You can just vote for Green Carnation, no problem. 

I prefer bands like In The Woods..., Isis, Enslaved and Green Carnation of course, "Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness" its a masterpiece

It's all preference, my friend! Every band on this list makes me want to listen to something else instead lol.

how is it a "no-brainer" (I can't stand this expression, it's like calling someone stupid in a quirky or funny way or something) when you don't know many of them... 

It was a no brainer for me, too. All the expression means is “I don’t even need to think about this to give an answer” - ie, I don’t need to use my brain. There’s nothing in the expression at all that calls someone stupid - and even if there were, it would only be self-detracting, because it describes one’s own brain. It seems you can’t stand this expression, because you misunderstand it. Hopefully this explanation is helpful without being patronising.

Some polls require a lot of thought to choose who to vote for. Often there are two or three that require considerable thought to choose between.

Other polls require no thought (brain) at all. The answer is immediate and obvious. No thought is necessary. It’s a no-brainer.

For me, this poll was a no-brainer, because GC is more consistently enjoyable for me than any other on this list. I didn’t even need to think about it. I pretty much said as much in my post somewhere above. The only difference is I didn’t use the expression “no brainer”. But it’s certainly an expression I have used before, and likely will again.

ok then, then it a language misunderstanding and I was not called stupid. 

I’m no great fan of prog metal, in general. It’s one of my least favourite genres as defined by PA. But as with any genre, there is still plenty to enjoy. Your post suggests more to me that you’re listening to only a small portion of prog metal to suggest it is one of the most “regressive” sub-genres of prog. Also, apart from it being “regressive” being subjective, it’s clearly not a factor in enjoyment. The most regressive bands in my mind (ie my own subjectivity) exist within the symphonic, neo, crossover and Canterbury genres in PA. And that doesn’t even mean they’re bad. Some might argue that Zopp and Wobbler are regressive, and they were the top two albums in this year’s collaborators list.

I also find it odd that you consider some of the bands you mention as exceptions of the regressive trend, as I know some people think some of them are treading the same old ground, rather than progressing. And, again, that doesn’t even matter, if that’s the sound you like.

I guess all I am saying is it can be kind of short-sighted to write off any genre of music, just because you’ve not yet found much that interests you. Most genres are far wider than most people realise, as they tend to listen to other bands and artists that sound similar to those they are already familiar with. It’s why I’m not a great fan of genres in general. But that’s another argument entirely! 🤪

Apologies if I have misinterpreted or misconstrued your post. I may very well have grasped the wrong end of the stick....

It may very well be worth listening to again. It was the first GC I ever heard, and I was sold on it. Even the passages that a lot of people seem to have difficulty with, I love. There are definitely some passages that I imagine might have stretched the patience of whatever fan-base they had at the time, but I think were accepted because of the audacity of creating that album length track.

When it comes down to it, I probably prefer the song that Light of Day was developed from, on their previous album (which is probably also my favourite GC album), but there’s no getting away from what am achievement Light of Day was for the band. After all, even if the preceding album is my favourite, I’d never have heard of it if not for Light of Day. And I also was introduced to In The Woods from Light of Day, too. So I owe that song/album a lot. 🖤

Well said. I'd argue objective frameworks always fail when it comes to art, because it's ultimately subjective. That's why you always see me being sarcastic when people insist on label barriers for music, lol.

By the way, since it was mentioned in another forum post, I am definitely not suggesting this is the right or only way to listen to music. It’s what works for me, and that’s it. For me to suggest others should do the same is, once more, creating another barrier for music. I prefer to try and remove barriers, than erect them. Everyone listens to music in the way that works best for them, and some prefer the security that barriers can give. There is no wrong or right way to listen to music. And thus, there is nothing intrinsically good or bad about erecting barriers.

I am somewhat ambivalent there. While I do “kind of care” for categorisation purposes, sometimes I think it matters more whether the band or artist deserves to be in PA. Where a band clearly belongs somewhere else, I will vote for “Move”, but there are times where I can tell the band is prog enough to be in PA, but not really metal enough to be in one of the three prog metal genres the PM team is responsible for. In those cases, I would rather vote yes to ensure the band is in PA, than no because they don’t really fit for “categorisation purposes”. Sometimes there is a little pragmatism and expediency when it comes to the collaborators’ role. It’s not always as black and white as it might seem, I guess.

There are several bands and artists in PA that on the surface appear to be in the wrong genre, but my view on that is it doesn’t really matter too much, so long as they are here. Especially given the limitations of PA, where a band or artist can change over time to end up making music in a completely different genre.

So while I agree that genres and labels can be helpful, I’m not entirely convinced your booty shaking Beethoven is the best example for this. As soon as you start breaking a genre down into different parts, the helpfulness becomes less. In NZ, when I grew up, all three of the record stores in my town had only two “genres” - classical and pop. So you’d find your Beethoven in one, and your booty shaking in the other. Maybe it might be helpful to have more, but I definitely never had any problem finding what I wanted to find, even if hip hop, metal, rock and pop were all mixed in together. The alphabet was always fine for finding what I was looking for....

As for buying an album by its cover alone, that is something I often did. But back in the day, sometimes there was very little choice. You had to buy and hope for the best. I still try to buy at least one album every year that I know nothing about, based only upon the cover. And it seems you can judge a book (or at least, album) by its cover, because I’ve not been let down yet.

I’m surprised, too. I’m not even close to being a prog metal fan. I like quite a few bands within the genre, but I’d never call myself a fan of the genre itself. But as I posted on the previous page, I’ve heard of all the bands listed here (even if I’ve listened to only eight of them, and could claim to be truly familiar with only five of them). None are obscure names, and all are names I would have assumed would at least be known by people, even if they’ve never actually listened to them.

I wouldn’t be put off doing the album poll. It might provoke some people into listening to the albums. I know I’m always more inclined to listen to a band I’m not familiar with, if directed to a particular album. If someone just suggests a band to me, rather than an album, I’m far less likely to try and find out what they sound like.

I'll do it then, I already have a few albums in mind.