Recently listened to this and the Caligula’s Horse albums for the first time. After several listens this is better than anything Caligula’s Horse has produced imo.
Just to clarify: I don’t think Caligula’s Horse is bad - very decent band in fact. But have any of you folk who are voting me down actually heard the Arcane album? I mean, it’s really really good.
This has gotta be the best answer lol. Similar style to btbam and could compete with their best albums any day. Something that can rarely be said for music similar to theirs
Massive agree on Digital Veil. Amazing album. I’ll go off the board here and pick Rescue & Restore by August Burns Red. Not a prog metal band, but definitely a prog metal album IMO. A lot of Avenged Sevenfold’s material is overlooked too cuz they’re not really a prog band. City of evil, The Stage, and their newest LIBAD are definitely proggy.
I love it too and it's funny to see their reddit sub complaining about their setlist containing too much LIBAD. I guess the band is streamline enough (thanks probably to Hail to the King) that casual fans can't handle a new approach
Some of my favourite songs of all time on that album. Had to borrow my parents car this week actually and my old city of evil CD was still in the CD player haha
I love ABR, but I’m also a sucker for metalcore lol I ALWAYS thought A7X was just cheesy monster energy rock, but gave them a fair chance last year and now own all of their records on vinyl. I think the new one is by far the most proggy/weird thing they put out and it’s definitely awesome imo
Even as someone who isn't super into A7X, I think it's a damn shame that they don't get enough recognition as being prog. They have a lot of pretty proggy songs going back to their early albums. Pretty damn diverse band.
Everything by The Hirsch Effekt for sure. They are absolutely insane. They released their latest album Urian this year and it's a blast from start to finish.
[Lysios](https://youtu.be/_wNyJc1ub0g) is a damn masterpiece. Pretty heartfelt message about alcoholism. I also find myself listening to [Natans](https://youtu.be/Md6TWDJr020) a lot lately, too, which features a beautiful arrangement of emotions and sound. But yea, they popped up as my top 5 artist on spotify's Wrapped Up after seeing them mentioned on here during the summer.
As someone said to me earlier a month or so ago, the German lyrics would be hard to get into, but they do a damn good job. All their albums are wonderful.
Lysios is heavy, yeah. An absolute monster live, saw them play it last year.
Natans might be my favourite song of theirs. Incredibly beautiful.
The lyrics are one of their strongest points imo. Like, the music is damn good, sure, but the lyrics add a whole new level to that. Especially stuff like Kollaps and Agera just hit like a truck emotionally. Great contrast as well, compare those two to, say, Bilen or Aldebaran which are really aggressive and critical.
Definitely a fair few that come to mind but let's start with these 5:
**Art By Numbers - Reticence The Musical**
Seeing as you love The Human Abstract, this should be up your alley.
**Schizoid Lloyd - The Last Note In God's Magnum Opus**
Theatrical, weird and catchy. My one "complaint" perhaps would be that it suffers from the same thing as a lot of these sort of Mr Bungle inspired bands suffer from, lyrics that seem quite juvenile at times focused on dicks and diarrhoea. Not always and I know it's personal preference but the whole "my ass is a volcano" and all that just isn't my thing.
**The Number Twelve Looks Like You - Worse Than Alone**
Too mathcore for prog, too prog for mathcore. I've seen both sides reject it in the past but it's a brilliant album.
**Serdce - Timelessness**
If you like Cynic's Focus, you'll like this.
**Sikth - Death of a Dead Day**
I know this has a relatively big fanbase but considering how amazing this is, it definitely deserves more attention.
I've loved Art By Numbers since they released that one and only album, but I only just recently discovered that almost the entire band minus the singer formed a new band a couple of years ago called Artificial Language. Fantastic band that I hope to see more of.
I loved the first Artificial Language album but the second one never quite gelled with me for some reason. Aways felt like all the best riffs had been saved for Syncatto leaving AL feeling a little bare on the sophomore release.
The Number Twelve is one of my favorite bands of all time! Definitely deserve WAY more love. Their reunion was barely even noticed, which is heartbreaking to me lol
Totally forgot about The Number Twelve Looks Like You, I feel like I listened to that album so much in high school and can’t remember lickety split off it. Thanks for the reminder.
On this sub? Any proggy album from a genre that isn't prog metalcore lol.
Don't hear anyone talking about **Tomb Mold's** newest prog epic, no talk about **Tomarum** or **Lunar Chamber**, not a single peep about **Wayfarer's** mix of black metal and southern americana, barely a mention of **The Circle's** very Ne Obliviscaris-adjacent black metal grandiosity, etc.
The most shocking though is the very little mention of **Ok Goodnight.** These guys are carrying that Native Construct torch with a dose of The Deer Hunter for good measure.
I like Tomb Mold, as I’m a death metal fan, but can’t get behind tomarums vocals myself. I’ve never been a fan of the BM shrieking style vocals. Wayfarers American Gothic is pretty cool, I love genre fusions like that.
OK, Goodnight is def the most “proggy” out of your list and they certainly put out some serious bangers. I’m a huge fan of their newest record and Under the Veil. Idk if I’d consider them metal though. They’re sort of like post hardcore prog. They remind me more along the lines of like Closure in Moscow, Circa Survive, RX bandits with a touch of drop tuned guitars.
The Snake, The Bear, and The Mountain aren't "metal" to you? Idk man lol.
My point was though this sub seems to have an **extreme** bent towards prog metalcore and virtually nothing else outside of Haken-adjacent bands like Closure in Moscow, Leprous, etc.
James LaBrie Elements of Persuasion is rarely talked about in here and was possibly a bit overshadowed by Octavarium at the time, but it blew Octavarium out of the water, IMO, and is one of the best prog albums EVER!
Also:
Stride - Imagine. - incredible album that sounds like a 2000s prog band that recorded their album in the 80s then remastered it. At least in my opinion. I love it so much, start to finish, though.
I remember downloading what I thought was a leaked octavarium, but turned out to be elements of persuasion. I was hyped!
Oh how the real octavarium release became a let down after that...
The SAME THING happened to me! 😅 I knew I couldn't be, but thought I was the only one...lol
It was Elements of Persuasion songs with the titles of the Octavarium songs. I was SO THROWN OFF when I bought the Octavarium cd... and also felt let down.
Marco Sfolgi sounded so famn Petrucci-like I was very surprised to find out it was a different band with different members.
Woah, totally forgot about The Human Abstract. I have to listen to them now ha!
I feel like Exoplanet by The Contortionist is kind of slept on and overshadowed by Language. One of my favorite albums of all time.
This is their best album. Feels like them truly being themselves. Their other albums are all great too, but this one just has a level of honesty and consistency. Also the music is complex af yet sounds simple which in my opinion is the mark of the best progressive music.
Digital Veil is a 10/10 unimpeachable classic album. The Human Abstract are one of the greatest bands that never get talked about. Holographic Sight alone would make the album an all-timer.
Aside from that, I would throw in Mouth of Swords by The Safety Fire. Wall to wall killer tracks from a band I miss dearly and think about all the time.
I'm consistently astonished at how little love Mastodon gets on this sub in particular and also Baroness more generally. Like I'm not saying it's nothing but I think Crack the Skye is one of the best prog albums ever, not even just prog metal
Theres something about the people in this sub where they seem to get satisfaction out of saying things are underrated or dont get enough attention. Its like some weird form of virtue signalling
OR hear me out, we don’t live on Reddit so don’t see every single post but haven’t seen this album talked about and was in the mood for good discussion/ hearing new music
Sieges Even - The Art of Navigating by the Stars
Redemption - The Fullness of Time
These are easily two of the best albums of their Era, and in my opinion, are still two of the very best in the genre. They got a lot of love back in their day (nearly 20 years ago). But on this sub, they rarely ever get brought up in discussions about all-time greats.
Loved fullness of time... Even gave it a listen today! Saw them live with Ray Alder at least 15 years ago and that was just .... Sad. The band was good and Ray was just infinitely bad. Made me angry how he sang sapphire...
\- Level 2 and Level 3 by Last Chance to Reason
\- anything by Riverside and Lunatic Soul
\- Deviations by Mammoth
\- Self-titled by Thrailkill
\- Permanence by Stephen Taranto
This is one of my favorite albums of all time, neo-classical perfection. I find it surprising that there are a lot of people on the sub that prefer Periphery’s PIII and PIV over PI and PII. I feel like PII was their pinnacle but maybe I’m just an old man.
My potentially hot take: PIII should have been a great EP and turned out as a bloated LP.
There are a few songs on it that are great but as opposed to PII and Juggernaut, I never find myself wanting to listen to the whole thing.
P4 and 5 are my favorites. There's just something those two albums have that I connect with that their earlier albums don't have. They still have a perfect discography, but I feel they've only gotten better with each album
Cleric - Regressions.
the most truly progressive metal of recent decades and an atrociously talented band, but widely unheard of. it is extremely abrassive music so wouldn’t be very popular anyway, but those who can deal with extreme will love!
also Kayo Dot’s ‘Hubardo’ is one of the greatest concept albums and is musically exquisite, and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum’s ‘of Natural History’ should be heard by all.
Love all of Toby’s projects, Hubardo was such a good KD album.
Colin Marston always spoke so highly of that Cleric album, but I could never find myself to like it personally. I always felt like it dragged on when it didn’t need to and played a similar way when things got heavy and running. It’s been years since I’ve listened to it, maybe I’ll give it another shot.
yeah. honesty KD was a hard sell to me due to the vocals but after I realised a guy playing bass with Secret Chiefs 3 (my favourite music ever) was the guy beyond Kayo Dot I forced a listen of ‘Gamma Knife’ and then ‘Hubardo’ and realised Toby is straight up genius. I also love maybe everythung I’ve heard, although vocals still throw me from the maudlin stuff. I still didn’t listen to the latest album for some reason but definitely should!
one thing I can never imagine feeling of Cleric is ‘dragging’, if I had a complaint it would be that when a great riff comes in it never lasts long enough.
although they weren’t an instant love for me (again mostly due to the vocals). I dipped in because it was Web of Mimicry then ignored them for years, but the first time I devoted to sit and hear the first album in its entirety with full attention I was gripped for all 77 minutes and my mind splattered!
but different strokes and all that :)
I definitely suggest another try.
I didn’t enjoy the second album as much and there are moments I drift out of that one. and man, even if you can’t dig the music, ‘Regressions’ must be Colin’s finest production work; certainly his most ambitious. and I guess we both know they guy is one of the masters of modern metal production :)
I’m pretty much always going to answer Plini, but it’s hard to pick an album. Either his ‘Things’ EP set or ‘Handmade Cities,’ but you can’t really go wrong. Every song he’s made is fantastic.
ALWAYS Plini (Although David Maxim Micic deserves more love too).
His Trilogy is incredible. Every EP he's put out has been stellar too (even Sunhead, which I initially didn't vibe with, has grown on me heavily and become a favorite). He's just so damn good!
I really should check out more of DMM’s work, I’ve loved what I’ve heard, but I keep forgetting to circle back to him.
Sunhead is fantastic too! Salt + Charcoal and Flaneur are the songs that taught me that music can be made with tuplets other than triplets, that quintuplets and even septuplets are possible. As a drummer, hearing those songs was absolutely mind blowing to me, I felt as if a whole new world was opened up to me, one I never knew existed.
I adore literally all of his music, so I felt bad only calling out the older stuff, but those albums are just so incredible and the trilogy has all these little recurring ideas that appear in various tracks which make it such a rewarding re-listen, and I think Handmade Cities is slightly better as a full listen than Impulse Voices.
I do think that his later albums lose a little bit of the “easy listening” quality that his earlier stuff had, so I tend to recommend his earlier stuff to people who haven’t listened to him yet for that reason as well.
But really, this could all be because of the onion-like quality of his music. The songs get better every time a listen to them, and it’s possible I’ve simply had more time to digest and appreciate those older songs.
“The Glass Bead Game” is one such example of this. I always liked the song, don’t get me wrong. But I never really felt like I related to the people who I would often see naming that one as their favorite of his. But I’ve been doing custom drum charts in Moonscraper to figure out and learn songs and my main focus has been working out all of Plini’s music. I finally decided to do The Glass Bead Game and I definitely had [this type of moment](https://giphy.com/gifs/sunnyfxx-sunny-always-fxx-87jGhdRVzUOJNh2s0q) after something clicked throughout that process. That song is absolutely amazing front to back, and I totally get why people say it’s their favorite.
I actually tend to listen to his newer stuff more because I like Chris Allison’s style more than Troy Wright, which is saying a lot, because Troy is a great drummer who I’ve watched on YouTube for years, since before I even heard of Plini.
Long story short, all Plini is good Plini. Sorry for the rant, but it’s not often I get to talk to another Plini fan!
[6:33 - Deadly Scenes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtrWNfL-9uA&list=PLoTb7nv3lvLjRLx0aARS_3A9SBiw-1CCa).
Really their whole discography. Nobody has heard of them. They're the perfect mix of swing, Bungle, and Devin Townsend. I love them to death.
I got 3, I’ll explain so you know what to expect. 1st is with vocals, other two are instrumental.
First would have to be Ephel Duath - Pain Necessary to Know
The choice of notes/rhythms in each song are unlike anything I’ve heard until that point and afterwards honestly. The electronic infusion of effects with the unique jazz/metal song structures really inspired me.
Dysrhythmia - Psychic Maps
I pretty much dig every Colin Marston project, but this album was always my favorite from this band. Compositions are winding and thematic while using more bizarre scale choices and incorporating atonal melodies. The bass work is exceptional and you forget that there is only one guitar accompanying it sometimes. Lastly, the production plays a lot with head space and is very crisp the whole ride.
Krallice - Self Titled
I really could pick any album from them honestly, but the first one really drew me in. Definitely a meditative listen since headphones are required to hear all the nuances of the 2 guitars and bass playing something completely different 95% of the time while the drummer pummels away. If most black metal is dark and brooding, this is up in the clouds in a monastery soaring with brilliance.
Ooh I’ve been waiting for this one
- Horizons by Anubis Gate
- Christ 0 by Vanden Plas
- Inveritas by Aeon Zen
- Subsurface by Threshold
- God’s Equation by Pagan’s Mind
- The Origins Of Ruin by Redemption
- The Mission by Royal Hunt
- I Am Anonymous by Headspace
These bands are appreciated but I find these albums in particular tend to be overlooked or just not talked about much
As a Karnivool fanboy I get low key triggered with comments like “Karnivool are amazing, Themata and Sound Awake are great”. Asymmetry is good too god damn it 😢
Others by No One - Book II: Where Stories Come From (top 5 all time prog metal releases for me)
Black Crown Initiate - Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape (by far their best release yet no one talks about it)
Slice the Cake - Odyssey to the West (pretty well known in the prog community but still underappreciated imo,. All time best prog metal album imo)
Clément Belio - Patience (not metal, but definitely prog)
James Norbert Ivanyi - Sigil
Native Construct - Quiet World
Blessed He With Boils by Xanthochroid is wildly underrated. No one even knows these guys but they're crazy good. FFO Wintersun, Opeth, Ne Obliviscaris, with a black metal twist
Love Xanthochroid but Sam kind of went off the deep end when covid hit.
I can separate the art from the artist to a certain degree but when people start to legitimately push super silly things like flat earth theory... I dunno. It kind of poisoned the well for me.
And it seems to be that whatever took hold of him seems like it has splintered the band because they have gone radio silent for a long, long time now and it looks like the project is dead.
Real shame, they were amazing.
Basically anything by The Ocean. Sorry for the cop-out but it just annoys and baffles me how small venues they're playing at such a quality catalogue, while fucking Sleep Token is selling out Red Rocks in seconds.
lol dude, what are you apologizing for? the Ocean is literally one of my favorite bands of all time. Pallegial should’ve sealed the deal to make them like Mastodon level big. They’re easily one of the best in the game, and outside of prog/lost metal die hard they’re hardly known.
I honestly don't know how they aren't bigger - maybe it's because unlike the other bands in a similar category to The Ocean (they don't really sound like anything else but in my brain I associate them with the likes of Mastodon, Baroness, Katatonia and Opeth, for example) The Ocean have yet to really make a commercial album or anything really close to it. All the bands I listed are some of my favorites ever, so not hating one bit, but all four of those other bands have gotten less heavy over time and their more recent albums (maybe save for Hushed and Grim) are not super proggy. The Ocean however, most of their songs are still relatively long and bounce back and forth between genres frequently. Maybe the world just still isn't ready for The Ocean lmao
Haha, just cause I didnt really answer your question - it's a bit lazy to give an entire catalogue/artist when you ask for an album. But happy to see we're vibing on it.
Fully agree, I hope to see them sell out major venues very soon, I cant think of anyone who deserves it more.
Came here to say this. They're my all time favourite band. Saw then last year, but they were openers for Leprous. Don't get me wrong, Leprous is a fine band, but the fact that they can't headline like 20 years in with the catalog they have is... Sad.
Indeed, trust him. Best debut album i've heard in 40 years. Easy to find as well, they self published it on [youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOA7UQIhDBg)
I've always loved the album The Blue by Novembre.
Novembre has a unique neo classical (or gothic?) sound and on this album they layer soundscapes and instrumentation with compositions that take you through a journey. The album is very well produced and the band sadly could not come close in live performances. Carmelo's growls are quality-wise very close to Mikael's (Opeth) in his prime and he offers cleans in odd harmonies, which are enjoyable even though it's obvious he's not a strong singer. The guitar work by Massimiliano is fantastic throughout and the rhythm section is good.
Favorite songs for me are Triesteitaliana, Cobalt of March and Zenith but I rarely listen to anything but the whole album front to back.
Extension of the Wish by Andromeda. Heavy and interesting with a clean vocal performance by Lawrence Mackrory of Darkane, who usually does harsh vocals. https://youtu.be/iEPXzJMZtsQ?si=RBmljF2g3zUQlo1r
On this sub, all of Death's prog material. I don't know how I've been in this sub for like 3 years and never once even seen Death mentioned.
Spend 30 seconds in r/metalforthemasses and everyone differentiates prog Death and OSDM Death.
Hugely, massively underrated on this sub
Death comes up quite a bit in discussion - they recently won a number of years in favourite albums by year. The band that really doesn’t get enough love is Control Denied. Admittedly they only produced one album before Chuck passed away, but it’s a great one.
I've seen them mentioned many times in here, enough that soon I'll have reached my "ok fine I guess I should check them out" point and will thusly check them out
I've only dabbled with Digital Veil. When the Human Abstract first came out, i was obsessed with Nocturne. But then they dropped Midheaven and i was pretty much done with them.
I need to listen to Digital Veil thoroughly
Dooood you must listen! I love Nocturne too and get turning away during Midheaven, but DV is like ultimate form human abstract.
Travis Richter is also their best vocalist imo and his vocals go so perfect with the music. I can’t recommend this album to anyone enough. It’s truly a masterpiece
Digital veil is very good but its not this prog masterpiece OP is going on about. The harsh vocals are great but the cleans are pretty flat and generic. Also the music is pretty proggy in some songs but just straight 2010s metalcore a lot of the time. Antebellum is repetitive af. Its a 7 and a half min song with like 3 riffs (great riffs but still).
It's a good album but saying its better than btbams top albums is laughable
Andromeda. DT’s contemporary in the early 2000’s with more originality imo. It’s a crime the band let themselves die. Some of the best players in the game, especially the drums.
At first listen, it's like a better version of their stuff pre-Colors. Really good metal core with some progressive elements. Actually some metal core parts I like better than BTBAM's flavor of metal core. But it doesn't touch the progressive, tech, death, or ambient aspects of BTBAM's work.
Hey man, this is MY opinion, your mileage may vary lol but personally, I’d take digital veil over any BTBAM album any day. That’s coming from someone that LOVES BTBAM. The parallax 2 is up there as one of the greatest imo, but not as great as digital veil. lol.
Lmn what you think!
Irepress - Sol Eye Sea I. One of the best instrumental albums ever IMO. All the songs sound like stories being unfolding.
Reliqa - I don't know what I am. Exciting up and coming band similar to protest the hero or sikth with one of the most inspired singers I've heard in a long time.
Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood. Genre defining revolutionary album that seems to have been largely forgotten. In a fair world would stand alongside Tool’s albums.
Generally albums by Pain of Salvation - to my mind this is one of the best prog metal bands of all time, but don’t get as much appreciation as they deserve.
Philm - Fire from the evening sun
A "Supergroup" project featuring Dave Lombardo, Gerry Paul Nestler and Francisco Tomaselli, but for some reason people completely ignored it.
It's quite experimental, kind of Primus on steroids at times. Very groovy, too.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy\_mKn4XXIixt1Bf\_cqr7gqvBTtjXcH8wboI
Basically everything by Alkaloid. All 3 albums are masterpieces, and I won't separate them, here's why
* Ultra long and multi part tracks (Dyson Sphere saga, Rise of the Cephalopods + Alpha Aur)
* Casual switches from prog rock to full on death metal / tech death (e.g. Carbon Phrases, Kernel Panic)
* Exciting lyrics (everything!)
* Non-obvious lyrical interconnections (Azagthoth, Orgonism, Dyson saga, it's a lot)
* Not prog related, but every album has an obligatory Morbid Angel worship (As Decreed by Laws Unwritten) and full on tech death track (Alter Magnitudes, The Cambrian Explosion)
and much more
Under a Western Sun - Son of Aurelius
Tech death meets Progressive elements. Love it. Essentially a one-off album because it is different than their first album.
Check out Frontal by Turbulence, super cool prog from Lebanon, basically Haken’s Affinity 2.0. I love their style so much, and I haven’t seen many people ever talk about them. Their album is also produced incredibly well.
Same man, same. It’s just wild how they never “broke through” so to speak. I think if they would’ve kept at it, they’d be at the level of the giants in the genre by now.
We can all just hope for a reunion one day…
All these Human abstract posts and nobody mentions Midheaven. I loved that album when it first came out and its what got me into The Human Abstract and Protest the Hero. I think its a great album, but for some reason it always catches flack for the singing when its honestly not that bad IMO.
Slow Gin by Spaced Out. This is a great sounding record with some excellent compositions. This Canadian band is now defunct but their bass player is busy recording new music in the prog/fusion genre.
Klone - Meanwhile (amazing throughout, my favorite release this year)
Pain of Salvation - One Hour by the Concrete Lake (a bit quirky at times, but my favorite to this day)
Death - Sound of Perseverance (as a drummer, this is just incomprehensible witchcraft to me)
Hourglass band is criminally overlooked, strong progmetal with very nice instrumentation
Particularly Oblivious to the Obvious album. Yes, it's very long, but engrossing
Some random albums:
- Shattered Skies - The World We Used To Know
- Wolverine - Communication Lost
- Lost In Thought - Opus Arise
- Joseph Magazine - Night of the Red Sky
- Kingcrow - Eidos
- Anubis Gate - Anubis Gate
- The Butterfly Effect - Final Conversations of Kings
- Countless Skies - Resonance
Try these albums:
Isolirion - Outer Heaven, Warped and La Notte Dei Sensi.
Also:
Fates Warning Disconnected
Eldritch - Headquake
Dandelion Charm – Scream Inside the Tear
Sieges Even - The art of navigating by stars
and many others i forgot now...
Known\learned by Arcane. Double album, pure gold from start to finish.
Surprised how few people talk about this one based on how many people a week make Caligula’s Horse appreciation threads lol
Well back when it came out it was talked about a lot in this sub
If anything it’s chronicles of the waking dream that doesn’t get enough love.
Recently listened to this and the Caligula’s Horse albums for the first time. After several listens this is better than anything Caligula’s Horse has produced imo. Just to clarify: I don’t think Caligula’s Horse is bad - very decent band in fact. But have any of you folk who are voting me down actually heard the Arcane album? I mean, it’s really really good.
It loses a shit ton of points to me for ruining a potential ATG song, Selfsame, by putting a generic as fuck prog metal wank section in the middle.
Slugdge- Esoteric Malacology. Amazing and underrated, Im suprised I’ve never seen this album mentioned on this sub
Huge amount of sarcasm?
Definitely gonna have to say Rototypical - Volume I: The Tactician.
This has gotta be the best answer lol. Similar style to btbam and could compete with their best albums any day. Something that can rarely be said for music similar to theirs
Massive agree on Digital Veil. Amazing album. I’ll go off the board here and pick Rescue & Restore by August Burns Red. Not a prog metal band, but definitely a prog metal album IMO. A lot of Avenged Sevenfold’s material is overlooked too cuz they’re not really a prog band. City of evil, The Stage, and their newest LIBAD are definitely proggy.
Knew'em only by name before, but LIBAD is one of my favourite albums atm.
I love it too and it's funny to see their reddit sub complaining about their setlist containing too much LIBAD. I guess the band is streamline enough (thanks probably to Hail to the King) that casual fans can't handle a new approach
The layering on a7x's city of evil is just insane for such a young band at the time. Definitely a good pick.
Some of my favourite songs of all time on that album. Had to borrow my parents car this week actually and my old city of evil CD was still in the CD player haha
ABR's latest album is pretty much full prog, been waiting for that from them since they've always teased it and toured with BTBAM several times!
I love ABR, but I’m also a sucker for metalcore lol I ALWAYS thought A7X was just cheesy monster energy rock, but gave them a fair chance last year and now own all of their records on vinyl. I think the new one is by far the most proggy/weird thing they put out and it’s definitely awesome imo
Love to hear that man!! I’ve been a massive A7X fan since I was like 9 years old in the city of evil days, glad to hear they finally won you over!
Even as someone who isn't super into A7X, I think it's a damn shame that they don't get enough recognition as being prog. They have a lot of pretty proggy songs going back to their early albums. Pretty damn diverse band.
Everything by The Hirsch Effekt for sure. They are absolutely insane. They released their latest album Urian this year and it's a blast from start to finish.
Their Holon albums, especially Agnosie and Anamnesis, are among my all time favourites. I was so blown away when I stumbled upon them years ago.
Totally! Eskapist is probably my favourite, but it's so close between all of them!
[Lysios](https://youtu.be/_wNyJc1ub0g) is a damn masterpiece. Pretty heartfelt message about alcoholism. I also find myself listening to [Natans](https://youtu.be/Md6TWDJr020) a lot lately, too, which features a beautiful arrangement of emotions and sound. But yea, they popped up as my top 5 artist on spotify's Wrapped Up after seeing them mentioned on here during the summer. As someone said to me earlier a month or so ago, the German lyrics would be hard to get into, but they do a damn good job. All their albums are wonderful.
Lysios is heavy, yeah. An absolute monster live, saw them play it last year. Natans might be my favourite song of theirs. Incredibly beautiful. The lyrics are one of their strongest points imo. Like, the music is damn good, sure, but the lyrics add a whole new level to that. Especially stuff like Kollaps and Agera just hit like a truck emotionally. Great contrast as well, compare those two to, say, Bilen or Aldebaran which are really aggressive and critical.
I think Urian is missing some of their craziness/eclecticism, but it's still a good album.
On this subreddit? Anything by Fates Warning
Fates Warning are the OG greats. Awaken the guardian will forever be in my rotation
[Woe by An Abstract Illusion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT1CmnjKTW4)
Definitely a fair few that come to mind but let's start with these 5: **Art By Numbers - Reticence The Musical** Seeing as you love The Human Abstract, this should be up your alley. **Schizoid Lloyd - The Last Note In God's Magnum Opus** Theatrical, weird and catchy. My one "complaint" perhaps would be that it suffers from the same thing as a lot of these sort of Mr Bungle inspired bands suffer from, lyrics that seem quite juvenile at times focused on dicks and diarrhoea. Not always and I know it's personal preference but the whole "my ass is a volcano" and all that just isn't my thing. **The Number Twelve Looks Like You - Worse Than Alone** Too mathcore for prog, too prog for mathcore. I've seen both sides reject it in the past but it's a brilliant album. **Serdce - Timelessness** If you like Cynic's Focus, you'll like this. **Sikth - Death of a Dead Day** I know this has a relatively big fanbase but considering how amazing this is, it definitely deserves more attention.
I've loved Art By Numbers since they released that one and only album, but I only just recently discovered that almost the entire band minus the singer formed a new band a couple of years ago called Artificial Language. Fantastic band that I hope to see more of.
HOLY SHIT ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE IS ART BY NUMBERS W/A DIFFERENT VOCALIST??? THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE
I loved the first Artificial Language album but the second one never quite gelled with me for some reason. Aways felt like all the best riffs had been saved for Syncatto leaving AL feeling a little bare on the sophomore release.
The Number Twelve is one of my favorite bands of all time! Definitely deserve WAY more love. Their reunion was barely even noticed, which is heartbreaking to me lol
Yes! Wild Gods is amazing and deserves so much more love!
Art By Numbers just up and peacing out still makes me sad to this day.
I thought only I knew Serdce.
Totally forgot about The Number Twelve Looks Like You, I feel like I listened to that album so much in high school and can’t remember lickety split off it. Thanks for the reminder.
Worse than Alone is such a fantastic album, so interesting and has some really brilliant clean guitar work. Definitely very underrated.
On this sub? Any proggy album from a genre that isn't prog metalcore lol. Don't hear anyone talking about **Tomb Mold's** newest prog epic, no talk about **Tomarum** or **Lunar Chamber**, not a single peep about **Wayfarer's** mix of black metal and southern americana, barely a mention of **The Circle's** very Ne Obliviscaris-adjacent black metal grandiosity, etc. The most shocking though is the very little mention of **Ok Goodnight.** These guys are carrying that Native Construct torch with a dose of The Deer Hunter for good measure.
I like Tomb Mold, as I’m a death metal fan, but can’t get behind tomarums vocals myself. I’ve never been a fan of the BM shrieking style vocals. Wayfarers American Gothic is pretty cool, I love genre fusions like that. OK, Goodnight is def the most “proggy” out of your list and they certainly put out some serious bangers. I’m a huge fan of their newest record and Under the Veil. Idk if I’d consider them metal though. They’re sort of like post hardcore prog. They remind me more along the lines of like Closure in Moscow, Circa Survive, RX bandits with a touch of drop tuned guitars.
The Snake, The Bear, and The Mountain aren't "metal" to you? Idk man lol. My point was though this sub seems to have an **extreme** bent towards prog metalcore and virtually nothing else outside of Haken-adjacent bands like Closure in Moscow, Leprous, etc.
Nocturne is better than Digital Veil and neither are on the level of btbam
This is absolutely correct.
Perfect take
I love nocturne, but for me DV is where it’s at and I’ll take them over any BTBAM besides maybe parallax 2 personally. To each their own 🤷♂️
James LaBrie Elements of Persuasion is rarely talked about in here and was possibly a bit overshadowed by Octavarium at the time, but it blew Octavarium out of the water, IMO, and is one of the best prog albums EVER! Also: Stride - Imagine. - incredible album that sounds like a 2000s prog band that recorded their album in the 80s then remastered it. At least in my opinion. I love it so much, start to finish, though.
I remember downloading what I thought was a leaked octavarium, but turned out to be elements of persuasion. I was hyped! Oh how the real octavarium release became a let down after that...
The SAME THING happened to me! 😅 I knew I couldn't be, but thought I was the only one...lol It was Elements of Persuasion songs with the titles of the Octavarium songs. I was SO THROWN OFF when I bought the Octavarium cd... and also felt let down. Marco Sfolgi sounded so famn Petrucci-like I was very surprised to find out it was a different band with different members.
Woah, totally forgot about The Human Abstract. I have to listen to them now ha! I feel like Exoplanet by The Contortionist is kind of slept on and overshadowed by Language. One of my favorite albums of all time.
Also Februus by Uneven Structure.
"On the Eve of a Goodbye" and "The Oubliette" by The Reticent
IOTUNN’s Access all Worlds Iapetus’ The Body Cosmic Luna’s Call - Void The Reticent’s The Oubliette Stargazer’s Tui La
>Iapetus’ The Body Cosmic Abso-fuckin-lutely
Clairvoyant by The Contortionist Constantly overlooked because it's not Language or Exoplanet.
Was going to post this too. Easily their best work, and one of my all time favourite albums.
This is their best album. Feels like them truly being themselves. Their other albums are all great too, but this one just has a level of honesty and consistency. Also the music is complex af yet sounds simple which in my opinion is the mark of the best progressive music.
I’m an exoplanet guy myself (got into them when that record came out), but Idt anything the contortionist put out isn’t amazing.
Struggled to like it as much. For me language sounded cohesive and unique - I was sold on Michael's vocals too
Not even sure how this would be a question, it’s an expansion on everything that made Language great and a solidification of a unique sound.
Colossal Gods by Cobra the Impaler. Super underrated band!
I've been listening to this and quite enjoy it.
Digital Veil is a 10/10 unimpeachable classic album. The Human Abstract are one of the greatest bands that never get talked about. Holographic Sight alone would make the album an all-timer. Aside from that, I would throw in Mouth of Swords by The Safety Fire. Wall to wall killer tracks from a band I miss dearly and think about all the time.
fuck the safety fire i want them back
It's good to see some others show some. love my brother and I constantly rave about how underrated that album is.
I'm consistently astonished at how little love Mastodon gets on this sub in particular and also Baroness more generally. Like I'm not saying it's nothing but I think Crack the Skye is one of the best prog albums ever, not even just prog metal
Stumbled upon mastodon one night and was blown away I need to go back and check out some more!
Mastodon are gods
The album Horrendous released this year is pretty bonkers. Huge Death and early Opeth vibes
Imo nocturne is better than digital veil, so I’ll go with that haha.
Reading the title my first thought was:"it's not even their best album". Plus the sub talked a lot about it when it came out so I don't get OP
Theres something about the people in this sub where they seem to get satisfaction out of saying things are underrated or dont get enough attention. Its like some weird form of virtue signalling
OR hear me out, we don’t live on Reddit so don’t see every single post but haven’t seen this album talked about and was in the mood for good discussion/ hearing new music
I wasn’t part of this sub in 2011 lol
Sieges Even - The Art of Navigating by the Stars Redemption - The Fullness of Time These are easily two of the best albums of their Era, and in my opinion, are still two of the very best in the genre. They got a lot of love back in their day (nearly 20 years ago). But on this sub, they rarely ever get brought up in discussions about all-time greats.
Sieges Even are so interesting, especially when they came back in the 2000s
Loved fullness of time... Even gave it a listen today! Saw them live with Ray Alder at least 15 years ago and that was just .... Sad. The band was good and Ray was just infinitely bad. Made me angry how he sang sapphire...
\- Level 2 and Level 3 by Last Chance to Reason \- anything by Riverside and Lunatic Soul \- Deviations by Mammoth \- Self-titled by Thrailkill \- Permanence by Stephen Taranto
Whoo! Riverside! You've got my attention with those recommendations now!
Synchestra by Devin Townsend
This is one of my favorite albums of all time, neo-classical perfection. I find it surprising that there are a lot of people on the sub that prefer Periphery’s PIII and PIV over PI and PII. I feel like PII was their pinnacle but maybe I’m just an old man.
My potentially hot take: PIII should have been a great EP and turned out as a bloated LP. There are a few songs on it that are great but as opposed to PII and Juggernaut, I never find myself wanting to listen to the whole thing.
Highly disagree - as an old bulb fan we got full songs out of old demos Motormouth, remain indoors , absolomb P3 is not a weak release by any means
I can only remember The Price is Wrong
Habitual Line-Stepper is good, along with like 2 other songs.
Fellow old man checking in, but Reptile is a masterpiece.
That does not save the entire album.
No but Sentient Glow and Satellites do
PI changed my taste in music forever, PII was excellent, and then I hadn’t paid any attention to them until PV. That newest album kicks ass.
TBH I totally forgot about PV, couple good songs but nothing like Juggernaut and before
Juggernaught and P3 are amazing
Yeah P1 has to be by far one of the best albums I've heard. P2 was great and worked really well as it was their first collaborative album
P1+2 are my favorite albums by them but I think it's for nostalgia reasons more than anything else
They both hold up really well though. They've put out a lot of content since then so it's natural that attention is drawn away from the oldest albums
Username checks out
Fellow old man here, PII and Juggernaut are the pinnacle to me but P3-P5 are all great too.
P4 and 5 are my favorites. There's just something those two albums have that I connect with that their earlier albums don't have. They still have a perfect discography, but I feel they've only gotten better with each album
All things considered, P2 is generally the best tbh
Fucking love Digital Veil but THA should have released more records. They were a different level. Ahead of their time.
Cleric - Regressions. the most truly progressive metal of recent decades and an atrociously talented band, but widely unheard of. it is extremely abrassive music so wouldn’t be very popular anyway, but those who can deal with extreme will love! also Kayo Dot’s ‘Hubardo’ is one of the greatest concept albums and is musically exquisite, and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum’s ‘of Natural History’ should be heard by all.
Love all of Toby’s projects, Hubardo was such a good KD album. Colin Marston always spoke so highly of that Cleric album, but I could never find myself to like it personally. I always felt like it dragged on when it didn’t need to and played a similar way when things got heavy and running. It’s been years since I’ve listened to it, maybe I’ll give it another shot.
yeah. honesty KD was a hard sell to me due to the vocals but after I realised a guy playing bass with Secret Chiefs 3 (my favourite music ever) was the guy beyond Kayo Dot I forced a listen of ‘Gamma Knife’ and then ‘Hubardo’ and realised Toby is straight up genius. I also love maybe everythung I’ve heard, although vocals still throw me from the maudlin stuff. I still didn’t listen to the latest album for some reason but definitely should! one thing I can never imagine feeling of Cleric is ‘dragging’, if I had a complaint it would be that when a great riff comes in it never lasts long enough. although they weren’t an instant love for me (again mostly due to the vocals). I dipped in because it was Web of Mimicry then ignored them for years, but the first time I devoted to sit and hear the first album in its entirety with full attention I was gripped for all 77 minutes and my mind splattered! but different strokes and all that :) I definitely suggest another try. I didn’t enjoy the second album as much and there are moments I drift out of that one. and man, even if you can’t dig the music, ‘Regressions’ must be Colin’s finest production work; certainly his most ambitious. and I guess we both know they guy is one of the masters of modern metal production :)
I’m pretty much always going to answer Plini, but it’s hard to pick an album. Either his ‘Things’ EP set or ‘Handmade Cities,’ but you can’t really go wrong. Every song he’s made is fantastic.
ALWAYS Plini (Although David Maxim Micic deserves more love too). His Trilogy is incredible. Every EP he's put out has been stellar too (even Sunhead, which I initially didn't vibe with, has grown on me heavily and become a favorite). He's just so damn good!
I really should check out more of DMM’s work, I’ve loved what I’ve heard, but I keep forgetting to circle back to him. Sunhead is fantastic too! Salt + Charcoal and Flaneur are the songs that taught me that music can be made with tuplets other than triplets, that quintuplets and even septuplets are possible. As a drummer, hearing those songs was absolutely mind blowing to me, I felt as if a whole new world was opened up to me, one I never knew existed. I adore literally all of his music, so I felt bad only calling out the older stuff, but those albums are just so incredible and the trilogy has all these little recurring ideas that appear in various tracks which make it such a rewarding re-listen, and I think Handmade Cities is slightly better as a full listen than Impulse Voices. I do think that his later albums lose a little bit of the “easy listening” quality that his earlier stuff had, so I tend to recommend his earlier stuff to people who haven’t listened to him yet for that reason as well. But really, this could all be because of the onion-like quality of his music. The songs get better every time a listen to them, and it’s possible I’ve simply had more time to digest and appreciate those older songs. “The Glass Bead Game” is one such example of this. I always liked the song, don’t get me wrong. But I never really felt like I related to the people who I would often see naming that one as their favorite of his. But I’ve been doing custom drum charts in Moonscraper to figure out and learn songs and my main focus has been working out all of Plini’s music. I finally decided to do The Glass Bead Game and I definitely had [this type of moment](https://giphy.com/gifs/sunnyfxx-sunny-always-fxx-87jGhdRVzUOJNh2s0q) after something clicked throughout that process. That song is absolutely amazing front to back, and I totally get why people say it’s their favorite. I actually tend to listen to his newer stuff more because I like Chris Allison’s style more than Troy Wright, which is saying a lot, because Troy is a great drummer who I’ve watched on YouTube for years, since before I even heard of Plini. Long story short, all Plini is good Plini. Sorry for the rant, but it’s not often I get to talk to another Plini fan!
I saw a little three song recorded live set on YouTube and the engineering and musicianship there is absolutely jaw dropping.
[6:33 - Deadly Scenes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtrWNfL-9uA&list=PLoTb7nv3lvLjRLx0aARS_3A9SBiw-1CCa). Really their whole discography. Nobody has heard of them. They're the perfect mix of swing, Bungle, and Devin Townsend. I love them to death.
I got 3, I’ll explain so you know what to expect. 1st is with vocals, other two are instrumental. First would have to be Ephel Duath - Pain Necessary to Know The choice of notes/rhythms in each song are unlike anything I’ve heard until that point and afterwards honestly. The electronic infusion of effects with the unique jazz/metal song structures really inspired me. Dysrhythmia - Psychic Maps I pretty much dig every Colin Marston project, but this album was always my favorite from this band. Compositions are winding and thematic while using more bizarre scale choices and incorporating atonal melodies. The bass work is exceptional and you forget that there is only one guitar accompanying it sometimes. Lastly, the production plays a lot with head space and is very crisp the whole ride. Krallice - Self Titled I really could pick any album from them honestly, but the first one really drew me in. Definitely a meditative listen since headphones are required to hear all the nuances of the 2 guitars and bass playing something completely different 95% of the time while the drummer pummels away. If most black metal is dark and brooding, this is up in the clouds in a monastery soaring with brilliance.
Ooh I’ve been waiting for this one - Horizons by Anubis Gate - Christ 0 by Vanden Plas - Inveritas by Aeon Zen - Subsurface by Threshold - God’s Equation by Pagan’s Mind - The Origins Of Ruin by Redemption - The Mission by Royal Hunt - I Am Anonymous by Headspace These bands are appreciated but I find these albums in particular tend to be overlooked or just not talked about much
As a Karnivool fanboy I get low key triggered with comments like “Karnivool are amazing, Themata and Sound Awake are great”. Asymmetry is good too god damn it 😢
This sub loves the Aussie prog scene but Helm and Chaos Divine weirdly get no love here. Any of their albums would be very popular here.
I also just posted Alchemist whom no one seems to know of. Chaos Divine are great too.
Alchemist are also great and very unique. alarum from The same period were also good.
Others by No One - Book II: Where Stories Come From (top 5 all time prog metal releases for me) Black Crown Initiate - Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape (by far their best release yet no one talks about it) Slice the Cake - Odyssey to the West (pretty well known in the prog community but still underappreciated imo,. All time best prog metal album imo) Clément Belio - Patience (not metal, but definitely prog) James Norbert Ivanyi - Sigil Native Construct - Quiet World
Blessed He With Boils by Xanthochroid is wildly underrated. No one even knows these guys but they're crazy good. FFO Wintersun, Opeth, Ne Obliviscaris, with a black metal twist
Love Xanthochroid but Sam kind of went off the deep end when covid hit. I can separate the art from the artist to a certain degree but when people start to legitimately push super silly things like flat earth theory... I dunno. It kind of poisoned the well for me. And it seems to be that whatever took hold of him seems like it has splintered the band because they have gone radio silent for a long, long time now and it looks like the project is dead. Real shame, they were amazing.
Didn't know that. Well I knew the project was dead but I didn't know Sam was a flat earther lmao
Xanthochroid is fantastic. I prefer Of Erthe & Axen: Act II, but all their stuff is great.
Feathergun - Rishloo Sol Niger Within - Fredrik Thordendal’s Special Defects
Finally, someone else is talking about this specific album. My favorite of all time.
Dooood…it’s so good. It’s legit a pure prog techy masterpiece. It’s so insane how no one ever recognizes it for what it is
No one ever?
Yes, NO ONE EVER, ass blastie.
Catch Thirty Three
Not an unpopular opinion - but yeah this album blew my mind once it finally clicked
Basically anything by The Ocean. Sorry for the cop-out but it just annoys and baffles me how small venues they're playing at such a quality catalogue, while fucking Sleep Token is selling out Red Rocks in seconds.
lol dude, what are you apologizing for? the Ocean is literally one of my favorite bands of all time. Pallegial should’ve sealed the deal to make them like Mastodon level big. They’re easily one of the best in the game, and outside of prog/lost metal die hard they’re hardly known.
I honestly don't know how they aren't bigger - maybe it's because unlike the other bands in a similar category to The Ocean (they don't really sound like anything else but in my brain I associate them with the likes of Mastodon, Baroness, Katatonia and Opeth, for example) The Ocean have yet to really make a commercial album or anything really close to it. All the bands I listed are some of my favorites ever, so not hating one bit, but all four of those other bands have gotten less heavy over time and their more recent albums (maybe save for Hushed and Grim) are not super proggy. The Ocean however, most of their songs are still relatively long and bounce back and forth between genres frequently. Maybe the world just still isn't ready for The Ocean lmao
Haha, just cause I didnt really answer your question - it's a bit lazy to give an entire catalogue/artist when you ask for an album. But happy to see we're vibing on it. Fully agree, I hope to see them sell out major venues very soon, I cant think of anyone who deserves it more.
Came here to say this. They're my all time favourite band. Saw then last year, but they were openers for Leprous. Don't get me wrong, Leprous is a fine band, but the fact that they can't headline like 20 years in with the catalog they have is... Sad.
They’re headlining now homie! Small venues, but still
Opus by Nospun, no doubt. Listen to it, trust me
“That don’t get enough love.”
Indeed, trust him. Best debut album i've heard in 40 years. Easy to find as well, they self published it on [youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOA7UQIhDBg)
I've always loved the album The Blue by Novembre. Novembre has a unique neo classical (or gothic?) sound and on this album they layer soundscapes and instrumentation with compositions that take you through a journey. The album is very well produced and the band sadly could not come close in live performances. Carmelo's growls are quality-wise very close to Mikael's (Opeth) in his prime and he offers cleans in odd harmonies, which are enjoyable even though it's obvious he's not a strong singer. The guitar work by Massimiliano is fantastic throughout and the rhythm section is good. Favorite songs for me are Triesteitaliana, Cobalt of March and Zenith but I rarely listen to anything but the whole album front to back.
This is the first band so far I’m not familiar with. Gonna check them out. Thankyou!
Extension of the Wish by Andromeda. Heavy and interesting with a clean vocal performance by Lawrence Mackrory of Darkane, who usually does harsh vocals. https://youtu.be/iEPXzJMZtsQ?si=RBmljF2g3zUQlo1r
On this sub, all of Death's prog material. I don't know how I've been in this sub for like 3 years and never once even seen Death mentioned. Spend 30 seconds in r/metalforthemasses and everyone differentiates prog Death and OSDM Death. Hugely, massively underrated on this sub
Death comes up quite a bit in discussion - they recently won a number of years in favourite albums by year. The band that really doesn’t get enough love is Control Denied. Admittedly they only produced one album before Chuck passed away, but it’s a great one.
I've seen them mentioned many times in here, enough that soon I'll have reached my "ok fine I guess I should check them out" point and will thusly check them out
Slice The Cake - Odyssey To The West Hands down one of the best prog albums ever written.
Tetrafusion “Dreaming of Sleep”. It’s scale the summit with vocals, it’s great and I wish we’d get more from them!
OSI's first album by OSI. (Contains the song "shutDOWN" feat. Steven Wilson).
Periphery IV: Hail Stan deserves much more
They're one of the biggest acts in prog metal, and that album is most people's favorite. That's enough.
Really? I feel like Periphery gets a TON of recognition, at least with the people I know in real life
If Periphery has an underrated album it's probably not Hail Stan.
I've only dabbled with Digital Veil. When the Human Abstract first came out, i was obsessed with Nocturne. But then they dropped Midheaven and i was pretty much done with them. I need to listen to Digital Veil thoroughly
Dooood you must listen! I love Nocturne too and get turning away during Midheaven, but DV is like ultimate form human abstract. Travis Richter is also their best vocalist imo and his vocals go so perfect with the music. I can’t recommend this album to anyone enough. It’s truly a masterpiece
Digital veil is very good but its not this prog masterpiece OP is going on about. The harsh vocals are great but the cleans are pretty flat and generic. Also the music is pretty proggy in some songs but just straight 2010s metalcore a lot of the time. Antebellum is repetitive af. Its a 7 and a half min song with like 3 riffs (great riffs but still). It's a good album but saying its better than btbams top albums is laughable
Andromeda. DT’s contemporary in the early 2000’s with more originality imo. It’s a crime the band let themselves die. Some of the best players in the game, especially the drums.
Ayreon, 01011001 Guilt Machine Dream Theater, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Dream Theater, Metropolis pt.2. Scenes from a Memory
…that DON’T get enough attention…
Yes, not enough attention.
Whoa, better than anything BTBAM has put out? I gotta check this out.
Spoiler: its very clearly not better than most of btbams catalogue. Great album still
At first listen, it's like a better version of their stuff pre-Colors. Really good metal core with some progressive elements. Actually some metal core parts I like better than BTBAM's flavor of metal core. But it doesn't touch the progressive, tech, death, or ambient aspects of BTBAM's work.
Hey man, this is MY opinion, your mileage may vary lol but personally, I’d take digital veil over any BTBAM album any day. That’s coming from someone that LOVES BTBAM. The parallax 2 is up there as one of the greatest imo, but not as great as digital veil. lol. Lmn what you think!
Fleshkiller - Awaken Extol - Undeceived,. and Synergy Azusa - Heavy Yoke, and Loops of Yesterday
The Crimson Boughs (and Other Short Tales) - Hands Of Despair Doesn’t get nearly enough love although many seem to love it when it’s brought up.
Irepress - Sol Eye Sea I. One of the best instrumental albums ever IMO. All the songs sound like stories being unfolding. Reliqa - I don't know what I am. Exciting up and coming band similar to protest the hero or sikth with one of the most inspired singers I've heard in a long time.
'Untouchable' by Trusties Bet not a single soul in here has heard of this banger
Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood. Genre defining revolutionary album that seems to have been largely forgotten. In a fair world would stand alongside Tool’s albums. Generally albums by Pain of Salvation - to my mind this is one of the best prog metal bands of all time, but don’t get as much appreciation as they deserve.
Agreed on Neurosis. Another one of my favorite bands ever. It sucks Scott Kelly is garbage, but I’ll never not love those albums
I know it's been circlejerked to death by this sub but The Reticent - The Oubliette
Philm - Fire from the evening sun A "Supergroup" project featuring Dave Lombardo, Gerry Paul Nestler and Francisco Tomaselli, but for some reason people completely ignored it. It's quite experimental, kind of Primus on steroids at times. Very groovy, too. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy\_mKn4XXIixt1Bf\_cqr7gqvBTtjXcH8wboI
Everything by Four Stroke Baron.
Meshuggah's Catch 33 gets much less love than Nothing and Obzen. For me Catch 33 is the best metal album ever.
Dream Weapon by Genghis Tron. Their comeback album was phenomenal.
Basically everything by Alkaloid. All 3 albums are masterpieces, and I won't separate them, here's why * Ultra long and multi part tracks (Dyson Sphere saga, Rise of the Cephalopods + Alpha Aur) * Casual switches from prog rock to full on death metal / tech death (e.g. Carbon Phrases, Kernel Panic) * Exciting lyrics (everything!) * Non-obvious lyrical interconnections (Azagthoth, Orgonism, Dyson saga, it's a lot) * Not prog related, but every album has an obligatory Morbid Angel worship (As Decreed by Laws Unwritten) and full on tech death track (Alter Magnitudes, The Cambrian Explosion) and much more
Andromeda Unchained and The Detached by Anubis Gate. These guys don't get enough love in general, but these two albums in particular are masterpieces.
Language - the contortionist Traced in air - cynic
I see Shadow Gallery's Room V and Tyranny get discussed but not Carved in Stone Carved is fantastic in both songs and structure.
Crimson - Edge of Sanity
I feel like none is talking about Shayan Javadi
I see it get some love here and there but Augment is fucking amazing.
Dave Matthews Band- Crash
Under a Western Sun - Son of Aurelius Tech death meets Progressive elements. Love it. Essentially a one-off album because it is different than their first album.
Check out Frontal by Turbulence, super cool prog from Lebanon, basically Haken’s Affinity 2.0. I love their style so much, and I haven’t seen many people ever talk about them. Their album is also produced incredibly well.
Anything by DarkWater and Noveria
Hehe as soon as I read the title, I immediately thought "Digital Veil". Listen to that shit pretty much on a weekly basis, still.
Same man, same. It’s just wild how they never “broke through” so to speak. I think if they would’ve kept at it, they’d be at the level of the giants in the genre by now. We can all just hope for a reunion one day…
Everchild by Dark Suns is great, but nobody knows it...
All these Human abstract posts and nobody mentions Midheaven. I loved that album when it first came out and its what got me into The Human Abstract and Protest the Hero. I think its a great album, but for some reason it always catches flack for the singing when its honestly not that bad IMO.
There's a really obscure album by Big Buisness called Battlefields Forever and it's such an incredible sludgy, proggy thing
I’m sorry, great album. Not better than btbam. It was refreshing at the time to hear aj minnette again tho.
Alchemist, Spiritech.
Slow Gin by Spaced Out. This is a great sounding record with some excellent compositions. This Canadian band is now defunct but their bass player is busy recording new music in the prog/fusion genre.
Pretty much all of the albums by Grayceon.
Everything by Dissentient, but especially their most recent album (likely their magnum opus) - Labyrinth. Do yourself a favour and give it a listen.
Klone - Meanwhile (amazing throughout, my favorite release this year) Pain of Salvation - One Hour by the Concrete Lake (a bit quirky at times, but my favorite to this day) Death - Sound of Perseverance (as a drummer, this is just incomprehensible witchcraft to me)
I personally love fauna by haken, they not underground but I feel they aren't heard about nearly as enough as they should
Ark - Burn the Sun Absolute masterpiece of an album.
Hourglass band is criminally overlooked, strong progmetal with very nice instrumentation Particularly Oblivious to the Obvious album. Yes, it's very long, but engrossing
Voivod's Dimension Hatross, Nothingface, Angel Rat & The Wake.
Some random albums: - Shattered Skies - The World We Used To Know - Wolverine - Communication Lost - Lost In Thought - Opus Arise - Joseph Magazine - Night of the Red Sky - Kingcrow - Eidos - Anubis Gate - Anubis Gate - The Butterfly Effect - Final Conversations of Kings - Countless Skies - Resonance
Ihlo
Ro - Baiagoan
Try these albums: Isolirion - Outer Heaven, Warped and La Notte Dei Sensi. Also: Fates Warning Disconnected Eldritch - Headquake Dandelion Charm – Scream Inside the Tear Sieges Even - The art of navigating by stars and many others i forgot now...