So, I felt like making another music thread. Instead of doing it on a specific band, I decided to do it on a whole genre instead!
So recently, I've discovered the wonders of progressive death metal through a review of Russian band [b]Instant Suppression[/b], and have since been finding numerous extremely good progdeath bands. But I'm jumping ahead of myself; let's start at the beginning.
First things first, a definition!
[b]Definition:[/b] A combination of the powerful drumming techniques, down-tuned and heavy guitars, and harsh vocals of death metal with the complexity and intricacy of progressive metal, as well as often lengthy songs (anywhere from 6 to 16 minutes, if not more). Often has other influences merged into the music as well (from the progressive side)
[b]Cynic[/b]
[img]http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/1073/cover_37401782008.jpg[/img]
Cynic are probably one of the most well-known and oldest players in the progressive/death metal scene (correct me if I'm wrong; I don't know my metal chronology so well in this field). Their debut album, [i]Focus[/i] is highly regarded as a majorly important landmark in progressive death metal. Where Cynic's Tampa, Florida-based contemporaries exercised the traditional routine of death metal--blistering drumming, chugging riffs, and harsh vocals with obscene or abstract lyrics--Cynic took a more experimental route. The album [i]Focus[/i] has been labelled as, going beyond the progdeath fusion, as "jazz metal" at times, due to the fact that the jazz influence from their progressive side is so prominent that some people argue it's not so much "progressive with jazz influences" as it is "jazz with progressive influences".
[b]Opeth[/b]
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ee/Opeth_-_Watershed.jpg[/img]
Opeth are another extremely well-known act in the progdeath scene. Known mostly for vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt's range in both harsh vocals and clean vocals, as well for Opeth's lengthy songs, ripe with many variations and changes that are a founding block of progressive metal, this Swedish band is widely loved by fans of both the death metal scene and the progressive metal circle. Opeth are also one of the more mainstream death metal bands, having won a Swedish Grammy in 2003 and seeing some of their songs enter the Top 200 and other such charts.
[b]Between the Buried and Me[/b]
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/Colors1.jpg[/img]
Metalcore/progdeath band Between the Buried and Me (furthermore abbreviated as BTBAM) are another act that are pretty well known in the progdeath scene (and the metal scene as a whole as well). The album [i]Colors[/i], featured above, is considered by some to be one of their greatest, if not THE greatest, albums to date. It was BTBAM's first album to reach the top 100 of the Billboard 200, coming in at 57th, and has been highly regarded by several reviewers to be one of the greatest metal albums released in 2007. Mike Portnoy, drummer for Progressive metal band Dream Theater, one of BTBAM's greatest influences, named [i]Colors[/i] to be one of his favorite albums of the year. The album itself shows a wide range of influences, including anything from jazz to polka.
Okay, so now that we've established some of the bigger players in the scene, let's break it down a bit. The bands I'm about to delve into are my personal favorites, and are bands that I think should have more popularity, since their music is superb in my opinion. Since I have strayed away from bigger bands, I won't be able to give you fun little facts taken off the Wikipedia--I'll only be able to fill in what I know about them and can gather from thier websites.
First off, the band that got me into progdeath:
[b]Instant Suppression[/b]
[img]http://mediaportal.ru/uploads/posts/2009-11/1257263154_instant_suppression_domain.nation_album_cover500x5.jpg[/img]
Rostov-on-Don, Russia-based [b]Instant Suppression[/b] are, at first glance, a clone of Swedish melodic death metal band [b]Scar Symmetry[/b]. Indeed, its obvious that the Swedish metallers are a major influence on this Russian band, even if you completely discount the scientific themes, easily interchangable lyrics and song titles, and even the album art in the same vein. In true Scar Symmetry style, [b]Instant Suppression[/b] pair up deep growling vocals with melodic clean singing. You may be thinking that you can disregard this band, though, if you have heard any Scar Symmetry album (except their latest, [i]Dark Matter Dimensions[/i]). That would be a wrong assumption.
I said "at first glance" they look like a Clone Symmetry, but that's only at first glance. With a deeper delve into their 2009 debut [i]Domain.Nation[/i], one finds a wide variety of influences that places them firmly in the progdeath scene. Describing their sound is difficult, since it's slightly different from song to song, but one thing is certain: if you enjoy melodic death metal along the lines of Scar Symmetry's [i]Pitch Black Progress[/i] (and admittedly traces of industrial/cyber metal), then you should try out [b]Instant Suppression[/b].
Oh, and I forgot. The best part? [highlight]They released their debut album for free.[/highlight]
[b]Fractal Gates[/b]
[img]http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/3/9/3/239388.jpg[/img]
Paris, France-based progdeath metallers [b]Fractal Gates[b/] are a hard band to pinpoint. They're strongly within the progdeath scene, but where exactly they are inside that scene is hard to decide. Their 2009 debut (and currently only) album, [i]Altered State of Consciousness[/i], comes with (apart from a cool album name and associated album art) four instrumentals, each about a minute long. The instrumentals, "Visions I" to "Visions IV", are spaced out pretty evenly in the album, and are easily the most distinct from the rest of the album. Each no longer than a minute and some-odd seconds, where the songs are thick and heavy, these instrumentals are airy and spacey. If you close your eyes and spin around a bit (to get that dizzy, spinning feeling) during any of these instrumental tracks, you can almost imagine yourself flying through the cosmos, cutting through cosmic dust. At the very least, you'll feel like you're tripping balls.
The rest of the songs, in complete juxtaposition to the tactfully placed relief of the instrumentals, are thick, brutal and intense. The mixing on the vocals could be better, as they're hard to hear (but maybe they wanted it that way?), and then when you hear them, it's hard to follow the lyrics because the vocalist has a very fragmented phrasing habit, which may or may not be intentional (plus you'll spend fifteen minutes trying to figure out where the fuck the song is until you realize the vocalist pronounces "nebula" as "knee-boo-la"). The lyrics, though, are quite good, and go along very strongly with the spacey, extraterrestial feel that the album presents.
Their music is best described as a mixture of progressive metal, melodic death metal, deathdoom, and even some dark ambient. Definitely a band worth checking out.
[b]In Grief[/b]
[img]http://www.divinemetaldistro.com/images/DesertedSoul.jpg[/img]
Nordland, Norway-based band [b]In Grief[/b] are, at face value, not terribly exceptional. Sounding like a potential mix of [b]Scar Symmetry[/b] (and thier clone, [b]Instant Suppression[/b]) as well as [b]Opeth[/b], with possibly some [b]Disarmonia Mundi[/b] and [b]Meshuggah[/b] in there (all of this is my own opinion; I may be the only one to share this opinion), I can also faintly hear a [b]Dream Theater[/b] vibe coming from these guys. That may just be the "progressive metal" in progdeath, though. Nonetheless, these guys are a good listen, with good harshes and interesting usage of keyboards and synths to generate a very dark and oppressive atmosphere. The clean vocals leave some things to be desired, but all in all, I can't complain. Another band worth listening to.
[b]Media[/b]
[b]Cynic[/b]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRbLaNqsxhM[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdwrOESDXxo[/media]
[b]Opeth[/b]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOous91wrtE[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CES-rze2m1s&feature=related[/media]
[b]Between the Buried and Me[/b]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in0h71WceI4&feature=related[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKqrPEJxx-8&feature=related[/media]
[b]Instant Suppression[/b]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKttBI9kz6I[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbgY15Elob8[/media]
[b]Fractal Gates[/b]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMBJGLPrhIo[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyD02gU-ktI[/media]
[b]In Grief[/b]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkmlWjjBDJs&feature=related[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaEaOTKSODA&feature=related[/media]
If I got anything wrong, forgot something, or you have better songs to suggest for the media, be sure to point it out!
I admit I had to skip around on the Opeth songs to get to something that wasn't acoustic. I'm not a big fan of Opeth for that very reason (don't get me wrong, I like acoustic, but not 3+ minutes of it)
Hopefully I educated some people, pointed some people toward new bands, and, if nothing else, gave some pretty pictures to stare at!
BTBAM > all
[editline]01:08PM[/editline]
oh, and I'm from Tampa, so of course Cynic owns. can't wait too seem them with btbam
Not sure but you may be able to fit Mnemic and Meshuggah in there.
Mnemic's ad for thier new album Sons of The System [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJwavfwRiOM[/url]
Morbid Angel
You didn't mention Atheist or Death.
I don't even like these bands, and I know that they're one of the first and most well-known progressive/technical death metal bands.
Morbid Angel is more thrash than Death
Strapping Young Lad.
I love progressive death metal, but defining it as a genre is inherently limiting everything it stands for.
People listen to bands like Opeth, Edge of Sanity, Death, Cynic, and then people who listen to the genre make music like those bands and claim their band is a "progressive _____ band" but that is the exact opposite of what the genre is supposed to be about. It's about actually advancing the genre with things it's never heard before, not recycling the sound of other bands to get to sound like your favourite prog band.
Don't get me wrong I love all those bands but just using different time signatures and song structures, or adding synthesizers, or whatever else does not make a band progressive. For instance I have seen a lot of bands that have come out in the 2000s that have copied Opeth's signature mixing between death metal and acoustic passages. They claim they are progressive when in fact they are doing just the opposite by simply imitating a sound that already exists. Bands like Death didn't label themselves as progressive death metal, they earned it and became progressive by advancing the genre. As soon as it became too defined it has become a commodity and has ruined the potential uniqueness.
[QUOTE=jesseluver93;19063037]I love progressive death metal, but defining it as a genre is inherently limiting everything it stands for.
People listen to bands like Opeth, Edge of Sanity, Death, Cynic, and then people who listen to the genre make music like those bands and claim their band is a "progressive _____ band" but that is the exact opposite of what the genre is supposed to be about. It's about actually advancing the genre with things it's never heard before, not recycling the sound of other bands to get to sound like your favourite prog band.
Don't get me wrong I love all those bands but just using different time signatures and song structures, or adding synthesizers, or whatever else does not make a band progressive. Bands like Death didn't label themselves as progressive death metal, they earned it and became progressive by advancing the genre. As soon as it became too defined it has become a commodity and has ruined the potential uniqueness.[/QUOTE]
That actually makes a hell of a lot of sense.
To me progressive shouldn't ever be used to describe a band, except on the rare occasion that a band doesn't just refine their sound over time, but completely advances it.
[QUOTE=the_shape;19057444]You didn't mention Atheist or Death.
I don't even like these bands, and I know that they're one of the first and most well-known progressive/technical death metal bands.[/QUOTE]
I admittedly completely forgot Atheist.
I considered Death, but decided against it at the time.
[editline]06:39PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=jesseluver93;19063037]I love progressive death metal, but defining it as a genre is inherently limiting everything it stands for.
People listen to bands like Opeth, Edge of Sanity, Death, Cynic, and then people who listen to the genre make music like those bands and claim their band is a "progressive _____ band" but that is the exact opposite of what the genre is supposed to be about. It's about actually advancing the genre with things it's never heard before, not recycling the sound of other bands to get to sound like your favourite prog band.
Don't get me wrong I love all those bands but just using different time signatures and song structures, or adding synthesizers, or whatever else does not make a band progressive. For instance I have seen a lot of bands that have come out in the 2000s that have copied Opeth's signature mixing between death metal and acoustic passages. They claim they are progressive when in fact they are doing just the opposite by simply imitating a sound that already exists. Bands like Death didn't label themselves as progressive death metal, they earned it and became progressive by advancing the genre. As soon as it became too defined it has become a commodity and has ruined the potential uniqueness.[/QUOTE]
I agree with this a lot. It's one of the reasons I dislike progressive metal as a whole; most of it just sounds the same. If it's not progressive death metal, then it just sounds like power metal extended out to 16 minutes (I'm looking at you, Dream Theater). And then a lot of progressive death metal just copies Opeth.
Luckily I don't listen to them since I don't like Opeth. :v:
Would Born Of Osiris fall into progressive death metal?
I listened to some Cynic, it was really cool I think. Especially the album Traced in Air.
Cynic only has one good album, BTBAM isn't death metal/nor will it ever be, and the rest of the bands on that list are mediocre imo.
I saw Cynic open for Meshuggah and they didn't play [I]How Could I?[/I] >:|
I know people are going to hate me for this but I still don't get what's so good about making songs so damn technical. It's fine if you like that, everything is subjective afterall, but there's a certain point of technicality at where it starts detracting from the song for me.
I totally agree. That's why I like Cynic so much. The songs are so well-written that you don't even notice the technicality.
[QUOTE=Z3r0747;19090792]I know people are going to hate me for this but I still don't get what's so good about making songs so damn technical. It's fine if you like that, everything is subjective afterall, but there's a certain point of technicality at where it starts detracting from the song for me.[/QUOTE]
You are thinking of technical death metal. Progressive isn't just making the songs more technical.
[QUOTE=Gmod4ever;19077938]I admittedly completely forgot Atheist.[/QUOTE]
all I know about atheist is that they did a jazz piece on one of their albums and that instantly makes them my heroes forever
[QUOTE=Z3r0747;19090792]I know people are going to hate me for this but I still don't get what's so good about making songs so damn technical. It's fine if you like that, everything is subjective afterall, but there's a certain point of technicality at where it starts detracting from the song for me.[/QUOTE]
Personally, I agree with you. I'm not a big fan of techdeath, and while [b]some[/b] prog metal has technical instrumentation, it doesn't necessarily have to. And, like Ian D said, progressive bands such as Cynic are able to write their songs so well that the technicality is beneficial to the music, rather than detrimental.
Though I have found to garner a liking to Cerebrum.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QCdxvxusqQ[/media]
Opeth are fucking pro
I don't think it;s fair to consider them a progressive death metal band
They're prog rock and metal, plus they infuse jazz and blues into their music
that's a good thing too, I hate death metal :v:
[QUOTE=En-Guage V2;19096344]Opeth are fucking pro
I don't think it;s fair to consider them a progressive death metal band
They're prog rock and metal, plus they infuse jazz and blues into their music
that's a good thing too, I hate death metal :v:[/QUOTE]
I'm sorry, but to say they're not death metal is just stupid.
That's like saying Scar Symmetry aren't death metal.
They're definitely death metal, bud.
Actually, Scar Symmetry is Progressive/Melodic Powerdeath Metal.
Used to qutie like Opeth, but realised they aren't really 'progressive' in much of a sense at all. In fact I hate the term 'progressive', it's a five-dollar throwaway term used now to describe something 'different' or 'unusual' but is ultimately hoisted by its own petard, because every band and their mother claims to be 'progressive' these days.
[QUOTE=Hakita;19104681]Actually, Scar Symmetry is Progressive/Melodic Powerdeath Metal.[/QUOTE]
no.
[editline]07:55PM[/editline]
And this thread needs Gojira.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyh3eOg-YpA[/media]
[QUOTE=Publius;19104823]Used to qutie like Opeth, but realised they aren't really 'progressive' in much of a sense at all. In fact I hate the term 'progressive', it's a five-dollar throwaway term used now to describe something 'different' or 'unusual' but is ultimately hoisted by its own petard, because every band and their mother claims to be 'progressive' these days.[/QUOTE]Yeah the word "progressive" is way overused. It's become kind of interchangeable with "technical" but to me, there's nothing progressive about odd time signatures and technical riffs. It's been done to death already.
[QUOTE=En-Guage V2;19096344]Opeth are fucking pro
I don't think it;s fair to consider them a progressive death metal band
They're prog rock and metal, plus they infuse jazz and blues into their music
that's a good thing too, I hate death metal :v:[/QUOTE]
Regardless of whether you hate death metal Opeth [I]are[/I] death metal.
[editline]01:02PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Publius;19104823]Used to qutie like Opeth, but realised they aren't really 'progressive' in much of a sense at all. In fact I hate the term 'progressive', it's a five-dollar throwaway term used now to describe something 'different' or 'unusual' but is ultimately hoisted by its own petard, because every band and their mother claims to be 'progressive' these days.[/QUOTE]
Opeth are pretty progressive considering they have brought a lot of new ideas and influence into the death metal genre. Especially in their early years in the 90's. When they were doing Orchid/Morningrise/MAYH their sound was pretty much one-of-a-kind and they brought a lot of new things to the table. Even their later stuff is pretty progressive and is pushing the genre to new frontiers.
[editline]01:05PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Ian D;19105486]Yeah the word "progressive" is way overused. It's become kind of interchangeable with "technical" but to me, there's nothing progressive about odd time signatures and technical riffs. It's been done to death already.[/QUOTE]
I agree it is definitely overused. And I agree that it's dumb that people think it's interchangeable with technical. Not to be too anal about genres, but their is a difference between technical, and progressive.
And yes it's been done to death, but the reason is because when most of the older,l [I]actually[/I] progressive bands were doing that, it hadn't been done, so it actually was progressive.
Now bands label themselves "progressive" because they [I]sound[/I] like bands that were/are actually progressive, but in reality they are just copying what's already been done and ruining the very nature of being progressive.
[QUOTE=Ian D;19105486]Yeah the word "progressive" is way overused. It's become kind of interchangeable with "technical" but to me, there's nothing progressive about odd time signatures and technical riffs. It's been done to death already.[/QUOTE]
I feel much the same way.
Usually when I see the term "progressive", I read it as "technical" OR "experimental".
Meaning I can expect lots of time and signature changes, a shitload of riffs packed into one song, some keyboard and electronica/EBM influences, and potentially varying vocal styles and long solos.
Like Hypnosis.
(Only an album trailer; I think I may upload the album to YouTube later; listen to 0:53 to 1:06)
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNJce_AeREo[/media]
Great album by the way. I love the vocals. :flashfap:
Opeth rocks.
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