Should Metallica be in the forum?

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   I don't think that "MoP" is that far away from "ITCOTCK" in terms of "Progressiveness", when you consider the genres and what was happening at the time;

When ITCOTCK was released, there was a well established Progressive scene, and everything Crimson did can be heard in "progressive" rock bands going back at least two years previously. 

What Crimson did was to bring all those ideas together to create something new.

And to my ears, that's exactly what Metallica did for metal - they essentially invented Prog Metal. I don't think that attempting to compare them to Crimson on "levels of progressiveness" is appropriate, because the essential idea (of fusing as much as possible into something new) was the same, and the general outcome (of influencing many others to push boundaries and do something progressive) was the same.

MoP was an album that kicked the whole metal community up the ass - I've still got the issue of Kerrang! with the gobsmacked full-page review in it (no-one got full page reviews at that time). ITCoTCK did the same to Rock. Both had precedents, of course; before Crimson, the Beatles and Floyd, and before Metallica, Priest and Maiden.

The difference between "Master..." and "Images and Words" in musical terms is very slight, as Portnoy more or less acknowledges - and the music speaks for itself. The primary identifiable influence is Metallica.

The primary influence of King Crimson is very difficult to ascertain, as is the primary influence of Metallica, but the bands Crimson influenced (Genesis spring quickly to mind) produced very different music indeed.

The same techniques of developing riffs and extending songs to epic proportions on ITCOTCK can be heard on Kill 'Em All, as well as the next 4 albums - it's the outstanding feature that links Metallica's music to Prog (but not the only one).

It's only really the avante-garde section of MoonChild that's on a "different level of progressiveness" - otherwise the two bands are broadly comparable (obviously, Crimson later went into completely different and far more esoteric directions and Metallica lost the plot - but that's by-the-by).

I say put them in Prog Metal, then there's no confusion.

Put them in Prog Related, and there will be a much bigger outcry.

Poll Question: Should Metallica be in the forum?
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
Yes	36	[37.89%]
No	59	[62.11%]
This topic is closed, no new votes accepted