50 albums that built progressive metal

CPicard wrote: @siLLYpuPPY: an interesting list, even if I'm somewhat puzzled by the chronological void between 1976 and 1980.  Anyway, the introduction of Mahavishnu Orchestra, while being unexpected, is also seductive: after all, bands like Cynic, Pestilence or Atheist were seen as adding jazz-rock influences in their death-metal.

^ I considered more Black Sabbath such as 4 or Sabbath Bloody Sabbath but i don't feel that they added anything new that wasn't already present on the debut album. Never Say Die and Technical Ecstasy are clearly not contenders. They hardly established any musical breakthrough that upped the level of progressiveness in harder rock and first generation metal. BOC likewise had some progressively tinged early albums but once again they didn't do it first. They were simply copying Sabbath, Uriah Heep and Lucifer's Friend in many ways. Personally i don't find a lot of progressiveness in their albums although i really love the first three and like many others

Windhawk wrote: My companion Vitaly, who runs veteran prog website www.progressor.net, published a list of 50 albums that built progressive metal this week. I kind of guess that a few people in here will question some of his choices.   ...

It might just be me but if anyone asked me what earlier band most closely resembles Dream Theater I would have to say Deep Purple. From the beginning of DT I saw similarities in the energy, in the music and in the styles of both bands. Blackmore/Petrucci, Paice/Portnoy, Gillan/La Brie, Lord/various DT keyboard exponents, Glover/Myung. Certainly DT are harder edged and the sound is more modern but the DP comparisons are just clear to me. My love for DT I guess was spurred by my love of Deep Purple and all of the Purple offshoot bands (Rainbow, Ian Gillan Band etc).
I would have to thus place Deep Purple, Rainbow into the equation when considering the Progressive Metal birth, influence cycle.
Thus for me a major part of the influence relating to Prog Metal would be Deep Purple along with Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Budgie perhaps to an extent?, Judas Priest, Metallica etc.
For me Prog Metal was not metal born but a merging of Prog Rock with Metal. I guess I could make a case that DT aren't a metal band but a hard edged prog rock band that uses metal to a large degree in their sound. 

^ I love that Cromagnon album. It's truly unlike anything ever. That's a cool track although i don't see any connection to progressive metal i do see an argument for the folk inspired black metal that would emerge in the 90s. Just had some buzz saw guitar, thundering bass and drums and a sick album cover and voila! Darkthrone with a bagpipe!

You what it reminds me of a bit? AC/DC who made who in melody but bon Scott was also one of the few in hard rock that added bagpipes

How about this?

1. Pictures at an Exhibition
2. The Planets
3. Le Sacre du Printemps
4. Anything from Raymond Scott Quintet
5. The White Album
6. Are you Experienced?
7. Disraeli Gears
8. Shades of Deep Purple
9. Bird of Fire
10. Paranoid
11. Aqualung
12. Nursery Crime
13. Machine Head
14. Sabbath, Bloody, Sabbath
15. Leftoverture
16. Red
17. Fly by Night
18. Ritchie Blackmores Rainbow
19. Sin After Sin (Judas Priest)
20. A Night at the Opera
21. A Farewell to Kings
22. Piece of Mind
23. Morbid Tales (Celtic Frost)
24. At War with Santa (Venom)
25. Ride the Lightning
26. Human (Death)
27. Dimension Hatross (Voivod)
28. Control and Resistance (Watchtower)
29. When Dream and Day Unite
30. Focus (Cynic)
31. Unquestionable Presence (Atheist)
32. Destroy, Erase, Improve
33. Written in Waters (Ved Buens Ende)
34. Still Life
35. Gordian Knot
36. Exivious
37. In a Flesh Aquarium (Unexpect)
38. Star Stücke (Panzerballett)

Edit: After seeing silly puppies list from the previous page I must mention Blizzard of Oz as an egregious omission on my part.

Edited by Tapfret - November 17 2016 at 14:21

1		THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE - Are You Experienced? (May 12, 1967) Perhaps this is a stretch. Why don’t i just give credence to the very first photon to fractalize into the known universe and all, but THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE was really the beginning of it all where this ambitious dude gave permission to the greater rock / metal universe to expand beyond what came before thus upping the ante in terms of both heaviness and progressiveness. True that HENDRIX was very much rooted in the blues rock that came just prior to his experimental fusionism that incorporated jazz elements and experimental hyperactive leanings, but in my world, “Are You Experienced?” is really the big bang for all things progressive and metal simultaneously. True that The Beatles and other bands were ramping up the progressiveness in rock music but only HENDRIX upped the heaviness and changed the very syntax of music that allowed the right ingredients to develop into the metal world that would develop in only a few short years.
2		IRON BUTTERFLY - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (June 14, 1968) This San Diego based band may have still been firmly rooted in late 60s psychedelic pop rock on the short but sweet tracks of side one of their second 1968 album “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” but was instrumental in not only developing the harder aspects of rock that would transmogrify into heavy metal but also created a synergy with proto-prgressive rock on the 17 minute and 5 second title track behemoth that swallowed up side two which was something unheard of in the primordial proto-prog rock ooze of 1968. While following in the footsteps of the more noise oriented artists of the day such as Blue Cheer, IRON BUTTERFLY upped the ante by creating a noisier and more progressive blueprint for many acts to not only copy but infinitely exceed upon. This was ironically Atlantic Records’ hugest seller until Led Zeppelin IV thus indicating a thirst of the music lover’s world to experience heavier and more thought out progressive musical expressions.
3		KING CRIMSON - In The Court Of The Crimson King (Oct 10, 1969) What can anyone say about the absolute brilliance that exploded in late 1969 with the release of “In The Court Of The Crimson King?” This was the absolute big bang of progressive rock in general and while the album as a whole encompasses a wide range of progressive musical expressions including Western classical, jazz, blues and beyond, it’s the beginning behemoth “21st Century Schizoid Man” that not only ushered in the new world of progressive rock where KING CRIMSON would remain the unchallenged heroes for eternity but would also provide the energetic drive and instrumental prowess that inspired many a prog metal band to come in the ensuing decades. This album simply interrupted the regularly scheduled program of the day and created a radically new musical dictatorship in the most loving way that gave permission for every band both with more progressive and harder tendencies to be able to forge a new reality. This is probably one of the most important albums in the entire history of music in so many ways but also included important elements that would lead to the world of progressive metal.
4		BLACK SABBATH - Black Sabbath (Febr 13, 1970) Well how can you even possibly begin to explain the evolution of progressive metal without going straight to the source of metal itself? It’s simply not possible to omit the very beginning of what many consider the origin of metal in the first place. The fact is that metal had progressive roots right from the beginning although it would shy away from progressiveness for most of the next decade and simplify its overall approach by appealing to the less musically initiated of the lot, yes, those who simply wanted to bang their heads without getting too “heady.” While not only developing darkened lyrical content and overall soundscapes, BLACK SABBATH also adopted the progressive tendencies of merging elements of rock, jazz and blues with a thunderous distorted delivery as well as flirting with lengthy epic tracks like the 10 minute and 28 second final track “Warning.” The debut album album by BLACK SABBATH simply portends the futuristic marriage of the progressive and heavy although the newly designated heavy metal genre would take its sweet time in developing these blueprints laid out on this album into grander visions.
5		QUATERMASS - Quatermass (May 1970) It took no time at all for other bands to jump on the bandwagon after King Crimson dropped their progressive rock bomb on the world and likewise with Black Sabbath and their heavy rock sound that is now considered the big bang of the heavy metal universe. The first band to really combine aspects of both progressive rock and heavy rock would have to be QUATERMASS with their sole keyboard drenched eponymous album to come out in May 1970. While the band is forever banished to the Deep Purple influence pile, this is a highly unfair accusation since despite drummer Mick Underwood having played with Ritchie Blackmore in a band called The Outlaws and apparent cross-pollination of musical ideas had occurred, it was QUATERMASS who was the first to release an extremely heavy-for-the-day guitar rock album that mixed and melded the heavy with progressive keyboard workouts, psychedelic meanderings and off-kilter avant-garde ideas that created a unique album that was much more ambitious than anything Deep Purple had ever churned out and was released before Deep Purple’s similarly styled album “In Rock” by a month. Unfortunately this band would soon split and the ashes would continue progressive leaning harder rock in Atomic Rooster and beyond.
6		DEEP PURPLE - In Rock (June 3, 1970) Although DEEP PURPLE had already released three albums prior under their first lineup and was already honing their classically infused style of rock, it was the classic lineup with the inclusion of Ian Gillan taking up vocal duties and Roger Clover taking over the bass that allowed the band to ratchet up the heaviness in their overall sound. “In Rock” was another pivotal album hot on the heels of Black Sabbath that was instrumental in taking the heavier aspects of rock and metal into the less darkened arenas and with Jon Lord’s intricate classically infused keyboard runs which allowed an early glimpse into the style of heavier rock that would evolve into the early neoclassical and power metal that would slowly become more progressive throughout the 1980s. “In Rock” was also a cornerstone of popularizing the first wave of the heavy metal sound and a HUGE inspiration in introducing classical elements into heavy rock arenas. Not only a phenomenally great sounding album that launched their career but an outstandingly colossal influence on future progressive metal bands as well.
7		LUCIFER’S FRIEND - Lucifer’s Friend (Nov 1970) While never gaining the popularity that early heavy metal outfits such as Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin achieved, Germany’s LUCIFER’S FRIEND began under the moniker Asterix and developed their proto-metal chops alongside other similar sounding bands such as Uriah Heep and Atomic Rooster and not unlike Deep Purple included heavy organ workouts along with their hard bluesy rock riffing. While firmly rooted in the heavy bluesy rock of the era, LUCIFER’S FRIEND added slightly more progressive compositions than their peers in not only the songwriting department but also included jazzy touches as heard on the album opener “Ride The Sky” with the addition of a French horn. LUCIFER’S FRIEND was also notable for completely changing their sound on each album which included more extreme jazz and symphonic elements on their fourth and final album “Banquet.” This debut album though displays an early fusing of sounds from other similar bands of the era all rolled into one and added touches of sophistication hitherto unexplored.
8		URIAH HEEP - Salisbury (February 1971) Out of all the early heavy rock bands that would adopt more progressive elements, it’s probably URIAH HEEP on their second album “Salisbury” that sounded most like the power metal bands that would become more progressive in the 1980s with David Byron’s over-the-top operatic vocals soaring high over the aggressive guitar riffs and pummeling bass and drum combo effect. The album not only tackles the organ driven bluesy hard rock sound of other bands like Deep Purple but also adds more dynamics such as the acoustic arpeggiated softer approach of Led Zeppelin. What really sets URIAH HEEP apart from the rest of the pack, however, is the marriage of heavy rock with stronger leanings towards progressive rock even including a 24-piece orchestra on its 16 minute plus title track. While Black Sabbath introduced the world to the darker side of metal, URIAH HEEP along with bands like UFO and Deep Purple created a more melodic early form of power metal that would become more associated with the early 80s progenitors of the exploding progressive metal scene
9		MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA - The Inner Mounting Flame (Aug 14, 1971) Despite emanating from the fertile jazz scene of the 60s under the tutelage of the great Miles Davis, John McClaughlin emerged as a major musical powerhouse with his technically adept Mahavishnu Orchestra which took the world by storm. Although McClaughlin wasn’t entrenched in the burgeoning hard rock scene of the day, he nevertheless displayed an energy level that would become synonymous with the heavier aspects of rock and metal to come. His seamless fusion of jazz, Indian classical music, Western classical music, flamenco and blues ushered him in as one of the very first technical guitar god shredding wizards just as both progressive rock and the first generation of heavy metal were barely out of the cradle. His impressive energetic tapestry of genres on the debut “The Inner Mounting Flame” provided an eclectic fusion workout that took high-octane progressive virtuosity to new heights which has been rarely matched since but has had a profound influence that has well reverberated into the 21st century progressive metal scene and beyond.
10		LED ZEPPELIN - IV (Nov 8, 1971) While LED ZEPPELIN was undoubtedly a major player in the development of hard rock with Jimmy Page single-handedly reinventing blues based rock on the Led Zeppelin II album, the band was not for the most part connected to the burgeoning progressive rock developments that were unfolding in 1971, however on the hugely successful mega-hit Led Zeppelin IV (aka Four Symbols, The Fourth Album, Untitled, Runes, The Hermit or ZoSo) the band unleashed a bona fide progressive hard rock behemoth into the popular world with their most famous track of all “Stairway To Heaven,” despite it not ever even being released as a single. The track reached a length of 7 minutes and 55 seconds which was quite long for a commercially successful hard rock band of the era and included three distinct sections which built up the progressiveness by ratcheting up the tempo, volume and dynamics beginning with an acoustic folk intro and culminating into a heavy rock frenzy and guitar solo before ending with the famous a cappella line: “And she’s buying a Stairway To Heaven.” I mean, really. This single track is the earliest epitome of enigmatic acoustic and heavy metal rock straddled out into a mega-behemoth track that would become the staple of bands like Dream Theater and beyond two decades later. While the rest of the album could not qualify as progressive rock despite being innovative, this one single track has been associated with the development of the early pairing of heavy rock with progressive influences and the sheer popularity alone of this album, that has become one of the hugest selling albums in history, arguably had a huge impact on shedding light onto the developing progressive rock of the early 70s by exposing the masses to longer and more thoughtful thematic song structures.
11		THE WHO - Quadrophenia (Oct 26, 1973) As hard rock in the early 70s was getting harder and the progressive branch of rock was getting exponentially more progressive by 1973, THE WHO followed in the footsteps of their already established developments of the rock opera in the form of “Tommy,” but but 1971 had turned their sight towards harder edged rock with slight progressive overtones. After the huge hit scored with “Who’s Next” the band moved on to the next logical step by combining their rock opera sensibilities with their hard rocking ones. The result was the ambitious double album “Quadrophenia” which narrated the goings-on of a young working-class mod named Jimmy. “Quadrophenia” was a huge hit and offered a glimpse into the possibilities of unbridled progressive themes combined with the heavier aspects of rock which would be the staple combo for modern day progressive metal concept albums.
12		KING CRIMSON - Red (Oct, 1974) While KING CRIMSON was a key player in developing not only progressive rock and influencing the fledgling heavy rock scene as early as 1969 with their debut “In The Court Of The Crimson King,” it was their 1974 album Red that took the band’s sound closer to what would be called heavy metal with its power trio wall of noise and brutality. On the heavy rock side Fripp added layers of guitar overdubs and created a heavily distorted feedback frenzy while John Wetton’s bass upped the rhythmic drive. Bill Bruford, known for his virtuosity and energetic drum workouts from Yes, contributed a powerful percussive drive that created a brash and in-yer-face delivery. On the progressive rock side it’s a free-for-all run of polyrhythms and time signatures such as 5/8, 7/8 and 4/4 all leap-frogging to create great layers of complexity. The mixture of both the progressive and heaviness offers an early example of a highly influential album that would effect the future development of the evolution of progressive metal.
13		RUSH - Fly By Night (Febr 15, 1975) The Canadian band RUSH started out modestly as a cover band playing the usual suspects such as The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix, they found great success immediately on their original eponymous debut despite being highly derivative as a standard Led Zeppelin inspired heavy blues rock album. It would be the debut of drummer and science fiction aficionado Neil Peart that would introduce the band to the world of progressive rock and on Peart’s debut on their second album “Fly By Night,” the very first flirting with progressive ideas bursts forth on their four part suite “By-Tor & The Snow Dog.” While the majority of the album doesn’t stray far from the straight forward heavy blues rock of the debut, this one track not only whetted RUSH’s appetite to further expand their progressive rock tendencies but also further pushed the complexity of progressive rock song structures embedded in the heavier aspects of rock that were slowly becoming closer to metal as the decade continued.
14		RUSH - 2112 (Apr 1, 1976) While “Fly By Night” and “Caress Of Steel” were landmark albums for RUSH by expanding beyond the simpler heavy blues rock of their first two albums, it was their 4th album “2112” where they really honed their skills and created one of their most revered albums of their early years. On “2112” the band created a 7-part conceptual piece that swallowed up side one of the album that tackled the subject of a dystopian society that existed in the year “2112”. While the rest of the album consists of unrelated tracks, the title track has become one of the most influential progressive heavy rockers of the 70s and was the first track to perfectly fuse the first generation of heavy metal with progressive rock. While not all agree, “2112” is considered by some to be one of the very first true progressive metal albums. Personally i think it lies more on the heavy rock side not quite generating enough steam to have the term metal bestowed upon it but nevertheless a true bonafide favorite of every metalhead no matter where one’s interests lie. But there is no doubt that the band expanded both the heaviness and progressiveness manyfold on this album which happens to be one of my faves of all time.
15		OZZY OSBOURNE - Blizzard Of Oz (Sept 20, 1980) After his departure from a long stint as the godfather of metal with Black Sabbath, OZZY OSBOURNE found that the creativity wellspring had run dry and that it was time for something new. While the record company wanted his new band to be called Son Of Sabbath, Osbourne vehemently rejected such a notion and set out on a solo career. With a chance audition with the great Randy Rhoads, Osbourne was so impressed that he hired him on the spot and Rhoads would be a key player in taking the whole metal game up a few notches on”Blizzard Of Ozz”. While not considered progressive metal per se, this album is truly a crossroads of different strains of heavy rock and metal that were developing throughout the 70s. Ozzy would bring in the doomier darkened side of his Sabbath days while Rhoads would simultaneously up the classically infused songwriting skills developed by Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple all the while marrying it with the pyrotechnic flair that Eddie Van Halen brought to the table. The result of all this was a highly technical album that while exactly not crossing into progressive metal territory was only a small step away. This album is probably one of the most influential albums in the 80s that would launch a whole new wave of technically minded metal heads that would take the metal world into new progressive territories including the army of guitar shredders to emerge from his powerful wake.
16		VENOM - At War With Satan (Apr 16, 1984) While not exactly employing the techniques of prog metal in the composition department, VENOM was instrumental in taking the New Wave Of Heavy Metal (NWOHM) beyond the Angel Witch / Iron Maiden / Cirith Ungol experience and is credited for dishing out the very first example of extreme metal that is equally revered as being the big bang of everything black, thrash and death. Well, these things are subjective, of course, but it is fair to say that they did up the metal game a few notches and offered a new perspective on how to fractalize the possibilities. While not exactly a progressive outfit, they did delve into the arenas of progressive metal with their third album “At War With Satan” which was a semi-concept album that took the good vs. evil thing to a new level only this time around made Satan the victor, thus evoking the wrath of the Christian right prudes of the day. While this album was not progressive metal per se it did include the whopping 19 minute and 57 second title track which offered a blueprint in how an extreme metal band could ratchet up concepts and musical developments into hitherto unexplored arenas in the fledgling metal subgenre.
17		METALLICA - Ride The Lightning (July 27, 1984) The year 1984 was a true turning point in heavy metal history and Metallica was one of the pioneers in upping the complexity in the newly gestating thrash metal subgenre. On only their second album “Ride The Lightning” the band evolved exponentially from their straight forward punk laden aggressive take on the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal sound and began to introduce Western classical music aspects as well as increasing lyrical sophistication, however it’s the finale instrumental “The Call Of Ktulu” that introduced the progressive rock aspects that the band flirted with on their 80s releases. This track with a time length of 8 minutes and 53 seconds displayed a strong sense of progressive aspects that not only included their H.P. Lovecraft pulp magazine atmospheric delivery but displayed the power of thrash metal integrated into classical music structures that carried the track through many movements and emotional responses solely through the interactions of the guitars, bass and drums and because of the popularity of the album showed the further possibilities of marrying the thrash metal dynamics with progressive rock song constructions.
18		IRON MAIDEN - Powerslave (Sept 3, 1984) Steve Harris never made it a secret that his style of playing was as much inspired by the progressive rock of the 70s as it was by the heavier balls-to-the-wall acts that emerged in the latter part of the same decade. In fact if you jump into your musical time capsule and head all the way back to a specific Renaissance album titled “Prologue” you will find a specific track titled “Rajah Khan” which was a ten minute plus progressive epic that despite an anomaly in the aforementioned band’s discography nevertheless offered a seed of inspiration for a young bassist who would create one of the greatest heavy metal bands EVER!!!!! While Harris found huge success with the addition of Bruce Dickinson taking over on vocals, the album “Powerslave” remains a favorite despite countless classics simply because it embraced many aspects of the musical universe including the progressive rock side as heard on “Rime Of The Ancient Mariner” which was the musical translation of a Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem that not only upped the lyrical themes but displayed a stunning array of musical interludes that created a larger than life metal experience. Despite not being a full-fledged progressive album, “Powerslave” displayed many aspects of the genre-to-be with its sheer audacity to take by-the-numbers expectations and ramping them up into unpredictable territories.

Edited by siLLy puPPy - November 18 2016 at 12:24

^ i guess because those aren't strictly progressive metal elements. They may have been influential to the greater metal universe but "thrash beats" are a genre metal feature while taps, grinding noises etc are just as characteristic of hard rock bands like Van Halen. True that in the big scheme of things they may have had some influence but i don't find it to be a fundamental building block of the greater prog metal universe to come

siLLy puPPy wrote: Forgot to post this here. This is my latest take on the albums that influenced progressive metal Albums that were FUNDAMENTAL in creating PROGRESSIVE METAL - Rate Your Music Making a separte list for albums that are true progressive metal that were influential in building the subgenre