What is Progressive Metal?

Progressive metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music which blends the powerful, guitar-driven sound of metal with the complex composition structures, odd time signatures, and intricate instrumental playing of progressive rock. Some progressive metal bands are also influenced by jazz fusion and classical music. Like progressive rock songs, progressive metal songs are usually much longer than standard metal songs, and they are often thematically linked in concept albums. As a result, progressive metal is rarely heard on mainstream radio and video programs.

Origination

The origins of progressive metal can be traced back to progressive rock bands from the late 1960s and early to mid-1970s such as Yes, Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, and more. The origins of the genre date back to the very beginning of heavy metal/hard rock and progressive rock, as some bands began to merge the two different approaches. 1960s pioneers like King Crimson maintained their musical innovation while incorporating a harder approach, using dissonance and experimental tones, yet maintaining a relationship to the power chords of hard rock. At the same time, metal/doom stalwarts such as Black Sabbath began to integrate accentuated progressive influences into pioneering records such as Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) and Sabotage (1975).

1984 brought full-length debut albums from American bands Queensrÿche, from Washington, and Fates Warning, from Connecticut. Taking inspiration from established metal acts like Iron Maiden, each expanded their music to include more progressive elements (The Warning 1984, The Spectre Within 1985) – some through sound experimentation and compositional refinement, others through extremely complex structures and atypical riffs – up to the two seminal works in 1986: Rage for Order and Awaken the Guardian.

The major second wave US bands that contribute to further delineating and developing the genre are Psychotic Waltz and Dream Theater. The former, with an approach halfway between Watchtower and Fates Warning, produced A Social Grace (1990), melding their signature sound with the psychedelic, Into the Everflow (1992), while the latter explored the legacy of the bands that preceded them while advancing their personal style with When Dream and Day Unite (1989). Both albums focused on keyboards and band members’ virtuoso instrumental skills, and their efforts resulted in two fundamental albums, that institutionalize classic progressive metal and a certain way of conceiving it.

As of now, the genre is still constantly evolving in multiple forms, and has reached a far broader variety of sounds and styles than it had at its origin, with many of the historical bands continuing to record new music and tour, while thousands of other new bands emerge in the underground scene every year, from all over the world. Recently, Periphery and Gojira are two examples of Progressive Metal starting to reach mainstream popularity.

Must Listen Progressive Metal Albums

Opeth - Blackwater Park (2001)

With ‘Blackwater Park’, Opeth mastered what could be capable with progressive metal. It’s an album filled with personality and careful attention to detail, easily blending together moments of dissonance and harmony.

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Between the Buried and Me - Colors (2007)

Born out of an innate desire to escape pedestrian metal, Between the Buried and Me dug deep with ‘Colors’ to show what progressive metal can do in a modern context. Beyond the killer riffs and intricate musicianship, the band also proved how much fun could be had with prog.

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Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory (1999)

Each member tell as much a story with their instruments as singer James Labrie does with his vocals. Riffs cast a huge soundscape and driving momentum as the record goes through it’s different scenes, creating a level of feeling far beyond what others thought possible.

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Meshuggah - Chaosphere (1998)

‘Chaosphere’ is an album that shows just how much finesse and flair can be done with “chug chords.” Songs build off similar sounds, allowing riffs to bounce back and forth on themselves into complex time patterns while letting other solos work their magic on top of it.

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Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)

This album shows off just how intricate the band could get, and their mastery of heavy metal on songs like “The Clairvoyant” that seem to pull the listener into different galaxies and realities.

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Periphery - II (2012)

It’s hard to believe what an influence “djent” would have on the larger progressive metal scene, but Periphery’s II: ‘This Time It’s Personal’ made a good case for it. It’s an album with a good midpoint between different genres, featuring riveting and twisting guitar melodies and riffs, mixed in with a good blend of harsh and clean vocals.

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Featured Bands

Polyphia

Polyphia is not only the biggest, but also the best metal band in the world. No other act has managed to marry a masterful command of melody with hip hop rhythms and dark and sinister tones in such an enticing way – and they’ve done so without the crutch of sing-along vocals.

Animals As Leaders

American instrumental progressive metal band from Washington, D.C. It is composed of guitarists Tosin Abasi and Mestis along with drummer Matt Garstka, having been formed by Abasi in 2007. Prosthetic Records released the band’s self-titled debut album in 2009. They went on to release the albums Weightless (2011) and The Joy of Motion (2014). Animals as Leaders is one of the most popular instrumental progressive metal bands with complex rhythms, and abstract melodies.

Periphery

Periphery is an American progressive metal band formed in Washington, D.C. in 2005. Their musical style has been described as progressive metal, djent, and progressive metalcore. They are considered one of the pioneers of the djent movement within progressive metal. Periphery has also received a Grammy nomination.

Sleep Token

Sleep Token are a masked, anonymous collective of musicians united by their worship of an ancient deity crudely dubbed ‘Sleep’, since no modern tongue can properly express its name. Sleep Token, led by the perpetually tormented, supremely talented Vessel, creates music that brings to the fore our most submerged thoughts and feelings, coaxing them from the desolate, terrifying caves of our subconscious mind.