Has any Prog Rock ever scared the crap out of you

Yeah I think that whole album is as disturbing as it gets. its the darkest most foreboding sense of dread put to music. I can never forget that song, Clara, Jesse or Cue.

But I wish I could

Not about myself, but when I played YesSongs as a kid, my father and grandma always felt uncomfortable with the section of Wakeman's solo which emulates the sound of an ambulance siren, they thought it was disgusting and always asked me to skip it or turn the volume down.

 

Becuase I was already aware of this in literature, with its many different writers the world over and how more modern writers were bending genres, this kind of stuff was easy for me. Next I looked for the same thing in film, and by the time you make sense of a Godard, or Truffaut or Fellini, you come to understand the nature of most stuff that is "scary" ... which in many/most cases is the "surprise" at seeing something that unsettles you ... or reading it ... or hearing it ... but guess what the experimental groups in theater were already doing with lights? ... and have you ever checked out those amazing sets of the Beiruth Opera house for some Wagner works and other plays? ...

 

Now, seeing a version of this in music, was what I was looking for, that led me to all these groups that we discuss and further, and why, I am not in awe of some of these bands, whose work is ... so so so ... soso! ... boring! Specially when you are relying for Ozzie to tell you that is scary -- and that is the standard and idea that most people have, if not the one about using a stupid number or other!

 

One of my favorite books, is called "The Art of Dreaming" ... and that is a book, that most folks here will NEVER touch, look, or even try to read 10 pages. Basically, that is the best and most serene and complete vision of "dreaming" that I have ever seen since Lilly or Monroe some 60 years ago! ... but in there, there is a real well described thing ... the "knowable" and the "unknowable" ... and the essence is ... we are taught to hate and dislike and specially, MISTRUST the unknowable ... and if there is one thing that we miss in this equation, is ... if it is "unknowable", no one would know it ... thus, someone showing it to you, or telling you about it? ... superfluous and silly! Otherwise known as "hot air".

 

This is the main reason why a lot of the music listed here, in posts about "dark" something or other, are so bizarre ... you might as well start your search for the light, so you have a chance to find the dark ... but that dark would not be stupid enough to be so visible .... and sold to you for a dollar! In other words, even the notion of "darK" and "evil" is not clear ... and consequently, so little of this music is a valid concern ... but it's fun to see kids beating off on their little instruments, sometimes, isn't it? ... you take the picture so you can remember it, when you are 75 and the kid was 10!

btw, there was a Swiss band in 70thies (don't remember the name), which is scary.

It souds similarly to VdGG instrumentation ( organ, woodwinds, no guitar) , but with more scaring vocal and more avant  influences

 

kind of reminds me of Diamanda Galmas experimentations.

 

No, the most scary prog-related album ever composed is Elend's 'a world in their screams' :