This month, we’ve decided to do something a little different and produce curated playlists. We want to build playlists with a variety of sounds from the progressive underground as well as some more popular bands with the aim of connecting our readers to new bands and hidden gems in the scene. For this month we have gone all out and asked our writers to name some of their favorite and most formative Prog-metal songs. Find the full playlist below and read how these classics ruined the lives of influenced our writers!
If you enjoyed our playlist, and want to keep listening, you might want to check out the Related Progressive Subway Articles down the page where you’ll find links to albums we have reviewed on the site.
Contributors
Zach
There was always something alluring about prog to me. Maybe it was the innately unconventional nature, the long songs, the weirdness. I’ve also been told I look like a prog fan many times. Once I’d found my way into the metal underground, it was an every day occurrence to stumble across a new band that would tickle my fancy in the ways of screwy melodies, keyboards and symphonies, or jazzy dissonance. I just didn’t know it had a name for a while. I remember having a conversation with my dad and telling him all the bands I was getting into, and he said, “Oh, so you like prog.” Prog? What the hell’s a prog?
It was a bit too easy to go with my favorites. Opeth and BTBAM have always held a special place in my heart for fulfilling so many musical niches, but I picked some adjacent bands. Luna’s Call has been a favorite of mine in recent times, combining the musical insanity and melancholic melody of the two aforementioned above. Circus Maximus is what baseline, old-school prog metal should sound like in my mind, and The Contortionist is the template for a new era of chuggy, atmospheric goodness. King Delusion are the best kind of worship band, a clear Katatonia influence but just enough of their own sound to spice things up. Rounding things off with jagged riffs and dissonance is Stone Healer, the completely insane cousin to Alice in Chains and a recent edition to my prog arsenal (thanks to this blog that keeps my library full and wallet empty).
Dylan
My father’s collection of over 1500 CDs is essentially what kickstarted my way into prog. He is a major prog-rock enthusiast, so you’d expect him to have a majority of his collection centered around that, which he did. A day after watching Rush live (which was the first and only time they came to Argentina, R.I.P), I curiously asked who they were and he kindly sent me through a rabbit hole I’ve yet to get out of. Of course, I ended up favoring progressive metal thanks to Liquid Tension‘s fantastic live DVDs my father had which made me get into Dream Theater in what is the most predictable first prog metal band in prog metal history.
I picked out Lost in Thought‘s “A New Life” and Haken‘s “Visions” because I think they encompass everything that prog metal is to me: Virtuosity and emotion. The latter is what really elevates both these songs for me, as I find songwriting that produces heavy emotions the highlight of progressive music. The way these songs take you through a variety of moods, all built on expertly crafted (instrumental and vocal) melodies is what defines the best prog metal in my books, and the ones I picked out here perfectly depict it. “Visions” being a 22 minute masterpiece that ends a concept album, properly reprising all of its musical concepts and hitting you in the gut emotionally over our protagonist’s tragic fate, while you treat yourself to delicious ear candy in the form of multiple solos that drive the song forward expertly. And “A New Life” for being a perfect opener for the genre; having a perfect way to pick you up, throw you to the ground, then lift you to heaven. Also, yes the solos are amazing here too.
Will
Narrowing down a favourite few prog metal songs is a tough ask. I decided to include some of those formative tracks that helped to get me into the genre, and that I still frequently listen to even now. I remember listening to Mastodon’s Leviathan for the first time and it blew my mind. “The Drapery Falls” by Opeth is also pretty special to me – I can genuinely point to it as the first track where I listened to growled vocals and loved it. The rest, as they say, is history.
Sam
I once said that my taste in prog metal can generally by traced back to Dream Theater and Opeth, but it’s evolved over the years into something more general. I just really like melodic stuff with flashy solos and powerful vocals, and otherwise something with a strong “beauty and the beast” dynamic in the songwriting. I’ve chosen two songs that I feel represent these two sides, and that would be one of the first I would include in an all-time favorites list. One is from a neoclassical Japanese prog metal band with big influences from Spanish music, and the other one is from Disillusion‘s latest album which I included for the journey it always takes me on and its absolutely cathartic conclusion.
Mathis
I tend to lean more towards the -core and Avant Garde side of things when it comes to prog, but I can dig some progressive metal. Extol was actually one of the first progressive metal bands I discovered, and I will still spin them regularly. There is something refreshing about progressive metal to me, it’s different from most other heavy genres, but can be surprisingly easy to listen to. My pick “Stage 3: The Palliative Breath” is such a beautiful song, but has some of the heaviest lyrics and subject matter. I am always on the verge of bursting into tears listening to this song, but it still is just so easy to listen to.
Sebastian
Progressive metal is honestly such a wide and diverse genre, some may say, even to a fault. This is why I think it is so tough to condense the genre down to just a few songs, but I will give a couple of songs that are very special to me in particular. I’m adding “Octavarium”, honestly because I think it is only of the most realized songs that exemplify what traditional progressive metal brings to the table. In “Octavarium” (for the few who don’t know) there are some melodic bits, some odd time signature technical bits, existential lyrics, huge build-ups, and an overall epic climax and long unified composition. I think “Octavarium” set an unconscious precedent in the prog metal scene for what the ideal epic song is like. I also added “He Will Kill Again” because I love the spooky atmosphere that Tall Poppy Syndrome has, and because the lead riff to so sweet, yet dark.
0 Comments