Progressive Metal
tagStarted 1988Peak 1992-2005Last big hit still active
Located in 2 routes
Prog's complexity wedded to metal's weight: heavily distorted, downtuned guitars and double-kick drums driving compositions through odd time signatures, shredding instrumental passages and multi-section epics. Soaring or aggressive vocals sit atop dense arrangements that prize technical precision and dynamic shifts. Crushing yet cerebral, virtuosic and concept-driven.
History
Forged in the late 1980s by Queensryche, Fates Warning and Dream Theater - the 'big three' - who fused Rush-style intricacy with Iron Maiden's power. Dream Theater's 1992 Images and Words broke it through; Tool, Opeth and Symphony X widened it through the 1990s-2000s into a thriving, technically extreme global scene.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_metal
- https://www.progarchives.com/subgenre.asp?style=19
- https://vancewest.com/the-prog-four-how-fates-warning-queensryche-dream-theater-and-crimson-glory-shaped-american-progressive-metal/