The Prog-Metal controversy

 

Hi Ghost Rider:

 

I do find it somewhat interesting that you as a supporter and fan of bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, and even Blue Oyster Cult would not be a big fan of progressive metal since all of these bands made their living as metal bands with some prog influence (please do not take this as a criticism).  Of course as you so elegantly pointed out DT is just the best known band in the Prog Metal genre, but not necessarily the best representative of the genre. 

 

If I might be so bold to make some suggestions to you have you listened to any albums by bands like Ayreon, Fates Warning, Mind Key, Thought Chamber, Vanden Plas or Wolverine.  I'm not one who really likes to make recommendations because everyone has different tastes and life experiences so obviously different things sound better to some than others.  And also, being a much longer member at PA than I, you are probably familiar with each of these bands so this is kind of like the student telling the teacher what is what. 

 

If you haven't heard Ayreon's Human Equation, I think that you would truly enjoy it.  I also really enjoy his other operas and bands but they are more sci-fi and spacey (some would say cheesy) metal albums.

 

Fates Warning has had a stretch of albums starting with Perfect Symmetry that I feel are excellent prog rock/metal albums.  As an added bonus, a few of these albums were produced by Terry Brown of Rush fame, and some of the drumming reminds me a lot of Neil Peart.  (I would have also recommended Tiles for a similar reason, but I see that they are categorized in Heavy Prog so I am sure you are familiar with them).  There is some virtuostic playing like DT so try with caution.

 

Mind Key is probably a guilty pleasure band.  It features a former nonoriginal Kansas member.  It has more of a commerical metal sound.  I suppose again this might be considered cheesy by some but I enjoy them.

 

Thought Chamber is a band that I think many non prog metal fans would really enjoy.  Their one album Angular Perceptions has some very excellent musical passages; somewhat very jazzy.  It features Ted Leonard from Enchant on vocals (again someone you are probably familiar with since Enchant is in heavy prog).

 

Vanden Plas, I suppose might be considered a DT clone, especially with their later albums but I enjoy their albums as well as the lead singers solo project Abydos.

 

Wolverine is a melodic metal band.  Their earlier works started out with Death metal growls similar to Opeth, but their more recent releases have far less of the death growl.  This band could be a good recommendation for people that like Opeth but could do without all of the death metal growls.  For me, a case where less is more.

 

For point of reference, Genesis, Rush, and Yes are my favorite classic prog rock bands.  I was led to Prog by the aforementioned Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, etc...  I prefer more commercial prog metal like Kings' X and I don't like thrash metal bands.  So I won't be one who would normally recommend bands like Opeth or Meshuggah or Death or their ilk.  I do like Dream Theater and I do like James LaBrie's voice so that might cloud some of my judgement for these recommendations.

 

I hope that this was sort of something for what you were looking for.  Rather than a bash DT thread or non-prog metal thread, I think that you were looking for some recommendations of prog metal bands that are not DT.  Most of these bands are fairly well known, so I imagine that you are probably already familiar with them, but if not, you might want to check them out.  Obviously, no guarantees, but hopefully you will find something that you like.