Heavy metal music>Heavy metal
cultural_origins	Mid-1980s, North America, United Kingdom, Australia\| derivatives = \| subgenres = Djent\| fusiongenres = Progressive metalcore
regional_scenes	United Kingdom

Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal or prog) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression"WEB,weblink Progressive Metal Music Genre Overview - AllMusic, AllMusic, and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral or quasi-classical compositions of the latter.The music typically showcases the extreme technical proficiency of the performers and usually uses unorthodox harmonies as well as complex rhythms with frequent meter changes and intense syncopation. The rhythmic aspects are especially emphasized in the djent subgenre.

Although the genre emerged towards the late-1980s, it was not until the 1990s that progressive metal achieved widespread success. QueensrÃ¿che, Dream Theater, Tool, Symphony X,AllMusic. Tool. Retrieved on February 11, 2013. Shadow Gallery, King's X, and Fates Warning are a few examples of progressive metal bands who achieved commercial success. Soon after the rise of the genre's popularity, other thrash and death metal bands started to incorporate elements of progressive music in their work.

History

Progressive metal, as a distinct musical style, was primarily advanced by members of the American heavy metal scene of the mid-1980s, particularly QueensrÃ¿che, Savatage, Fates Warning and then later on, Dream Theater and Symphony X. It has since developed in a non-linear fashion, with countless groups demonstrating innovations in personal ways.WEB,weblink 10 essential progressive metal albums, Wilson, Rich, March 10, 2020, Loudersound.com, June 6, 2021, WEB,weblink The Roots of Progressive Metal in 11 Songs, Rivadavia, Eduardo, June 6, 2018, Loudwire.com, June 6, 2021, The origins of the genre date back to the very beginning of heavy metal/hard rock and progressive rock when some bands began to merge the two different approaches. 1960s pioneers King Crimson maintained their musical innovation while incorporating a harder approach, using dissonance and experimental tones, yet still maintaining a relationship to the power chords of hard rock, with the main example being "21st Century Schizoid Man".{{sfn|pages=1-8|Wagner|2010}} Canadian trio Rush are widely recognized as bridging the gap between hard rock, English progressive rock, and pure heavy metal. Initially influenced by Led Zeppelin, they evolved to combine established progressive rock technique with blues-based power chords. Records such as 2112 (1976) showcased technical expertise and complex compositional skill while still utilizing a more direct and heavier approach than the well-established English progressive rock sound.{{sfn|pages=21-31|Wagner|2010}}(File:Dream Theater (23-07-2015).jpg|thumb|Dream Theater live in 2015)1984 brought full-length debut albums from American bands QueensrÃ¿che{{sfn|Wagner|2010|pp=47â€“54}} from Washington state, and Fates Warning{{sfn|Wagner|2010|pp=55â€“63}} from Connecticut. Both expanded their music to include more progressive elements (The Warning, 1984; The Spectre Within, 1985) â€“ some through sound experimentation and compositional refinement, others through extremely complex structures and atypical riffs â€“ up to the two seminal works in 1986: Rage for Order and Awaken the Guardian.WEB, Awaken The Guardian Retrospective,weblink Power of Prog, April 16, 2016, WEB, 10 Essential Progressive Metal Albums,weblink teamrock, March 10, 2020, In the following years the two bands, while following different paths â€“ more basic and simple the first, more articulate and complex the latter â€” explore and expand the technical refinement and sonic finesse of their music, continuing to lay the foundations of the genre with important works such as (Operation: Mindcrime) (1988) by QueensrÃ¿che,NEWS,weblink METAL GETS MENTAL, Chicago Tribune, November 18, 2021, and Perfect Symmetry (1989) by Fates Warning.Spencer, Trey (June 30, 2008). "Review: Fates Warning - Perfect Symmetry". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 2015-03-20.Progressive metal also found a home in the growing U.S. thrash metal movement, influencing popular heavy metal bands like Megadeth, with its acclaimed album Rust in Peace (1990), together with Metallica and its famous album ...And Justice for All (1988).{{sfn|Wagner|2010|pp=40â€“44}} Among the other pioneering thrash metal bands, one of the most important is Canada's Voivod, with their complex and experimental style, full of psychedelic dissonances (Dimension HatrÃ¶ss, 1988; Nothingface, 1989).{{sfn|Wagner|2010|pp=103â€“129}} "Math-metal" pioneers Watchtower, from Texas, took the concept of time-changes to a new level, combining thrash metal, syncopation and prog in their albums Energetic Disassembly (1985){{sfn|Wagner|2010|pp=69â€“72}} and Control and Resistance (1989), giving rise to an extremely technical approach based on the rhythmic deconstruction typical in jazz fusion.{{sfn|Wagner|2010|pp=83â€“84}} This same direction in prog metal would be later integrated into death metal by bands such as Atheist (Unquestionable Presence, 1991),{{sfn|Wagner|2010|pp=160â€“169}} which would become known as technical death metal or progressive death metal. Bands which also explored fusion-inspired prog metal include most notably Death and Cynic.{{sfn|Wagner|2010|p=117â€“120-140-205}}The major US bands that contribute to further delineating and developing the genre are Psychotic Waltz and Dream Theater. The former, with an approach halfway in between Watchtower and Fates Warning, produced A Social Grace (1990), melding their signature sound with the psychedelic Into the Everflow (1992),{{sfn|Wagner|2010|pp=79â€“82}} 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' instrumental skills. As for Dream Theater, their efforts resulted in two fundamental albums, which helped institutionalize classic progressive metal â€” Images and Words (1992) and Awake (1994).{{sfn|Wagner|2010|pp=91â€“107}}Among European pioneers of the genre are Germany's Sieges Even, who, starting out of technical thrash stylistically significant to Watchtower, explored the more technical and angular side of progressive metal with The Art of Navigating by the Stars (2005).{{sfn|Wagner|2010|pp=76â€“78}}File:Opeth 12 (21906436614).jpg|thumb|leftAmong the bands of the late 1990s who brought innovation to the genre are the Dutch Ayreon (a project by Arjen Anthony Lucassen) and Swedes Pain of Salvation. Ayreon focused on theatrical and melodramatic rock operas Into the Electric Castle (1998) and The Human Equation (2004), performed by many different members of prominent metal bands.WEB,weblink Review: Ayreon - Into the Electric Castle | Sputnikmusic, Sputnikmusic.com, November 18, 2021, WEB,weblink The 100 Greatest Prog Anthems Of All Time, March 26, 2018, Loudersound.com, November 18, 2021, Pain of Salvation was always working towards a more or less unusual style, demonstrated by the eclecticism and anti-conformism found on One Hour by the Concrete Lake (1998), and BE (2004).{{sfn|Wagner|2010|pp=195â€“229}} Forerunners of a more experimental and alternative approach include Thought Industry, as seen in their album (Mods Carve the Pig: Assassins, Toads and God's Flesh) (1993).WEB, Spencer, Trey, Thought Industry Mods Carve The Pig,weblink Sputnik Music, December 31, 2013, November 20, 2007, Puerto Rican band Puya rose to prominence in the late '90s with their innovative fusion of jazz, salsa, and progressive metal, evident on their 1999 album Fundamental.BOOK,weblink MCA's Puya Gets 'Fundamental' With Mix Of Rock, Salsa, Charles R. Bouley II, January 9, 1999, Billboard (magazine), Billboard, May 23, 2011, Some of the first bands to pioneer the combination of progressive rock and extreme metal influences were Dan SwanÃ¶'s Edge of Sanity, and Opeth,{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} both bands hailing from Sweden. In particular, Edge of Sanity's Crimson (1996), a 40-minute concept album consisting of a single track, brought the band critical acclaim and was heralded as one of the first extreme-metal forays into a progressive rock-esque concept album,{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} featuring death-metal vocals and heavily distorted guitars, with guest vocals and lead guitar from Opeth's Mikael Ã…kerfeldt. Dan SwanÃ¶ produced Opeth's first release, Orchid (1995), which was unique for its combination of death metal vocals and instrumentation, melodic guitar harmonies, and acoustic passages, but it wasn't until their hallmark record Blackwater Park (2001) that they received critical acclaim. Steven Wilson, progressive rock icon and frontman of Porcupine Tree, was given a copy of Opeth's prior record Still Life (1999) from a friend, and, after listening, noted that the experimental music he had been after had drifted into extreme metal. Being mutual fans of each other's work, Steven ended up co-producing Blackwater Park along with Opeth's frontman Mikael Ã…kerfeldt, and would go on to co-produce Deliverance (2002) and Damnation (2003), together a would-be double album.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} Their next release, Ghost Reveries, became an "instant classic," followed by Watershed, their last "heavy" album, both of which have had significant influence on the progressive metal genre,WEB, BÃ¶hmer, Dominik, December 8, 2018, A SCENE IN RETROSPECT: Opeth - "Ghost Reveries",weblink December 5, 2023, Everything Is Noise, en-US, WEB, Kennelty, Greg, September 18, 2019, OPETH Wrote And Deleted A Death Metal Record After Watershed,weblink December 5, 2023, Metal Injection, en-US, along with other "extreme metal" bands like Meshuggah. This style of progressive metal is often referred to as "extreme progressive metal," or "extreme prog," for short.MAGAZINE, Shteamer, Hank, July 26, 2017, Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt: My 10 Favorite Metal Albums,weblink December 4, 2023, Rolling Stone, en-US, Later bands who would play in this style are Ne Obliviscaris, Disillusion.WEB, Kennelty, Greg, July 11, 2019, DISILLUSION Announces First New Album In 13 Years The Liberation,weblink December 4, 2023, Metal Injection, en-US, WEB, Harrington, Chris, January 4, 2018, Ne Obliviscaris Put Progress In Motion,weblink December 4, 2023, Invisible Oranges - The Metal Blog, en-US, Porcupine Tree would later be influenced by this style, and in particular from Opeth, while Opeth would subsequently switch to a more traditional progressive metal/rock band, devoid of extreme metal elements.(File:Ino_Rock_Festival_-_Haken_(2).jpg|left|thumb|Haken live in 2014)Between the Buried and Me, who started as a more straightforward metalcore band, also began to incorporate both progressive metal and death metal into their music on their 2003 album The Silent Circus, a landmark album in the progressive metalcore genre.WEB,weblink BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME Albums Ranked, June 4, 2018, Prog-sphere.com, May 9, 2021, May 18, 2021,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20210518015055weblink">weblink dead, They would later add avant-garde elements as well on releases such as The Great Misdirect (2009).In the 2010s, due to the rapid growth of djent led by bands such as Periphery and After the Burial,WEB, August 17, 2021, What Is Djent Music? Explore the Heavy Metal Subgenre,weblink December 4, 2023, MasterClass, progressive metal saw an increased interest with a large number of newcomers to the genre. Some of the newer progressive metal bands that have gained popularity since the 2010s are Haken, Plini, Vola, and Caligula's Horse, among others.WEB, Loudwire Staff, March 3, 2023, 10 Best New Prog Rock + Metal Bands Since 2010, Chosen By Haken's Ross Jennings,weblink December 4, 2023, Loudwire, en,

Stylistic diversity

One of the hallmark musical qualities of progressive metal is eclecticism. In between the riffs, choruses, and solos typical of rock and metal songs, prog metal bands often include sections inspired by jazz, classical and Middle Eastern music, among others. Progressive metal is difficult to define specifically, since most bands labeled under the genre have considerably different musical influences when compared to each other.WEB, The Genres at Heavy Harmonies,weblink Heavy Harmonies, Similarly, bands such as Dream Theater, Planet X, Puya,BOOK, Mateus, Jorge ArÃ©valo, Deborah Pacini, Hernandez, D. FernÃ¡ndez, HÃ©ctor l'Hoeste; Zolov, Eric, Rockin' las AmÃ©ricas: the global politics of rock in Latin/o America,weblink registration, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004, 0-8229-5841-4, 94â€“98, Boricua Rock, Liquid Tension Experiment, The Faceless, Between the Buried and Me and Animals as Leaders have a jazz influence, with extended solo sections that often feature "trading solos". Cynic, Atheist, Opeth, Between the Buried and Me and Meshuggah all blended jazz fusion with death metal, but in dramatically different ways. Devin Townsend draws on more ambient influences in the atmosphere of his music.Progressive metal is also often linked with power metal; Fates Warning and Conception, two bands that were originally power metal outfits, later incorporated progressive elements that ended up overshadowing their power metal roots. The ProgPower music festivals showcase this progressive-power metal fusion. Recently, with a popularity in shred guitar, the genre of "technical metal" has become increasingly prevalent and popular. This has led to a resurgence of popularity for more traditional progressive metal bands like Dream Theater and Symphony X; it also has led to the inclusion within the progressive niche of bands that do not necessarily play in its traditional style such as thrash/power metal band Nevermore and technical death metal pioneers Obscura. These bands are often labeled progressive since they play complex and technical music which does not fall under any other genre.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}Orphaned Land from Israel debuted as Melodic Death-doom/Melodic death metal band that fused middle eastern rhythms and melodies into their music with a progressive edge. The band knew they wanted to create a new subgenre of metal from the very beginning, a style they would dub "oriental metal," and were always viewed as progressive due to the nature of the middle eastern elements of their music, which is known for using time signatures that are uncommon in the west, expansive song structures, and microtones. As their career developed, they would later play in a more traditional progressive metal style, comparable to Opeth, Symphony X, and the like, while maintaining their "oriental" edge.BOOK, Farhi, Kobi, Orphaned Land - 30 Years of Oriental Metal art booklet, Century Media, 2021, WEB, February 27, 2004, Interview: Orphaned Land â€“ Kobi Farhi,weblink Metal Refuge, en, WEB, Interview with Matti Svatizky (Orphaned Land),weblink www.metalfan.ro, WEB, Orphaned Land,weblink Tablet, Steven Wilson, who lived in Israel for some time playing in Blackfield, found Ophaned Land to be "something special" after listening to Mabool and, would end up producing and engineering The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR.WEB, Blabbermouth, September 24, 2009, ORPHANED LAND: New Album Due In January,weblink December 5, 2023, BLABBERMOUTH.NET, en, {{Citation |title=Orphaned Land - Vayehi Or 20 Years Of Journey (Documentary) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1zRQVjAJf4 |access-date=December 5, 2023 |language=en}} Amaseffer, also from Israel, played a similar style fusing progressive metal with orientalism, as well as Myrath from Tunisia, and later on IGNEA from Ukraine, who also use djent elements, among other artists.(File:Orphaned Land Ã Meyrin 2019 (46866490954).jpg|thumb|left|Orphaned Land live in 2019)In the late 2000s, bands such as Periphery, Tesseract, Animals as Leaders and Vildhjarta popularized the "djent" style of progressive metal in a sound originally developed by Meshuggah. It is characterized by high-attack, palm-muted, syncopated riffs (often incorporating polymeters), as well as use of extended-range guitars.WEB, What is Djent,weblink Djent Hub, April 21, 2016, July 6, 2022,weblink dead, Extended-range guitars also feature in other forms of progressive metal; artists including Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, Dir En Grey, and Ne Obliviscaris have used seven-string guitars without being part of the djent movement, Dream Theater having been one of the earliest progressive metal bands to incorporate seven-stringed guitars into their music.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}Proyecto Eskhata, a Spanish band, has received much press coverage in Spain for its fusion of progressive rock and rap metal, which journalists have described as "progressive rap metal".WEB,weblink Proyecto Ã‰skhata + Zarcort, Timeout.es, November 18, 2021, {{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}WEB,weblink MetalKorner - PROYECTO ESKHATA adelanta un tema de su futuro Ã¡lbum, Metalkorner.com, September 22, 2019, September 22, 2019,weblink dead, WEB,weblink PROYECTO ESKHATA - SALEM - INVISIBLE, Mariskalrock.com, {{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}WEB,weblink [CrÃticas de Discos] Proyecto Eskhata â€“ La edad postcontemporÃ¡nea (2015), Lamancharock.com, May 29, 2015, Progressive doom is a fusion genre that combines elements of progressive metal and doom metal.WEB,weblink The 9 albums that inspired King Goat's progressive doom sound, King, Goat, March 15, 2018, Loudersound.com, November 18, 2021, Bands include King Goat, Below the Sun,WEB,weblink Full Album Stream: Below The Sun - 'Alien World' - Decibel Magazine, May 23, 2017, Sierra,WEB,weblink Canada's purveyors of progressive doom metal issue new video, Axs.com, November 18, 2021, and Oceans of Slumber.WEB,weblink 6 New Metal Albums That Set a Strong Mood - Pitchfork, Pitchforkcom, {{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

References

The Absolute Guide To Progressive Metal by Rocking.gr.
BOOK, Wagner, Jeff, Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal, 2010, Bazillion Points,weblink 978-0-9796163-3-4,

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