Meola.
[/QUOTE]
haha i know. but the poll itself is avant-garde
[/QUOTE]
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TheProgtologist
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
Joined: May 23 2005
Location: Baltimore,Md US
Status: Offline
Points: 27802
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Posted: June 29 2008 at 00:24 |
I want to recommend a band I added to the archives in this paricular sub,a band called In Mourning.
HIGHLY recommended,especially if you dig Opeth.
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The Tech/Extreme Prog metal appreciation
