Progressive Metal
| Progressive metal | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Mid 1980s, North America, United Kingdom, Australia |
| Typical instruments | |
| Derivative forms | Technical death metal |
| Subgenres | |
| Regional scenes | |
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| Other topics | |
Progressive metal (sometimes known as prog metal or technical metal) is a fusion genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock which combines the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral or "pseudo-classical" compositions of the latter.
Whilst the genre emerged towards the late-1980s, it was not until the 1990s that progressive metal achieved commercial success.Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, Tool, Symphony X and Fates Warning are a few examples of progressive metal bands who achieved commercial success; additionally, many other thrash and death metal bands started to incorporate elements of progressive music in their work. Progressive metal's popularity started to decline towards the end of the 1990s, but it still remains a largely diffused underground genre with a committed fan base.
Progressive metal's roots can be traced back to the late 1960s and early 1970s british rock scene, to bands such as Keith Emerson's The Nice and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Procol Harum, Atomic Rooster, Deep Purple and others which incorporated keyboards and classical instrumentation into the heaviness of their proto-hard rock style of music. On the other side of the spectrum, some progressive rock bands such as King Crimson, Uriah Heep and Rush were also starting to incorporate hard rock sounds into their music. Rush songs such as "Bastille Day", "Anthem", "By-Tor And The Snow Dog", "2112", "The Fountain of Lamneth" and "Hemispheres" have been cited as some of the earliest examples of progressive metal. Another early practitioner of heavy metal were Lucifer's Friend.Night Sun was also an early band who mixed heavy metal with progressive rock tones, though only releasing one album. However, progressive metal did not develop into a genre of its own until the mid-1980s. Bands such as Voivod, Psychotic Waltz, Watchtower, Savatage, Fates Warning, Queensrÿche, Crimson Glory, and Dream Theater started to take elements from the music of prog rock groups of the earlier decades (mainly their reliance on unconventional instrumentation and the complexity of the compositions) and begun to play in a louder, faster and more heavily distorted style. The result can be described as music that combined a progressive rock mentality with heavy metal sounds.
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