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Not my cup of tea. Unless I'm under the influence of something that makes me wanna be mellow. I like harder rock but nothing crazy/yelling BS at all... I also like rap a lot.
:bowdown:progressive metal
i'll go to a dream theater concert:banana:
happy:boogie:
Coheed and Cambria ftw.
fuck that they're not emo
LOVE progressive rock! Rush was one of the first rock bands I ever listened to when I was a little kid and I'm still a huge fan. Yes is an amazing band. Love progressive metal too. Dream Theater rocks.
2112, baby! *listens to it*
I saw Rush on their 30th anniversary tour, and theyre just as good now as they were back then (except back then, they didn't have fancy digital audio, so Neil Peart had to do a lot more labour to achieve the same results :).
Pink Floyd has some really good progressive stuff as well.
I have an odd taste in music. I've listened to plenty of Rush and decided they weren't really for me. Same with Pink Floyd. Same with Megadeth and Iron Maiden.
But Dream Theater is my favorite band, then Ayreon, then Symphony X, then Nightwish. Favorites after that are DragonForce, Sonata Arctica, Therion, Stratovarius, Savatage, Pain Of Salvation in no particular order. I'm actually seeing Nightwish in concert on the 1st of November.
The only bands I really like from the 70's are Kansas, Queen, and Styx, in that order.
I wonder what the difference is between the ones I really like and the ones (that are usually categorized as similar) that I really don't.
I love prog rock :)
I've been searching for a prog metal band that I like (besides opeth, which is my favorite band).
Dream theater and Tool seem to be the most popular prog metal bands, but I don't like them, and i've tried other bands on youtube and I don't like any of it particularly.
For people who have heard of opeth, can you recommend me a band that is similar? And to people who haven't, definetely check them out.
"The Black Mages" are an excellent prog rock band. They perform songs from the Final Fantasy games, but with an impressive prog rock arrangement. Even if you don't follow the games, the music is pretty damn good.
I love the Black Mages' version of Dancing Mad. I wish they would do a rendition of the entire ending theme of FF6.
I love it.
:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown: :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown: :bowdown::bowdown: :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown: :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown: :bowdown:
:bowdown::bowdown:King Crimzon, Jethro tull, Mallow Candle:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown: :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:
:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown: :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown: :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown: :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown: :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:
The Alan Parsons Project are definitely underrated.
When it comes to prog rock i'm more interested in the more left-of-centre bands of the 70s. I'm not really interested in Yes, or Rush, or ELP. King Crimson are ok, and Rush are decent, but i'm more partial to the krautrock, canterburry, zeuhl bands etc. I'm talking Univers Zero, Art Zoyd, Gong, Caravan, Faust, Can, Frank Zappa, Magma, Soft Machine, Henry Cow etc. etc.
Well let's see instead of buying a new a guitar, I bought all of Dream Theater's cds and dvds (except When Dream and Day Unite but I hope to find that soon, and the Score cd set). I am listening to DT right now and look at my sig. Yeah best band ever. My brother is really into Rush and puts it on whenever we're in the car. I like some of their stuff but it's not completely my style. Pink Floyd is amazing and David Gilmour has the best guitar solos ever. Tool has some good stuff from what I've heard of them but all their songs sound the same.
The thing I love about DT is that they have progressed through different styles throughout the years. They started out mostly with more epic songs and are now completely heavy and very metal. They just need some more Kevin Moore piano songs (like Wait for Sleep or Space-Dye Vest) which Jordan Rudess isn't gonna give us because he was playing that kind of stuff at age 10 and has now moved onto shred, shred, pitch wheel, shred more, shred on Continuum, Shred. Yeah i can see why people don't like DT.
The one thing that really makes some prog bands stand out are the singers. You can tell a Rush song when you here when because of Geddy Lee's voiec and same with DT. People either love or hate James Labrie. I think he's great. The one thing that I always thought was funny is that the only time I ever realized that there is a person singing on Tool's Vicarious is when he gets to the climax ("Vicariously I live while the whole world dies" towards the end). I obviously knew there was someone singing but the voice just doesn't stand out.
In a world where the radio plays non-music (hip-hop and wannabe punk) prog is one of the better things to listen to (along with jazz:banana:).
IM SO IMPRESSED there are heaps of Dream Theater fans here...maybe dreamers understand the awesomeness...
im not a pink floyd fan...everyone goes about them...but i mean come on
Dream Theater
-technical compositions (the time signatures are like...woooh)
-expressionate performance (petrucci's solos are mind blowing, but he always carries a melody)
-musicianship (interplay between guitar/keys. like fast and in perfect harmony)
-long works and concept album
-lyrics of a thoughtful nature (although systematic chaos...proves a bit otherwise)
-reinvention
musicians understand!
last.fm/user/sagea
^--My charts. I'm big on death and prog metal/rock.
Love Rush, Opeth, old Dream Theater, Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, some others.
Abigail's Ghost is pretty good, too. Nevermore is awesome, great stuff.
I've always wanted to get into Devin Townsend's stuff, but can't really find any.
Oh, and older Death is great, too.
I'm quite a Dream Theater fan as well, though I listen to a lot of progressive rock. But Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is the best album ever. Get it now.
*checks his list*
Dream Theater, Genesis, King Crimson, The Mars Volta, Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree and Urban Trapeze.
Hurrah for prog.
Dream Theater is really good. I'm not a bigitme fan, but every time I listen to them, I'm blown away. I should get more of their stuff.
get the entire album "Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From A Memory" by Dream Theater of course
its just indescribable...i wont even try...its a masterpiece...fantastic musicianship and performance
the most amazing album...its a concept album...all the tracks are linked..its basically an 1:30hour long song...just get your hands on the whole thing and listen to it start to finish...its moving
Also listen to Metropolis Pt. 1 right before you listen to pt. 2. It sets the stage for whats to come and Pt. 2 brings back many of the same musical phrases from Pt. 1 throughout it.Quote:
Originally Posted by james_jlc
My problem is I have only listened to the whole thing twice and that was while laying in bed and I fell asleep both times so I've never heard the actual end.
Awake is my favorite album. I&W has lots of epic, classic songs on it and it may be their best album but there's just something about Awake. Octavarium is an amazing album too especially the title track (best 24 minutes of my day)(but not for my family when I sing along:D). Train of Thought gets alot of horrible reviews at places like Amazon but I love that cd. It was a change to heavier music for DT and alot of people wanted another I&W.
phobia: true, but it makes perfect sense as its own album. i reconmend finding a synopsis of the story, so you really get the feeling behind the songs. 'FInally free' is great...but it means alot more if you understand its context in the overall story, for example.
Added to amazon wishlist ;)
EDIT: By the way, the singer sounds a LOT like Geddy Lee... also, I just noticed that the start of "Trial of Tears" is basically the start of Rush's Xanadu. I assume this is a tribute, from back in their cover days.
good to hear Replicon...try to get your hands on it, get a story summary and listen to it on headphones if you can!
I've never actually heard Rush's music, but it woulnd't surprise me...because they've had alot of influences over 20 or so years.
Musical references to Pt.1 show up all over Pt.2 so I think it cool to see the connections. Also if I'm gonna spend 75 minutes listening to an album anyway whats another 10 gonna matter if it helps me connect it better. Pt.2 does make sense on its own though. BTW I watched the whole Live Scenes from New York DVD yesterday (everything but "A Change of Seasons") and I now understand what is going alot better because of the visual aspect.Quote:
Originally Posted by james_jlc
I don't think James Labrie sounds like Geddy at all. Besides them both singing high notes. I'll have to check out Xanadu to see how alike the songs sound (my brother is a Rush fan so I'll steal one of his cds). I'm not usually too into the stuff my brother likes (U2, Dave Matthews, Coldplay) but Rush is one band that I don't mind when he puts on in the car. I think they're like DT in that most of their songs are great.Quote:
Originally Posted by Replicon
BTW what are everyones least favorite Dream Theater songs?
I hate Prophets of War. It is James trying to be political and frankly the song sucks. Also 6:00 is a pretty stupid song (I saw someone on another site who said it was their favorite song:eek:). It's grown on me since and it's actually decent but compared to the rest of Awake, I don't think it's as great.
May as well name my favorite DT songs (this could be a long list):
Voices-My all time favorite
Octavarium
This Dying Soul
The Root of All Evil
Metropolis Pt.1
Under a Glass Moon
Pull me Under
Learning to Live
Innocence Faded
Erotomania
Space-Dye Vest
Wait for Sleep
Beyond This Life
Constant Motion
The Dark Eternal Night
Ytse Jam
I probably forgot some really good ones but every single one of those I listed is an amazing song that I could listen to all day.
pretty much hijacked this into a DT thread :P
I'm not a big systematic chaos fan...like I find myself enjoying it at times, but I have always been proud of Dream Theater as being a serious musicians band. And all that "Dark Master" stuff on In THe Presence Of Enemies...and the dark eternal night just sorta threw me a bit. I like constant motion though....and forsaken. Repentance is pretty serious
I HATE prophets of war...as much as I do 'Sacrificed Sons'
I like all the ones you mentioned. I am a big fan of their epics. 'Scenes From A Memory' 'Octavarium' and 'A Change Of Seasons'...but anything off IAW is a favourite too.
Train Of Thought wasnt bad in general.
and Awake (6:00 is alright by me) is nice and progressive
I love Sacrificed Sons. The only album I don't really like is Falling into Infinity, but i havn't listened to it much.Quote:
Originally Posted by james_jlc
It's kinda funny how on the Systematic Chaos dvd when they describe what the songs are about they obviously realize how dumb the concepts are.
I havent got falling into infinity; I hear a few songs are ok.
yeah, I kinda hope they dont keep going in the Systematic Chaos direction lol. Constant motion and repentance seem to be the only ones not about vampires, or the devil or monsters. And i get your point about the dvd lol
Dream Theater's best albums are Images & Words and Awake. Scenes is good as well. Falling Into Infinity has Petrucci's best solos, hands down, and a couple of fantastic songs that save the album. I'm not really interested in anything after Scenes though. From Six Degrees onwards they started to lose something. That little bit of magic just vanished and they forgot how to play their instruments.
Oh they can still play them, they just are playing differently now. I don't like 6DOIT the song too much but I like the first cd.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ardent Lost
I don't think they lost anything with songs such as Octavarium though. That song is pure genius. Also if you look at Octavarium there are so many hidden things. If you look at the back, the piano key that each song is written on is the minor key it is played in. Also in the book the key signatures are correct by the title of thoe song. Also the things with the balls and birds, the balls represent white keys and the birds are the black keys. Also each song represents a previous album in order and then Octavarium summarizes them all and changes keys with them (in Intervals). Theres more that I forget too.
They really kicked it up with Systematic Chaos. There are some really great songs (In the Presence of Enemies is not one of them:P). I like how heavy it is, a different heaviness than Train of Though. The solos are smoking like they never have too. I've never really liked the way that Petrucci solos, just his choice of chord notes in weird places. He has lots of great solos but some of them are a little different then I would have made them.
I think their music hasn't gotten better or worse, just changed. We are never gonna get another I&W and I like the new stuff.
Well, what i meant by being able to play their instruments is just that, to me, they seem to have lost some kind of musicality and originality. I haven't heard Octavarium or Systematic Chaos in their entirety (i kind of lost faith after Train of Thought), but i've heard enough to say that it just sounds like Dream Theater trying to be ballsy. It's all about speed and heaviness.
Maybe i'm being too harsh, but i'm calling it how i hear it is all.
Well after 100 5+ minute songs there are going to be elements repeated in other songs. The fanbase is quite split. I love the old stuff but I really liked Train of Though. Maybe I like it because alot of heavy bands are cheesy and not very musical but Dream Theater took that sound that I like and made music out of it. The song Octavarium is not heavy at all, its one of their epic long songs. I like them no matter what they play because they do it so well.
I think Dream Theater, who are great musicians, are just very, very uninspired in everything they do.
i really beg to differ....although it would depend what albums you are making that judgement on...?
I love Images and Words...its inspiring...its mostly uplifting and positive music...so I would argue the exact opposite of 'uninspired'
as for Train Of Thought....it grows on me...maybe it is a bit like Metallica at times....very brief times....
but each song heads entirely away from metal towards the end with complex prog sections (ie...endless sacrifice)....and each song, seems to interweave crazy timesignatures flawlessly...
i think every second bar is 7/8 in honour thy father's verse....and when the keys come in doing the synth strings on top of petrucci after the first quiet verse...pure genius! thickest sound ever!
atleast, I can take TOTs lyrics seriously...damn you SC!
[QUOTE=james_jlc;557398]i really beg to differ....although it would depend what albums you are making that judgement on...?
I love Images and Words...its inspiring...its mostly uplifting and positive music...so I would argue the exact opposite of 'uninspired'[quote]
Eh, every kind of music invokes some kind of emotion. A minor chord is sad, that doesn't mean its inspired. I think you miss my point... the artistic quality of their music seems absent to me, like they force ideas(like they force their rhymes). My main judgment would be on Metropolis and Awake, I haven't heard much else.
Yes, they're brilliant musicians. Very well educated... but their sound, its all very contrived to me. I don't know how to explain it, really, perhaps forced virtuosity's the right term. The basis of their songs is just boring metal to me, and because they toss in some flashy unconventional signatures and such, I don't know. It seems like cliche music dressed up by excellent musicianship.Quote:
as for Train Of Thought....it grows on me...maybe it is a bit like Metallica at times....very brief times....
but each song heads entirely away from metal towards the end with complex prog sections (ie...endless sacrifice)....and each song, seems to interweave crazy timesignatures flawlessly...
i think every second bar is 7/8 in honour thy father's verse....and when the keys come in doing the synth strings on top of petrucci after the first quiet verse...pure genius! thickest sound ever!
Don't know who those people are, but I think even most DT fans can agree their lyrics are ridiculous.Quote:
atleast, I can take TOTs lyrics seriously...damn you SC!
i mean TOT = Train Of Thought the album.
by...to be an excellent musician you need to be expressive. Musicianship is one thing..but being able to perform with meaning is what they do just as well
id list examples...but if you have heard
Images And Words - album
Scenes From A Memory - Album
A CHange Of Seasons - track
Octavarium - track
then I wouldnt make any judgements about cliche, nor about their music being contrived.
each to their own though
Funny you mention the minor chord because the one thing I like about DT is that they often leave the third out so that the melody can freely switch through different modes. You havn't heard alot of it, probably because you don't like their sound. I like their sound and went and bought tons of their stuff. I'm sure I'd hate alot of the bands you like. I don't think their music is cliche and I doubt they throw in those time sigs to be flashy. Maybe if you heard some more DT albums you would like them more especially because there are no other albums that really sound like Awake. If you tell us the type of music and bands you like we can probably point out some DT songs that you would like.Quote:
Originally Posted by PharoahSunrise
BTW what do you think of their singer James Labrie? Alot of people love him, alot hate him, there don't seem to be many in the middle though. I give props to anyone who can sing a high F# (not anymore though). Does anyone know if there are any DVDs where he hits the F# (in Learning to Live)? (I have all the dvds and havn't seen one, but there are some youtube videos of it). Thats another thing that makes me mad, on Live from Tokyo they didn't sing Learning to Live.
It's funny you should say that. One of the things i'm impressed about is how Dream Theater seemed to be able to present so many ideas in a single song and make them fit. I've already stated my distaste for their later albums, so i won't continue to slander them, but i'm talking mainly about Images and Words to Scenes From A Memory. But i can understand how you feel that way. To me it just works and sounds great.Quote:
Originally Posted by PharoahSunrise
And i don't think their lyrics are ridiculous. They're musicians, not poets. They may not be magical wordsmiths, but they get their point across well. Sure, some lyrics are a bit more silly than others, but there are also some really good lyrics. Particularly those from John Myung and Kevin Moore.
Too bad Myung doesn't write lyrics anymore. The group made it an unwritten rule that lyrics should be perfected when they are proposed and Myung started to shy away after that.
Yes... they have ideas. Just stating what their ideas are doesn't really convince me.Quote:
Originally Posted by ThePhobiaViewed
i would disagree...they ARE great lyricists. Just, they moved away from meaningful concepts.
Yeah, i hadnt noticed that leaving out the thirds; but im not the worlds best musical theorists. Petrucci solos though always switch around scales. He loves his harmonic minor scales too :P
and their music IS definately emotion evoking
but to what THePhobiaViewed suggested: Pharoah Sunrise; suggest some music you listen to? not so we can flame it; just so we can suggest what you may respect out of DTs music
Whoa, Scenes from a Memory is totally growing on me! :D
Are you guys insane? We have two pages of discussion on prog rock and metal and nobody's mentioned Mastodon yet?
tell us about them Spamtek? reconmend some stuff...I am a mastadon virgin. I got the gist that they were just another alternative rock band?
and REPLICON, good to hear you are liking scenes
Scene Six:Home and The Dance Of Eternity are a couple of my favourites.
Though I love Finally Free; its a great conclusion to the album
Infact...i can't judge favourites lol its all great
any tracks you're liking?
Mastodon only have three albums out and I'd recommend them in order of recency; Blood Mountain, then Leviathan, then Remission. Honestly if you listen to Blood Mountain and don't like it then there won't be much for you in the others either, but listening to Blood Mountain and not liking it is a tall order. Mastodon is basically something Prog between rock and metal only they're a bazillion times better than any other metal I've ever heard. Dream Theater makes me fall asleep compared to them.
edit: and yes BTW I just checked out Metropolis II and I was snoozing through it by minute 10, so that makes at least 4 DT albums that totally float right by my radar. Amusingly, there's tons of softer/more downtempo/ambient stuff that actually excites me many magnitudes more than Dream Theater or really most other Rock and Metal for that matter, like Sasha's Airdrawndagger or anything by James Blackshaw (which is purposefully hypnotic but still more compelling than the overblown bullshit power riffs that metal bands chunk out perpetually).
I'm gonna check Mastadon out, I need some good bands to listen to.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spamtek
BTW I was gonna get a Porcupine Tree cd but they have like 50 (well maybe not quite that many) so does anyone know a good one to get?
Metropolis Pt.1 is an amazing song, but the Pt.2 album is a little boring to just sit and listen to if you're not in the mood for it. It does have some great songs though. It's nothing compared to Images & Words which I can put on when I start doing homework and listen through the whole cd without realizing how much time is passing, every song is amazing. It's got a nice variety of songs too.
I suppose there are a few highlights, but it's really the way the whole thing works together and progresses that makes it good. So much so that if someone interrupts me while I'm listening to it at work, I almost feel like I need to restart the album from the start.Quote:
Originally Posted by james_jlc
The thing I noticed right away is that the way the first two tracks blend has a very familiar feel to it. As the hypnotist does his thing, and the main character fades into the state, he can see his mind becoming clearer and clearer, until (track 2 starts) boom, it's like his psyche starts speeding towards something... And then it hit me; that's exactly what WILD is like for me. Hah!
I would say Deadwing, runner-up In Absentia. Fear of a Blank Planet is making peoples' top 2007 albums list, but I listened to it and thought it was garbage. Didn't have any of the punch of Deadwing, so I'd say start there.Quote:
BTW I was gonna get a Porcupine Tree cd but they have like 50 (well maybe not quite that many) so does anyone know a good one to get?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spamtek
While I would agree with Deadwing in the recent albums, if you can find Up the Downstair, which was their first proper album, buy it. It's amazing.
Well, my favorite artists are Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Magma, Yes, The Grateful Dead, King Crimson, and Pink Floyd. I think their Darkside cover is one of the best things ever, by the way.Quote:
Originally Posted by james_jlc
Yeah i don't think you're going to find much of anything like that in Dream Theater. Maybe you've heard Koenjihyakkei though, Pharoah? They're known as the Japanese Magma. I haven't heard a whole lot of Magma, but from what i have heard, Koenji sound more vibrant and playful. Quite jazzy, top-notch drumming, and good song writing. Actually, the Japanese prog-rock and avant-garde music scenes in general seem to be really rewarding.
In the interest of keeping this discussion going is anybody familiar with The Flower Kings or Pain of Salvation? Thoughts? I think that while Dream Theater seem to be the flagship prog-metal band, and have been for a long time, Pain of Salvation aren't too far behind. I didn't like the new one, but their previous material has some real gems.
Yes, the japanese have quite the music scene. Asians are weird as all hell, we're into the insane type of music. Crimson is more popular there than in any other country.
I'll give Koenjihyakkei a shot. Magma can be "vibrant and playful," too. I don't care what kind of mood or tone the music has, any emotion can be conveyed through music and I like to embrace all of them. As long as its done in an innovative and effective fashion.
I think that Dream Theater's style is overdone, even if theirs is a bit distinct its got this powerfully angsty quality that's universal in metal and it just doesn't appeal to me. The emotion all seems shortsighted and trivial. With bands like Pink Floyd, Magma, Yes, King Crimson and Miles, it'd be hard to find two albums that effect you in the same way, not to mention the rollercoaster ride(for lack of a better cliche) within each song. While they've got different movements, DT has different progressions. With Floyd, I regard their entire albums as one whole song, because otherwise they're repetitive in a similar way.
With most prog metal, its powerful, but its the same kind of power over and over and over again and eventually the intended effect starts to bore me.(
And yet, I like Tool, so eh.) Musically its good, and I'd definitely see them live. Maybe I haven't heard enough of them, but in songs like "Seasons" that are epic in length, the musical ideas change and the emotional ideas remain stationary. Both are necessary for a true work of art, I believe.
Not that I'm trying to bash anyone's taste or connection to the music, or present my opinion as fact, but it seems what I've been saying hasn't been too clear.
I am really into Dream Theater's album "Train of Thought" right now. I can listen to it straight through and there are no dull points. Right now it's my 2nd favorite album, behind I&W. I just ordered 14 more DT cd/dvds (from YtseJam Records) and I also ordered the new "Lifting Shadows" 2 book set ($85 but seemingly well worth it). I doubt the cds will come by Christmas but I'm hoping the books will so it will be a good day. (plus I'm getting another 7-string so I can shred out to DT)