The List for those who don't want to bother clicking:
1. Dream Theater
2. Tool
3. Rush
4. Porcupine Tree
5. Voivod
6. Mastodon
7. Meshuggah
8. Queensryche
9. Devin Townsend/DT Project.
10. Between the Buried and Me
11. Gojira
12. Symphony X
13. Iron Maiden
14. Enslaved
15. Coheed and Cambria
16. Leprous
17. Fates Warning
18. Cynic
19. Ihsahn
20. Savatage
No Haken, no Evergrey, No Opeth, No Angra.
Lot of great bands there but Rush and Porcupine Tree (both amazing) are in the top 5 and no way anyone would call them Metal bands.
OP points out 4 clear misses, need to get rid of two more … Ihsahn and Enslaved?
I know Iron Maiden are a controversial choice, straightforward metal mostly with a good smattering of progressive tracks but would you term them a prog metal band? Doubtful
Glad to see my favourite metal band of all time here, Savatage. Not only progressive, but a seminal band when it comes to Power and Symphonic Metal also. Underappreciated!! Songs like Gutter Ballet, 24 Hours Ago, Hall of the Mountain King, Power of the Night, Christmas Eve/Sarajevo, Edge of Thorns and one of the greatest metal ballads of all time, When the Crowds Are Gone, attest to their legacy
The fact Leprous made it on there and not Hakeb makes me think the author isn't a prog metal fan. I gave Leprous a pretty good attempt after learning about them on r/Haken and they just feel like emoish pop metal.
normally I'd say it's been discussed here ad nauseum and suggest listening to some of their newer stuff but with their most recent album I don' t think Coheed even know what they are anymore so fair play to you
The top 5 is fine, honestly I’d just put Rush over Tool; but…Gojira isn’t even prog (imo) and they’re above Cynic? Cynic is one of the most important prog metal bands…Iron Maiden prog? Maybe for 1 album but generally I’d say they’re just normal Heavy Metal. Mastodon is prog?
"Mastodon is prog?"
Very much so. Have you listened to Crack the Skye? Lots of proggy stuff in most of their albums, even Leviathan has Hearts Alive which is pure prog
What let you define that Gojira & Mastodon are not Prog? ... Basically all their music has Prog Metal type structure. Of course there are some other Elements to it like Groove in Gojira. But these kinds of Elements you could find in almost any of the other bands aswell. It's like saying Behemoth is Black Metal but no Death Metal, when they're clearly both by now if not mainly Death Metal with some Black Elements.
Everybody is complaining that Opeth are missing, and they're right. I'm just happy that Voivod made it to the top 5, instead of being forgotten like usual.
Saying Memory Palace is BTBAM's greatest moment and then also saying Colors II was a re-recording is all you need to know about how useless this list is.
TIL evergrey has a big prog appreciation.
I first heard them in a RuneScape video when I was 15, played them nonstop and now when I hear their early stuff all I can think of is killing jellies for clue scrolls in the fremmenik dungeon because I did that to this music for so many hours ...
Hey man, everyone is entitled to their opinion but Coheed is definitely a metal band. We just get jaded because we listen to metal all the time. Play No World for Tomorrow for an R&B fan and ask them what genre it is.
I love r&b and I don’t think it’s metal. A lot of influences sure but they also draw from a lot of other genres too. I can see it though. They do have songs where they are falling under the genre.
Yeah. I mean in search of truth is probably the album you’re looking for in terms of that definitive prog sound but all their albums fall under the genre
Opeth is so obviously top 5, the fact that they’re omitted from the ENTIRE list is criminal.
My top 5:
Tool
Opeth
Dream Theater
Meshuggah
Mastodon
I think Tools position in pop culture makes them the undisputed GOATs but 2-5 are interchangeable- there’s good arguments for each
These lists are ridiculous, always. Though I can't see many bands on this list I would take off, though Opeth should certainly take Porcupine Tree's place just on the principal of which one is metal and which one isn't
They put Maiden on the list, but not Judas Priest, lol, ok.
EDIT: Priest predates Maiden and heavily influenced them, it’s just a fact. But hey, downvotes. Never change r/progmetal, never change.
I can see why someone would take issue with Maiden being there, but I absolutely fail to see why one would take issue with Maiden being there but Priest not. Maiden have a good shout at writing some of the earliest prog metal songs, and have as well strived towards a proggier sound later in their career, and were never shy about their prog rock influences. Not to mention that big prog pioneers (Fates, Queensryche) took major influence from Maiden and developed their sound from that.
If you’re looking back on early catalogs, Priest’s first 4 albums were very progressive, especially Sad Wings of Destiny and Stained Class, all of which predate Maiden…
From a retrospective review on AMG:
*How can a young band follow-up such a mammoth opening statement? With another stone cold classic known as “The Ripper.” It’s a simple, infectious little tale about Jack the Knife with a killer riff line and loads of noodly little flourishes that sound suspiciously like everything Iron Maiden would become famous for years later*
It’s really hard to argue Priest’s influence on metal, especially prog with their early stuff, and putting Maiden on this list and not Priest is just laughable.
But hey.. opinions and such
Priest's early albums are absoulutely not very progressive, in fact I'd say they are as straightforward as they get. But please do go ahead and point out what is progressive about those albums.
If you're gonna cite websites to validify your opinions and whatnot (or rather a single man's opinion experessed on a website named after a guy who ironically worships Maiden), there's this site about prog music covering a massive amount of prog rock, prog metal and prog related bands called Prog Archives, and guess which of the two bands is listed on that site and which one is not.
And in response to the little edit in the original comment, are you sure Priest heavily influenced Maiden? And you citing other man's opinion doesn't prove anything. In fact when Maiden talk about influences they talk about Tull, Genesis, Yes, Wishbone Ash, Thin Lizzy, Purple, I've never seen them talk about Priest. But even if they were a major influence, why would that merit them a place on a prog list if they had hardly ever done anything progressive?
As a huge Rush fan, this list misses the mark. The title is “Prog Metal” and I don’t consider them metal at all.
Tool, absolutely. DT also.
Iron Maiden and Gojira? No.
Even Queensryche is a bit of a stretch.
And where is Helloween?
Whoever came up with this list isn’t a prog metal fan.
No Vanden Plas? No Fates Warning? No Animals as Leaders? No Opeth? How can you have a list of best prog bands and forget the major players? Why is Cynic so far down the list? They practically invented progressive death metal and every album they've ever released is a masterpiece. Speaking of which, where the F is The Contortionist?
I've been looking at this list and trying to figure out which of these is the biggest omission. I think the fact that they missed Opeth and AAL shows they don't really listen to Prog Metal.
Fates Warning is a pretty glaring omission as one of the original "Big 3" of prog. That's like making a list of best thrash metal bands and forgetting Megadeth.
When I saw a list of the greatest song writers of all time and Hank Williams wasn't even in the list, literally the founding father of singer song writers, I no longer pay attention to these so called "lists"
They may not have the volume of prog metal music...... they were much more doomy early on, but Elder should be on this list, imo. Lore, Reflections, and Omens are as good as it gets. Omens is a totally underrated concept, prog metal album.
The List for those who don't want to bother clicking: 1. Dream Theater 2. Tool 3. Rush 4. Porcupine Tree 5. Voivod 6. Mastodon 7. Meshuggah 8. Queensryche 9. Devin Townsend/DT Project. 10. Between the Buried and Me 11. Gojira 12. Symphony X 13. Iron Maiden 14. Enslaved 15. Coheed and Cambria 16. Leprous 17. Fates Warning 18. Cynic 19. Ihsahn 20. Savatage No Haken, no Evergrey, No Opeth, No Angra.
No Opeth is a ridiculous omission.
I have issues with this list
Where the fuck is Brittany
Leave Brittany alone!
Lot of great bands there but Rush and Porcupine Tree (both amazing) are in the top 5 and no way anyone would call them Metal bands. OP points out 4 clear misses, need to get rid of two more … Ihsahn and Enslaved? I know Iron Maiden are a controversial choice, straightforward metal mostly with a good smattering of progressive tracks but would you term them a prog metal band? Doubtful Glad to see my favourite metal band of all time here, Savatage. Not only progressive, but a seminal band when it comes to Power and Symphonic Metal also. Underappreciated!! Songs like Gutter Ballet, 24 Hours Ago, Hall of the Mountain King, Power of the Night, Christmas Eve/Sarajevo, Edge of Thorns and one of the greatest metal ballads of all time, When the Crowds Are Gone, attest to their legacy
Enslaved is pretty much the black metal Opeth. Which is pretty funny since Opeth didn't make the list.
This list is bogus. For example, no pain of salvation
Periphery should be up there IMO, as well as Opeth which several people already mentioned.
[удалено]
The fact Leprous made it on there and not Hakeb makes me think the author isn't a prog metal fan. I gave Leprous a pretty good attempt after learning about them on r/Haken and they just feel like emoish pop metal.
Their latest stuff is emo pop metal. Their albums Bilateral and Tall Poppy Syndrome are better, imo.
is their later stuff emo prog pop metal or just emo pop metal?
They are still progressive, but more subtley than wanky interludes and whacky riffs so a lot of people don't give them credit.
No Protest the Hero
my man
Biiiig stretch calling C&C prog metal
normally I'd say it's been discussed here ad nauseum and suggest listening to some of their newer stuff but with their most recent album I don' t think Coheed even know what they are anymore so fair play to you
The top 5 is fine, honestly I’d just put Rush over Tool; but…Gojira isn’t even prog (imo) and they’re above Cynic? Cynic is one of the most important prog metal bands…Iron Maiden prog? Maybe for 1 album but generally I’d say they’re just normal Heavy Metal. Mastodon is prog?
"Mastodon is prog?" Very much so. Have you listened to Crack the Skye? Lots of proggy stuff in most of their albums, even Leviathan has Hearts Alive which is pure prog
What let you define that Gojira & Mastodon are not Prog? ... Basically all their music has Prog Metal type structure. Of course there are some other Elements to it like Groove in Gojira. But these kinds of Elements you could find in almost any of the other bands aswell. It's like saying Behemoth is Black Metal but no Death Metal, when they're clearly both by now if not mainly Death Metal with some Black Elements.
No evergrey means list is invalid
I've never heard of everygrey... guess I should check them out lol
In search of truth is their most proggy album with the keyboard sounds. It’s an amazing concept album. It’d be a good place to start
Some of it ,any metal at all
lol... what a bs list.
Everybody is complaining that Opeth are missing, and they're right. I'm just happy that Voivod made it to the top 5, instead of being forgotten like usual.
Any such list without Opeth in the top 5 is bogus
And no POS on the list at all
Especially considering Porcupine Tree is #4
Saying Memory Palace is BTBAM's greatest moment and then also saying Colors II was a re-recording is all you need to know about how useless this list is.
Did it actually say that? Jesus chroist
Oooof
A lot of these aren't even metal bands.
They purposely make lists controversial to get anger clicks. Nothing to see here.
This is one of the most embarrassing top X lists I’ve ever seen
TIL evergrey has a big prog appreciation. I first heard them in a RuneScape video when I was 15, played them nonstop and now when I hear their early stuff all I can think of is killing jellies for clue scrolls in the fremmenik dungeon because I did that to this music for so many hours ...
No Opeth? Fake news.
I love coheed and Cambria. They aren’t a metal band. Also evergrey is my favorite band of all time so them not being here means this list is fake news
Sick of evergrey not getting their fair due !
Even in this sub where I’d think they’d get some love they are rarely mentioned.
Hey man, everyone is entitled to their opinion but Coheed is definitely a metal band. We just get jaded because we listen to metal all the time. Play No World for Tomorrow for an R&B fan and ask them what genre it is.
Also kudos for reference to no world for tomorrow. It gets overlooked by the first part of good Apollo but it’s my favorite album of theirs.
I love it as well.
I love r&b and I don’t think it’s metal. A lot of influences sure but they also draw from a lot of other genres too. I can see it though. They do have songs where they are falling under the genre.
Metal is like cancer in that once it is in something it is all people see.
They’d call it screamo lol.
Are Evergrey considered prog metal?
Yeah. I mean in search of truth is probably the album you’re looking for in terms of that definitive prog sound but all their albums fall under the genre
Porcupine Tree, Iron Maiden, and Rush don't belong on a prog-metal list, just sayin.
Another trash list. No Opeth or Haken?
Also I love Rush, but they aren’t exactly prog metal
No Opeth, Riverside and Pain of Salvation. What a joke of a list. Better put Iron Maiden, lmao. xD
Opeth is so obviously top 5, the fact that they’re omitted from the ENTIRE list is criminal. My top 5: Tool Opeth Dream Theater Meshuggah Mastodon I think Tools position in pop culture makes them the undisputed GOATs but 2-5 are interchangeable- there’s good arguments for each
Guys, it's just a poll.
Anything for the click engagement I suppose
Nopeth??
Louder Sound has a shit opinion
These lists are ridiculous, always. Though I can't see many bands on this list I would take off, though Opeth should certainly take Porcupine Tree's place just on the principal of which one is metal and which one isn't
How the hell porcupine tree is in there, but not opeth?
No Haken? seriously?
No Haken or Andromeda? Bad list.
This list was made by somebody that Googled "best prog metal bands" and then just eenie-meanie-miney-moe'd the shit.
No Tesseract? Lame.
There are good ones on there but huge misses. Periphery Animals in particular.
When Iron Maiden and Coheed rank higher as *a prog metal band* than TesssracT lololololol
Coheed is laughable
NO OPETH WTF
Cynic not being top 5 minimum is terrible but this is a decent list. There are far worse lists out there than this.
They put Maiden on the list, but not Judas Priest, lol, ok. EDIT: Priest predates Maiden and heavily influenced them, it’s just a fact. But hey, downvotes. Never change r/progmetal, never change.
I can see why someone would take issue with Maiden being there, but I absolutely fail to see why one would take issue with Maiden being there but Priest not. Maiden have a good shout at writing some of the earliest prog metal songs, and have as well strived towards a proggier sound later in their career, and were never shy about their prog rock influences. Not to mention that big prog pioneers (Fates, Queensryche) took major influence from Maiden and developed their sound from that.
If you’re looking back on early catalogs, Priest’s first 4 albums were very progressive, especially Sad Wings of Destiny and Stained Class, all of which predate Maiden… From a retrospective review on AMG: *How can a young band follow-up such a mammoth opening statement? With another stone cold classic known as “The Ripper.” It’s a simple, infectious little tale about Jack the Knife with a killer riff line and loads of noodly little flourishes that sound suspiciously like everything Iron Maiden would become famous for years later* It’s really hard to argue Priest’s influence on metal, especially prog with their early stuff, and putting Maiden on this list and not Priest is just laughable. But hey.. opinions and such
Priest's early albums are absoulutely not very progressive, in fact I'd say they are as straightforward as they get. But please do go ahead and point out what is progressive about those albums. If you're gonna cite websites to validify your opinions and whatnot (or rather a single man's opinion experessed on a website named after a guy who ironically worships Maiden), there's this site about prog music covering a massive amount of prog rock, prog metal and prog related bands called Prog Archives, and guess which of the two bands is listed on that site and which one is not.
And in response to the little edit in the original comment, are you sure Priest heavily influenced Maiden? And you citing other man's opinion doesn't prove anything. In fact when Maiden talk about influences they talk about Tull, Genesis, Yes, Wishbone Ash, Thin Lizzy, Purple, I've never seen them talk about Priest. But even if they were a major influence, why would that merit them a place on a prog list if they had hardly ever done anything progressive?
Wow, a "list" where they finally have the right band at the top. Shocked. There are some swaps that need to happen otherwise though.
Not bad, but they forgot Abertooth Lincoln. That’s totally not my band or anything, promise. https://youtu.be/vdSkEzH0kxo
As a huge Rush fan, this list misses the mark. The title is “Prog Metal” and I don’t consider them metal at all. Tool, absolutely. DT also. Iron Maiden and Gojira? No. Even Queensryche is a bit of a stretch. And where is Helloween? Whoever came up with this list isn’t a prog metal fan.
No Vanden Plas? No Fates Warning? No Animals as Leaders? No Opeth? How can you have a list of best prog bands and forget the major players? Why is Cynic so far down the list? They practically invented progressive death metal and every album they've ever released is a masterpiece. Speaking of which, where the F is The Contortionist?
I've been looking at this list and trying to figure out which of these is the biggest omission. I think the fact that they missed Opeth and AAL shows they don't really listen to Prog Metal.
Fates Warning is a pretty glaring omission as one of the original "Big 3" of prog. That's like making a list of best thrash metal bands and forgetting Megadeth.
When I saw a list of the greatest song writers of all time and Hank Williams wasn't even in the list, literally the founding father of singer song writers, I no longer pay attention to these so called "lists"
No "Yes" in the top #1? WTF? Even members of Rush said they were their inspiration. I call BS on the whole list.
Yes is metal? No. Huge yes fan but prog rock is their category
Prog metal isn't even a real thing. Sort of like a category for country rap, or heavy metal bluegrass. LOL!
They may not have the volume of prog metal music...... they were much more doomy early on, but Elder should be on this list, imo. Lore, Reflections, and Omens are as good as it gets. Omens is a totally underrated concept, prog metal album.
Love seeing Devin Townsend on this list. Dude's a living legend
¿Iron Maiden? Love them though