"Proggy" songs by non-prog bands

Blind Guardian is listed on this site under prog metal.

 

 

 

I always thought that about the Queen song Bohemium Rhapsody, but that song is mentioned in "prog related" on here.

 

Ive noticed that also in "prog related" is the two Metallica albums "Master of Puppets" and "And Justice for all".  And i started thinking to myself "why have those 2 albums been placed into that camp?".    I mean i was a big fan of old Metallica and i still own their first 4 albums.

 

The reason why is obviously because, on those 2 albums of theirs, theres a trait that exists on those 2 albums but not on the other albums.   And that trait is..............long songs that last over 8 mins.  There are 2-3 songs on each of those albums that last for over 8 mins.   This is the only "progressive rock" trait tho that exists on those Metallica albums.....lenghty songs.    You rarely get a progressive rock song lasting less than 5 mins, but "lenght" is not the be all end all of a prog rock song.

 

Prog Rock songs are longer than non prog rock songs, but.......they are structured differently aswell.   On those long metallica songs, they still have the same structure as typical metal songs.  But instead of being verse chorus verse chorus verse chorus....end of song, its just verse chorus verse chorus verse chorus verse chorus verse chorus verse chorus....end of song instead lol.    You could easily concise those songs down and nothing would be ruined from them (strictly speaking).    But you definently could not shorten and concise for example.....the Pink Floyd song Time.  If you did that you'd butcher it, you'd destroy the very thing the songs meant to be about.

 

Theres only 2 exceptions though in regards to the 8 min plus songs of Metallica's.  Orion from the puppets album, as its a lenghty instrumental that takes you on a journey,  and the song To Live is To Die from the justice for all album.   That song is not your typical verse chorus verse chorus verse chorus song, it takes you on a fair bit of a journey aswell and is not typical metal song song structured.   Also when To Live is to Die ends.....it immediatly kicks into the next song, Dyers Eve.  Those 2 songs tie in together with eachother.   I have seen this done on a fair amount of progressive rock songs.   To Live is to Die and Dyers Eve could actually be merged together to form 1 huge song.