'Great' Prog Metal Releases (2005-2009)

[The Invisible Guest]

Zod posted this in another thread and it seemed like it make for a good topic of it's own. I kind of agree .. there have been very few traditional prog releases that I would consider to be great during that (2005-2009) period.


Originally Posted by General Zod
Looking back on it, there's seems to be a significant shortage of great Prog Metal. Between 2005 - 2009, the only Prog Metal releases I'd qualify as "great" are:

Futures End - Memoirs of a Broken Man (2009)
Redemption - The Origins of Ruin (2007)
Circus Maximus - Isolate (2007)
Zero Hour - Specs of Pictures Burnt Beyond (2006)
Redemption - The Fullness of Time (2005)
Circus Maximus - The 1st Chapter (2005)
Riverside - Second Life Syndrome (2005)

 

[The Invisible Guest]

Mine are as follows, and even at that it's hard to put these all in the "great" category. I'm trying to keep it to pretty much straight up prog bands, but that is becoming increasigly hard to do these days.

Redemption - Snowfall On Judgement Day (2008)
Vanden Plas - Christ Zero (2006)
Threshold - Dead Reckoning (2007)
Wolverine - Still (2006)
Tomorrow's Eve - Tales From Serpentia (2008)



Britt

 

[GoRillaBoy76]

well here is two more (they might be considered Progressive Power metal)

Alkemyst - Through Painful Lanes
Killing Touch - One of a Kind

and an going to go ahead and second Futures End and Circus Maximus - Isolate

 

[mad_taffer]

Pagan's Mind - Enigmatic Calling
Seventh Wonder - Mercy Falls

 

[GoRillaBoy76]

Pagan's Mind - Enigmatic Calling

This

 

[Sir Exar Kun]

Maybe I'm a little more liberal with judgments than others around here, but I've got a reasonable list....

Circus Maximus "The 1st Chapter"
Dream Theater "Systematic Chaos"
Dream Theater "Black Clouds and Silver Linings"
Frameshift "An Absence of Empathy"
Mindflow "Mind over Body"
Redemption "Snowfall on Judgment Day"
Seventh Wonder "Waiting in the Wings"
Seventh Wonder "Mercy Falls"
Shadow Gallery "Room V"
Suspyre "When Time Fades"
Thessera "Fooled Eyes"
Threshold "Dead Reckoning"

 

[The Invisible Guest]

2005 -2009, please. Some of those 2010's aren't eligible.

I also did not include any of the death metal crossover genre stuff ... tried to keep it to the traditional Prog Metal bands. I think that was the intention of Greg's original post in that other thread.

I edited my opening post to state "traditional" prog. If someone can change the thread title it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for editing Sir Exar Kun .. it might heklp keep this thing more focused. I could easily add some Opeth, Amorphis, etc. to my list, but I think the original intent was for it to be kept to traditional prog metal.



Britt

 

[TheLongshot]

I'd add PoS's "Scarsick" and DT's "Systematic Chaos" to the "great" list. To get any more detail, I'd have to look through my collection.

 

[TychoCelchu]

In terms of trad prog, it's Pain of Salvation, Redemption and Seventh Wonder for me. That's it. This area of metal has basically run out of steam as far as my ears are concerned. I have high hopes for the upcoming Fates album, but I expect it to be an outlier.

Non traditional and crossover prog has been doing very well, as a few others have pointed out.

 

[General Zod]

Vanden Plas - Christ Zero (2006)

This comes very close for me. Has the second half been as strong as the first half, it would have made it for sure.

 

[The Invisible Guest]

Track 8 .. January Sun is the best track on the disc .. IMO at least.

As for your list .. none of those made mine. Those are all quality releases though.

You asked me about Circus Maximus in the other thread. I don't covet them as much as most of the folks around here. I think they are good, but not a big favorite of mine. The singing is great, and the talent is all there, but there is something that is superficial to me. I think it's mainly the lyrical content .. not sure.



Britt

 

[zedowns]

Circus Maximus - Isolate (2007)
Redemption - The Origins of Ruin (2007)
Beyond Twilight - For the Love of Art and the Making (2006)
Circus Maximus - The 1st Chapter (2005)
Beyond Twilight - Section X (2005)
Riverside - Second Life Syndrome (2005)
Redemption - The Fullness of Time (2005)

There's plenty of good releases from '05 to '07, though. The mediocre releases from then have been better than the best releases the past two years.

 

[General Zod]

Track 8 .. January Sun is the best track on the disc .. IMO at least.

It's a strong track, but I'd put it behind the first four songs on the disc.

You asked me about Circus Maximus in the other thread. I don't covet them as much as most of the folks around here. I think they are good, but not a big favorite of mine. The singing is great, and the talent is all there, but there is something that is superficial to me. I think it's mainly the lyrical content .. not sure.

That's fair. I wonder how much could be attributed to English being a second language?

 

[Up&Away]

Zods list looks like prog that gets pushed here. You need to get out there more dude. For me, there has been aot of great progressive metal in that timeframe. Most gets overlooked IMO. I would put these against anybody's list...

Beyond Twilight - For the Love of Art and the Making
Cloudscape - Crimson Skies
Communic - Waves of Visual Decay
Darkwater - Calling Earth to Witness
DGM - FrAme
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos & BCandSL
Dreamscape - 5th Season
Eyefear - 9 Elements of Inner Vision
Ivanhoe - Walk in the Mindfields
James LaBrie - Elements of Persuasion
Malpractice - Deviation from the Flow
Mindflow - Just the 2 of Us...Me and Them
Redemption - The Fullness of Time
Sacrum - Cognition
Scenes - Call Us at the Number you Provide
Seventh Wonder - Waiting in the Wings
Souljourners - Mind Control
Spheric Universe Experience - Mental Torments
Tomorrow's Eve - Mirror of Creation II
Vanden Plas - Christ 0
Votum - Time Must Have a Stop
Vox Tempus - In the Eye of Time
Wastefall - Soulrain 21
Zero Hour - SOPBB

 

[The Invisible Guest]

There's nothing real unique about that list Up & Away. I'm guessing most of the people that post here are aware of the vast majority of those releases. Many of those titles have been discussed here before, but maybe not pushed quite as heavily as the Circus Maximus' of the world.

There were several titles you listed that were close to the border line of making my list .. most notably Communic, Malpractice, Tomorrow's Eve, and Votum.

The ones from Sacrum, Scenes, and Vox Tempus are the only three I haven't heard.



Britt

 

[General Zod]

There's nothing real unique about that list Up & Away. I'm guessing most of the people that post here are aware of the vast majority of those releases.

Agreed. I've listened to every disc on that list, and own about half of them. They just don't qualify as "great" IMO.

 

[Up&Away]

Yeah it's all subjective. I don't view Circus Maximus or Wolverine at all standouts in the prog community. Nothing unique about them at all. I would take a Mindflow, Malpractice, Eyefear, etc. over them anyday of the week.

 

[TheLongshot]

Yeah it's all subjective. I don't view Circus Maximus or Wolverine at all standouts in the prog community. Nothing unique about them at all. I would take a Mindflow, Malpractice, Eyefear, etc. over them anyday of the week.

I certainly think Wolverine is a standout, tho I debate whether or not I'd consider it prog metal, tho.

 

[General Zod]

Yeah it's all subjective. I don't view Circus Maximus or Wolverine at all standouts in the prog community.

Circus Maximus certainly isn't doing anything new. I just think they do what they do incredibly well.

 

[The Invisible Guest]

Yeah it's all subjective. I don't view Circus Maximus or Wolverine at all standouts in the prog community. Nothing unique about them at all. I would take a Mindflow, Malpractice, Eyefear, etc. over them anyday of the week.

I wasn't saying anything on any of our lists was unique .. was just trying to say that your list wasn't all that under the radar or anything.

You kind of made it sound like Greg and other prog power forum posters are stuck in a small little box of prog bands and I don't think that's really the case. I know Greg listens to tons of shit. I'm presuming a lot of other folks here do that as well.



Britt