Megadeth - Prog Related

lucas wrote: Megadeth is a thrash metal band.

I am a big Megadeth fan, but nothing they did approaches the degree of progginess of the song "And Justice for All." And frankly I don't think Metallica should be here either.

I'd like to see Megadeth here. Since Mustaine started off in Metallica, some of his original work was used by them in 'Kill 'Em All'. Megadeth have tempo changes, at least one instance of odd time, lengthy songs, and harmonically intricate riffs (not just to a technical extent). I believe them to have a place in the prog related section, as they aided the progression of metal.

Well, ok, it would be no great loss if Megadeth weren't here, and perhaps the principal of not adding bands just because of the attributes already outlined, would be upheld better and save other artists who don't belong here from becoming an unnecessary part of PA. It depends really on what actually makes a band qualify for this site, and if development isn't solely what this is about, then fair enough.

^ with all due respect, I think it's a rather big step from Megadeth to Slayer. Megadeth are technical and innovative, Slayer are almost one-dimensional by comparison. Don't get me wrong, I love albums like Reign in Blood or Seasons in the Abyss. Testament is a slightly different story - they were definitely much more experimental on The Ritual than Slayer ever were, but I still would not call them Prog-Related. The same goes for Anthrax.

BTW: I think we should try to avoid confusing technicality/complexity with simply "difficult to play". Most Thrash is difficult to play compared to "normal" metal, that goes without saying.

Meh, the odd time signature= element of prog is bullsh*t and superficial IMO. Why this website still uses something as meaningless and exceptionally superficial as a judge of prog rock is honestly well beyond me.
When I think of odd time signatures, I can just as easily think of Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Minus the Bear and Joe Satriani all of which have not much to do with prog rock but have plenty of examples of odd time in their music, as well as a sh*t load of jazz and classical that has barely anything to do with rock music at all, let alone prog.
I bet if you rounded up every single song on the database and went through them, a very large amount wouldn't have odd time sigs in them at all.
I'm quite pretty much all of Agalloch's discography is based around 4/4 and 6/8, so I guess Jerry Cantrell's debut solo record "Boggy Depot" is by comparison true prog rock because the first very track of the album features a very prominent 7/4 time signature riff right? *rolls eyes*.
I don't think it can even "sometimes help" make it more progressive at all.
So much of the post rock and post metal stuff is based around 4/4 and 6/8.
It's all about the composition and always has been and always will be. Whether or not odd time is involved, it's just kinda there and doesn't add anything to the progressiveness of music.
If the composition isn't there, odd time doesn't do squat to increase a compositions prog rock cred, period.

^^
Precisely. Of course an odd time signature does not instantly allow music to be considered progressive, but many fields of prog have always been complex, and irregular time signatures indisputably add to that level of complexity, even if not in terms of progressiveness.

And yes, bands on the 'fringes' are always going to be a source of disagreement, inevitably. But the question is, should these sort of artists be on the website, or is their progressive direction too vague to be included?

Mr ProgFreak wrote: ^ with all due respect, I think it's a rather big step from Megadeth to Slayer. Megadeth are technical and innovative, Slayer are almost one-dimensional by comparison. Don't get me wrong, I love albums like Reign in Blood or Seasons in the Abyss. Testament is a slightly different story - they were definitely much more experimental on The Ritual than Slayer ever were, but I still would not call them Prog-Related. The same goes for Anthrax. BTW: I think we should try to avoid confusing technicality/complexity with simply "difficult to play". Most Thrash is difficult to play compared to "normal" metal, that goes without saying.

^White Lion belongs there...

Might we see the Ratt sig again Micky?