latest prog innovator?

I will say Steve Wilson also. Not only is Porcupine Tree one of my favorites of newer bands but they are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands ever.

Didn't see this earlier, figured I might chime in now.
Regarding the above post, indeed it is in fact widely acknowledged that Death, lead by the legendary Chuck Schuldiner, were the prime originators of Progressive death metal and indeed probably the first death metal (history says they weren't the first one the scene with a death metal recording, but they apparently doing death metal before Possessed, but don't take what I'm saying for gospel, I could be wrong.
Human was released in 1991, and the Spiritual Healing released the year before contained a strong progressive vibe, although not quite progressive death metal yet.
Opeth originally formed as a straight death metal band in 1990, and weren't doing prog death until '93, so Death certainly beat them to the progressive death table, but I don't deny the originality of Opeth either, as they have been one of the most important metal bands in the last 15 years.

Petrucci, his lead work is not innovative as such, I see Petrucci's innovation and originality lying in the way he changed the way many heavy metal guitarists looked at technical rhythm outside a death metal and related genre context.
That said, I still love his lead playing, especially his guitar work on Train Of Thought.

I'd vote for Steven Wilson with his various projects.

kibble_alex wrote: schizoid_man77 wrote: kibble_alex wrote: Oh i can name a few... Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Mikael Akerfeldt, Neal Morse, Roine Stolt, John Petrucci, Steven Wilson (sorry), Danny Carey (he's a drummer, but he IS most of the brains behind Tool's polyrhythms and structure)   Omar maybe, Mckael maybe. Steven is okey, but when you come down to it, Porcupine tree is just making long verse chorus verse songs, hardly innovative if you ask me. Danny Carey maybe, for bringing experimental drumming to the mainstream.   I'd say Toby Driver, and Efrim Munick.  How would you judge an innovator? Omar is definitely one, TMV stand in a genre of their own, i don't think anyone can quite mimick them TBH, Mikeal perfectly fuses death metal with prog, please explain how that isn't innovative? Omar is excellent, he can pull off a lot of cool stuff, and definately more original than the rest of your list, but (this may sound stupid) I hear a more excited Rob Fripp, with a little less technicality. Mikael Definately plays some great music, but really he's just taking Death, and turning it up a notch, really not too original, and no, just because you throw in some acoustics dosent make you the mastermind of the century. Neal and Roine both write straight down great music, OK it may have all been done before, but they are genii nonetheless. They are still innovative as they have almost re-introduced the Symphonic genre all over again.  My definition of innovator is a person who does some very original. John Petrucci is just a fantastically original guitarist and is the only real member of DT i can stand. He was also one of the main hands in truly enforcing Prog Metal as a genre. Steven Wilson is an innovative producer and a very creative songwriter, you can't really take that away from him can you? and Danny Carey? drumming innovator, hands down. His style is untouched. Try Vai, Satriani, or maybe even Eric Johnson. Stick either of those guys in DT and would it sound any more different? His band may have been groundbreaking, but not him. What you have said about Wilson is all subjective, anyone who knows how to use a soundboard can put some ping pong delay on a keyboard to make it sound cool. I agree though his sonngwriting is definately a lot more interesting than ninety-nine percent of prog bands, even if his voice and lyrics are a bit mainstreamy. Still I dont hear anything crazy groundbraking.

Petrucci was innovative in the 90's. Def not this decade though.

Same with Opeth. They've gotten better in this decade, but their most innovative music was in the 90's.

Again, same with Steven Wilson. 90s

now on to this decade

Omar of TMV is one.

SGM are another band who've been real innovative.

Robert Fripp is STILL doing it!!!

and Steve Jenkins

that's all i got for now...

Rocktopus wrote: Yes, that's probably the reason Pnoom!. But its like disqualifying Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Sun Ra in a discussion about 60's jazzinnovators because they've recorded albums in the 50's too (or Omar here, because of At the Drive In). Anyway, I'm tempted to suggest Toby Driver myself, altough I haven't known his music for that long.

the difference is those guys were not only innovators, but visionaries as well, something that seems to be lacking in the music world these days. Omar, Fripp and John Scofield seem to be the only ones i can think of that are modern visionaries. Most rock guys (of any sub-genre) hit a peak at some point and then never reach that point again (with exceptions). Same with jazz guys, blues, or anything else.

Damon Che

I hear zero hair metal on Images and Words
well maybe Another Day
but tell me how in the hell Metropolis sounds like hair metal

My prog innovators are: Mikael, Steve Wilson, and Petrucci. I'm really sorry if this upsets anyone, but they're my main 3 guys.

Edited by MisterProg2112 - July 03 2008 at 22:42