Good progressive metal bands

[bassbangered]

For many years I have struggled to find good progressive metal bands as I'm sure many other Dream Theater fans have. I don't like growls neither the cheesiness that many power metal bands tend to have. Also, the singer is a very important aspect for me in a band. I can't begin to tell you how many bands I don't like solely on the singer. So, I'm going to post some progressive bands and their albums that I consider that are good.  I hope that you guys post some recommendations for me. Thanks.

Bands:                               Albums:                                                                                                                 Country:

Circus Maximus                  The 1st Chapter (2005), Isolate (2007), Nine (2012)                                              Norway
(My favorite album is Isolate, even though The 1st Chapter is almost just as good. In Nine they went for a more "accesible" sound)

DGM                                  Frame (2009), Synthesis (2010), Momentum (2013)                                              Italy
(listen to DGM from Frame onward, before they weren't that good)

Seventh Wonder                Waiting in the Wings (2006), Mercy Falls (2008), The Great Escape (2010)              Sweden
(I didn't post their first album, Become, because they didn't had their current singer which is very good)

Withem                             A Point of You (2013)                                                                                              Norway
(I would almost call them Circus Maximus Pt. II, they're very good)

Myrath                              Desert Calls (2010), Tales of the Sands (2011)                                                         Tunisia (North Africa)
(It's progressive metal with oriental influences. Don't let that scare you. They do it extremely well.)

Empty Tremor                   Iridium (2010)                                                                                                         Italy
(Extremely beautiful melodies and voice.)

Above Symmetry               Ripples (2011)                                                                                                         Norway
(They had a lot of promise. Too bad they broke up after their first album)

[nicbor87]

Bad Salad! 

[bl5150]

I agree on Circus Maximus -  not at DT's best levels but about the closest thing from the modern bands.

I have a fairly narrow (fucking crazy I'm told   ) spectrum of taste amongst prog metal but the few bands/albums that stand out for me are:

Symphony X ; The Divine Wings of Tragedy and Paradise Lost

Conception (just a bit proggy):  In Your Multitude

Khan (Conception) vocals are a bit love/hate but I doubt you'll be thinking Russel Allen (Symphony X) is a poor vocalist

I know a number of Dt fans who are huge fans of Anubis Gate too - I like them but wouldn't rave as much as many do.

[Captain Reddot]

Haken, of course. Surprised they haven't been mentioned yet. The Mountain is a masterpiece.

[Duke1]

Vanden Plas... Christ 0, 2006
Symphony X... The new mythology Suite, 2000
Headspace... Anonymous, 2012
Ayreon... Electric Castle, 1998.
Kamelot... One winters night Live, 2006
Riverside... Second life syndrome, 2005
Lost in thought... Opus arise, 2011
Beyond the bridge... Old man and the spirit, 2012
Pain of salvation... Remedy lane, 2002
Shadow gallery... V, 2005
Pagans mind... Heavenly Ecstacy, 2011
Queensryche... Operation Mindcrime live, 1990

Agree to with Haken, love their last two albums, visions and the mountain.

[Sycsa]

Riverside's Anno Domini High Definition is one of the best albums I've ever heard. Absolutely love the tone and character of the singer and the instrumentation is reminiscent of classic prog (lots of Hammond (+ real Leslie!), Moog and loud bass), with a heavier edge.

[Perpetual Change]

As much as I like DT, I find most progressive metal to be awful.

Haken, Pain of Salvation, etc., are two exceptions. Opeth, Riverside, and Devin Townsend Band/Project/Whatever are also good.

[bl5150]

We've all got our own definitions of "metal" but a lot of the bands in this thread I'd consider rock rather than metal.........I know people who call Bon Jovi metal so hey 

Given the OP's taste another couple I'd recommend are Threshold: Psychedelicatessen/Dead Reckoning and , if you don't mind some female vox (my fave Floor Jansen) then the last self titled After Forever is a ripper too.

Vanden Plas has their moments too (as mentioned) but like Threshold are a bit light on for good lead guitar.

We're getting into heavy rock with a touch of metal but D C Cooper's solo album is a great one too .........check out the track The Union , unfortunately not on Youtube so can't find a link......it has Tore Ostby from Conception and keyboardist from Vanden Plas.

If you call Queensryche metal then yeah -  the triple pack of Rage For Order, Operation Mindcrime and Empire hasn't been equalled by too many bands.

I'm starting to thing of all sorts now 

[PixelDream]

You said you don't like growls and you don't like the cheese. What then, are you doing in the Progressive Metal genre? Below are some bands that take some of those progressive tendencies and make almost exclusively non-cheesy music.

Karnivool (start with Themata or even better, Sound Awake)

Deftones (White Pony or their excellent new record Koi No Yokan).

A Perfect Circle (Mer de Noms or Thirteenth Step)

Tool (Lateralus, Aenima or 10,000 Days)

System of a Down (any record - their debut is probably the hardest to get into)

Leprous

Gojira (try their album 'l'Enfant Sauvage' - does have growls though..)

Andromeda (try 'Extension of the Wish', 'II = I' or 'Chimera') - OK this band is quite cheesy and definitely falls into the 'Progressive Metal' genre. Quite good though.

Head Control System - Murder Nature

TesseracT - Altered State (used to have growls but not on this record).

[Perpetual Change]

You said you don't like growls and you don't like the cheese. What then, are you doing in the Progressive Metal genre? Below are some bands that take some of those progressive tendencies and make almost exclusively non-cheesy music.

Good point.

I've long said that progressive metal is kind of like musical theater. Like musical theater, progressive metal contains two elements which are pretty good on their own but, for some reason, when you combine them the potential for cheese skyrockets.

[Prog Snob]

As much as I like DT, I find most progressive metal to be awful.

*snip*

I agree with this completely.  I found early on after wanting to get into more prog metal most of the bands were just horrible DT clones and every band wanted to make the new Images and Words. 

[PixelDream]

And all these names. Like 'Seventh Wonder', or 'Firestorm'. Then the album title would be something like: 'Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part 1: The Goblin Chronicles'. It just screams unoriginal and pretentious to me.

And still, I'm quite fond of some Symphony X or even Kamelot from time to time. But the times that I would listen to this type of stuff all day are long gone. And that's too bad, because back in the day I really enjoyed Progressive Metal. It just got kind of old in a way. I believe I have already heard the most worthwhile progressive metal albums, courtesy of mostly.. Dream Theater.

[Zook]

Check out Touchstone. Male and female vocals, no growls, Heavy Prog Rock, some metal, beautiful groovy music.

[Perpetual Change]

And all these names. Like 'Seventh Wonder', or 'Firestorm'. Then the album title would be something like: 'Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part 1: The Goblin Chronicles'. It just screams unoriginal and pretentious to me.

And still, I'm quite fond of some Symphony X or even Kamelot from time to time. But the times that I would listen to this type of stuff all day are long gone. And that's too bad, because back in the day I really enjoyed Progressive Metal. It just got kind of old in a way. I believe I have already heard the most worthwhile progressive metal albums, courtesy of mostly.. Dream Theater.

Same here. The first few prog/power metal bands I discovered since Dream Theater are still the only ones I like. After that, everything started to feel very "cookie cutter" to me.

I still like progressive music, and I still like metal. But if I'm going to listen to progressive metal, it's either Dream Theater, or one of the progressive metal acts who just aren't DT cookie-cutters, i.e. Opeth or Devin Townsend.

[kirksnosehair]

I think there are plenty of good progmetal bands out there.  Here are some of the bands I enjoy, and I also hate growls, so none of these have any growling - I'll just list them alphabetically by band:


Animations - "Reset Your Soul"
Anthriel - "The Pathway"
Anthropia - "The Chain Reaction"
Ashent - "Deconstructive"
Beyond Twilight - "For The Love of Art and The Making"
Circle of Illusion - "Jeremias - Foreshadow of Forgotten Realms"
Darkwater - "Calling The Earth To Witness"
Darwin's Radio - "Template for a Generation"
Dead Air Radio - "Signal To Noise Ratio"
Dimension Act - "Manifestation of Progress"
Dominici - "03: A Trilogy Part II"
The Great Gamble - "Book 1"
Halcyon Way - "A Manifesto for Domination"
Heart of Cygnus - "Over Mountain, Under Hill"
Hemina - "Synthetic"
Hourglass - "Oblivious To The Obvious"
Ice Age - "Liberation"
Illusion Suite - "The Iron Cemetery"
Juvaliant - "Unhuman Nature"
Lemure Voice - "Insights"
The Mind's Eye - "A Gentleman's Hurricane"
Mindwarp Chamber - "Supernova"
Mob Rules - "Cannibal Nature"
My Soliloquy - "The Interpreter"
Opposing Motion - "Laws of Motion"
Pagan's Mind - "Celestial Entrance"
Pantomind - "Shade of Fate"
Prymary - "The Enemy Inside"
Pyramid Theorem - "Pyramid Theorem"
Redemption - "The Fullness of Time"
Shadow Gallery - "Digital Ghosts"
The Shadow Theory - "Behind The Black Veil"
Silent Memorial - "Retrospective"
Southern Cross - "From Tragedy"
Speaking To Stones - "Elements"
Spheric Universe Experience - "Anima"
Star One - "Victims of the Modern Age"
Status Minor - "Ouroboros"
Sun Caged - "Sun Caged"
Theocracy - "Mirror of Souls"
Thessera - "Fooled Eyes"
The Third Ending - "The Third Ending"
Time Grid - "Life"
Tomorrow's Eve - "Tales From Serpentia"
Vandroya - "One"
Venturia - "The New Kingdom"

[ErHaO]

My favourite prog-metal bands/projects are Dream Theater, Ayreon, Shadow Gallery, Symphony X and recently Seventh Wonder. But yeah, they are already mentioned.

Not favourites, but stuff I enjoy: I really like Suspyre, check their self titled as it contains some awesome stuff imo. Russel Allen like vocals. Burn the Sun by Ark is also a good progmetal album for me, with Jorn Lande.

And regarding Seventh Wonder, a new video including live rehearsals for their upcoming Mercy Falls DVD performance and some demos of the new album is on yt (see their fb or website). And I saw Kamelot last week and Tommy was insanely good live.

[ErHaO]

Edit: oops, used quote instead of edit 

[nightmare_cinema]

Riverside's Anno Domini High Definition is one of the best albums I've ever heard. Absolutely love the tone and character of the singer and the instrumentation is reminiscent of classic prog (lots of Hammond (+ real Leslie!), Moog and loud bass), with a heavier edge.

Another one here who adores Anno Domini: High Definition. I've said it elsewhere on the board recently, but it ranks as one of the most flawless albums I've ever gotten into, there isn't a moment that isn't perfect, it takes you on such a bad ass journey. Egoist Hedonist has such a disco vibe to it! I listened to it for the whole of my Sweden trip this Easter so every time I hear it I feel like I'm in a freeeeeeezing cold country on an eight hour train journey staring out of the window at snow, frost, trees covered in snow and frost, and massive expanses of frozen lake. Easily my favourite Riverside CD and probably in my top 20 CDs of all time.

[nightmare_cinema]

Also nice thread, giving me loads of ideas for new bands and albums to check out when I finally tear myself away from listening to Steven Wilson every hour of every day.

[Prog Snob]

Also nice thread, giving me loads of ideas for new bands and albums to check out when I finally tear myself away from listening to Steven Wilson every hour of every day.

Speaking of... I'm listening to On The Sunday Of Life as we speak. 

[nightmare_cinema]

Also nice thread, giving me loads of ideas for new bands and albums to check out when I finally tear myself away from listening to Steven Wilson every hour of every day.

Speaking of... I'm listening to On The Sunday Of Life as we speak.

Nine Cats <3

I saw Radioactive Toy at the end of the two Wilson shows I caught recently. Pretty amazing experience. Is this talk allowed in this part of the forum?

[Prog Snob]

Also nice thread, giving me loads of ideas for new bands and albums to check out when I finally tear myself away from listening to Steven Wilson every hour of every day.

Speaking of... I'm listening to On The Sunday Of Life as we speak.

Nine Cats <3

I saw Radioactive Toy at the end of the two Wilson shows I caught recently. Pretty amazing experience. Is this talk allowed in this part of the forum?

I'm not sure...    My dissolute nature has never been good with rules and stuff.

But Radioactive Toy... That had to be some experience.  I've never had the pleasure of experiencing anything Steven Wilson live yet.

[KevShmev]

Steven Wilson's awesomeness knows no bounds, so....yes.

[nightmare_cinema]

Also nice thread, giving me loads of ideas for new bands and albums to check out when I finally tear myself away from listening to Steven Wilson every hour of every day.

Speaking of... I'm listening to On The Sunday Of Life as we speak.

Nine Cats <3

I saw Radioactive Toy at the end of the two Wilson shows I caught recently. Pretty amazing experience. Is this talk allowed in this part of the forum?

I'm not sure...    My dissolute nature has never been good with rules and stuff.

But Radioactive Toy... That had to be some experience.  I've never had the pleasure of experiencing anything Steven Wilson live yet.

I've been lucky enough to see him with Porcupine Tree four times, solo twice and with Blackfield once. I'm off to see Blackfield again next February too. Wilson is easily my favourite human being alive. What that man's music has given me is more influential and creates more joy than if I'd won the lottery.

[Prog Snob]

Also nice thread, giving me loads of ideas for new bands and albums to check out when I finally tear myself away from listening to Steven Wilson every hour of every day.

Speaking of... I'm listening to On The Sunday Of Life as we speak.

Nine Cats <3

I saw Radioactive Toy at the end of the two Wilson shows I caught recently. Pretty amazing experience. Is this talk allowed in this part of the forum?

I'm not sure...    My dissolute nature has never been good with rules and stuff.

But Radioactive Toy... That had to be some experience.  I've never had the pleasure of experiencing anything Steven Wilson live yet.

I've been lucky enough to see him with Porcupine Tree four times, solo twice and with Blackfield once. I'm off to see Blackfield again next February too. Wilson is easily my favourite human being alive. What that man's music has given me is more influential and creates more joy than if I'd won the lottery.

He is easily one of my favorite musical minds of all time.  He doesn't get enough recognition for what he creates.  I have to see when he is playing on this side of the pond next. 

[MoraWintersoul]

There are many good "basic" prog metal bands but to be honest after some four years of almost non-stop listening to this style of music (and not many more than 30ish bands, because I'm not good at spicing up my life), I've kind of grown tired of it and any new band I hear in the style makes me yawn. So I gave myself a little (a huge?) break.

[?]

I am obviously a DT fan, but I prefer the kind of progressive metal that focuses on dynamics, contrasts and mixing different elements instead of time signature changes and flashy soloing, so stuff like OSI, Opeth and Porcupine Tree is what I like the most. But on the whole, I've started to appreciate compact (although not necessarily the verse-chorus style of) songwriting more and more as my tastes have changed. That hasn't stopped me from getting into prog metal bands though: Fates Warning are one of my best recent discoveries.

[adace]

Threshold - March of Progress

[lonestar]

I( was gonna suggest some, but then Barry posted them all.

[TAC]

I( was gonna suggest some, but then Barry posted them all.

Tell me about it!
 

[jingle.boy]

I( was gonna suggest some, but then Barry posted them all.

Tell me about it!
 

Pretty much this.  There's a few he missed, but there's no arguing that list.

[kirksnosehair]

Shit, that's not even a complete list.  Those are just my favorites this week. 

[Prog Snob]

Dali's Dilemna and Digital Ruin were two good bands. 

[wolfking]

Let's see if I can add a couple.  Looks like Barry got this covered though.

Ark - Burn the Sun
Evergrey - In Search of Truth, Recreation Day
Magnitude 9 - Decoding the Soul
Sieges Even - Paramount, The Art of Navigating By the Stars
Subsignal - Touchstones, Beautiful and Monstorous

[Lucidity]

I am obviously a DT fan, but I prefer the kind of progressive metal that focuses on dynamics, contrasts and mixing different elements instead of time signature changes and flashy soloing, so stuff like OSI, Opeth and Porcupine Tree is what I like the most. But on the whole, I've started to appreciate compact (although not necessarily the verse-chorus style of) songwriting more and more as my tastes have changed. That hasn't stopped me from getting into prog metal bands though: Fates Warning are one of my best recent discoveries.

I feel like the band Frost* would be a good fit for you.