TL;DR Genesis - the band themselves have mentioned them as one of their big influencers but Iām just naming them coz Iām on a huge Genesis kick atm lol
I love that all the bands that are being mentioned but one of the bands that inspired not only DT but prog itself is sadly missing from this list and that is Genesis. Forget what you think you know about them and their 80ās prog-pop style. You need to delve way back in the catalogue to album three - Nursery Cryme, followed by the amazing Foxtrot which contains āSupperās Readyā, a 23 minute epic that wouldāve helped to inspire Octavarium. Hell, theyāve even mentioned that Yes and Genesis and King Crimson inspired them and that song was amongst other things a love letter to Prog. Then you have the amazing Selling England By The Pound ad The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - two back to back incredible albums that are definitive prog. Again, without this band there would be no Dream Theater. Sadly I wonāt earn enough upvotes but Iām damn sure there have to be at least a few Genesis fans here???
If youāre a DT fan looking for something massively technical yet heavy, look up the song Mirage. The most oddly natural 17/16 youāll ever hear.
For ballads? Castaway Angels and Malina.
For heavier songs? Third Law, From the Flame, or Coma.
Catchier? At the Bottom, Running Low, and The Price.
For huge progressive epics? Nighttime Disguise, Distant Bells, and The Sky is Red.
Best album overall? IMO itās The Congregation, but anything from that album through Aphelion is S-tier.
Iām not gonna disagree with you, but not mentioning any song from Bilateral or Coal is a sin! Those albums are their prog metal peak (as well as The Congregation). Their first album, TPS, is very raw but probably their heaviest album.
For single songs, try "The Sky is Red", "Nightime Disguise", "The Valley". Or if you want a full album experience listen to "The Congregation" front to back. It's incredible all the way through.
Their older stuff (earlier than "Coal") is 'more prog', but also somewhat more generic IMO.
Itās an absolute travesty that they are not mentioned. Supperās ready and Cinema Show both are mentioned in Octavarium. And tell me the synth solo in that section (Full Circle)isnāt inspired by In The Cage?
I was looking through the comments for another Thank You Scientist fan. I went with Devin Townsend this round, but people should check out TYS if they haven't yet. I particularly like their debut album. Such a great fusion of jazz and hard rock/metal.
I would also argue that among all of the groups already listed (except maybe tool), BTBAM has had far more influence within the genre in the past decade.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 996,149,169 comments, and only 198,297 of them were in alphabetical order.
Oh what a fool am I for liking some other bands more than BTBAM and wanting them to take the last spot. Never said that I dislike BTBAM, I even gave an upvote, but "*iF yOU dOn't liKE BTBAM YoU're a FoOl*" is so pretentious and cringe that I wanted to downvote the comment
Being raised on Queen songs may be one of the biggest reasons I later got so much into DT so Queen is the only right band for me to get the final spot in the top 10 here
If you could group NMB, Transatlantic, and Flying Colors into one since they have very similar lineups they would probably earn a spot on this list, but one individually probably won't
Whoa, I haven't heard of that band in ages! Before streaming was a thing, I used to scour the internet for free music downloads, and I came across one or two of their albums and thought they were awesome. I had no idea they were still around! Gonna have to check out some of their newer stuff.
Free or "free" :D
I remember those days. Reading or sorts of forums, getting recommendations, searching the internet, or even crazier, going to the local Cd store, hoping they gave the artist in question, and listening to it in the store.
Yes, I'm old :p
Completely free. š Pirating music is way too easy - I found it much more interesting to see what could be downloaded legitimately. Whether it was artists offering free songs/albums from their (or their record label's) websites (I remember "A Rite of Passage" was actually offered this way for a while, which was awesome), startups offering novel ways of downloading music, Creative Commons-licensed music, public libraries - it was a fun way of discovering new music.
I'm surprised Avantasia hasn't even really been mentioned yet. They have so many great epics: The Scarecrow, The Seven Angels, Let the Storm Descend Upon You, The Raven Child, The Wicked Symphony, The Great Mystery, etc. Plus they're able to use multiple singers and a lot of orchestral elements without making it sound cheesy or unnecessary. In terms of progressive/symphonic metal there's no doubt they're up there along with DT and other greats.
I don't disagree. I wonder if they're either A) too obvious, or B) got too "big"/mainstream for people to want to vote for them. There's just no way this list shouldn't have them on it
More likely that they haven't released anything relevant since the 90s. Granted, they were one of the band to define thrash, and their first 4 releases are must haves if the genre, and their self titled album brought thrash metal into the mainstream. Load/Reload weren't good, St Anger is absolute garbage, DM and HtSD are ok.
There are legitimate bangers on that album, but I have some serious complaints. First, there is no need for the songs to be that long. They drag along, and I find myself fast forwarding through songs and downright skipping others. Second, the production is downright horrible. It's so compressed that it even sounds like garbage on my little mp3 stereo. Put it through my tube amp and Klipsch towers and it's unlistenable. I have the same gripe about Mastodons Crack the Skye, which had amazing songwriting, but sounds flat as a board. I've heard there is at least a double LP vinyl version that sounds good, but never felt it was justified to spend $175 to snag a used copy.
If weāre going prog metal, the contortionist was always a fav of mine and they put on a fun show. Prog rock in general tho? No question or hesitation, my answer will forever be the Mars Volta.
I actually don't find them all that impressive. I remember listening to some of the songs Portnoy played on and thinking "He left Dream Theater for THIS?" š
However, that's my problem. They do seem to have a good chance of getting onto this list, but you all need to get together and upvote one of their comments, or they're going to end up splitting their own vote.
I donāt particularly like their first two albums that much. The second a lot more than the first. Itās all about City of Evil and up for me. Thereās just something about them that I love. I also grew up listening to them.
Edit: I meant I like their second album a lot more than their first
I haven't been following this thread closely, but I cannot believe that Fates Warning is not in this list. There was a time, early 90s, when DT,, Queensryche, and Fates were the triumvirate of prog metal. In fact, they toured together.
I'm enjoying this exercise, and there are a TON of awesome bands - should we expand it to top 15?
I would even say top 20 if you're up for it. š
Let's go :)
Split the list and make it a twin poll: best metal band vs best prog/rock band.
Absolutely. I suggested the same on the r/rush list but it didn't happen š
TL;DR Genesis - the band themselves have mentioned them as one of their big influencers but Iām just naming them coz Iām on a huge Genesis kick atm lol I love that all the bands that are being mentioned but one of the bands that inspired not only DT but prog itself is sadly missing from this list and that is Genesis. Forget what you think you know about them and their 80ās prog-pop style. You need to delve way back in the catalogue to album three - Nursery Cryme, followed by the amazing Foxtrot which contains āSupperās Readyā, a 23 minute epic that wouldāve helped to inspire Octavarium. Hell, theyāve even mentioned that Yes and Genesis and King Crimson inspired them and that song was amongst other things a love letter to Prog. Then you have the amazing Selling England By The Pound ad The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - two back to back incredible albums that are definitive prog. Again, without this band there would be no Dream Theater. Sadly I wonāt earn enough upvotes but Iām damn sure there have to be at least a few Genesis fans here???
Animals as Leaders
Between The Buried And Me
Another post has 50 votes
King crimson
Ayreon!
LEPROUS
What's a good starting place for someone who's never listened to Leprous before?
If youāre a DT fan looking for something massively technical yet heavy, look up the song Mirage. The most oddly natural 17/16 youāll ever hear. For ballads? Castaway Angels and Malina. For heavier songs? Third Law, From the Flame, or Coma. Catchier? At the Bottom, Running Low, and The Price. For huge progressive epics? Nighttime Disguise, Distant Bells, and The Sky is Red. Best album overall? IMO itās The Congregation, but anything from that album through Aphelion is S-tier.
Iām not gonna disagree with you, but not mentioning any song from Bilateral or Coal is a sin! Those albums are their prog metal peak (as well as The Congregation). Their first album, TPS, is very raw but probably their heaviest album.
All valid points. I got into them when Pitfalls was released, so Iām biased towards the newer stuff.
Agrees on The Congregation being their best album. The perfect blend of their old and new sounds.
Fuck these guys are great. Thanks for the recs!
White
For single songs, try "The Sky is Red", "Nightime Disguise", "The Valley". Or if you want a full album experience listen to "The Congregation" front to back. It's incredible all the way through. Their older stuff (earlier than "Coal") is 'more prog', but also somewhat more generic IMO.
Love this band. Such a wide range of sounds.
Cannot listen to them without singing along and/or jumping around.
Todayās the day
This time for sure!
OUR TIME HAS COME !
This needs to happen.
Gojira
Devin Townsend / DTP
He really deserves to make the top 10. TEAM DEVIN LETāS GOOOO!!
The only reason i can think of that explains why heās not already on this list is that the requirement is for it to be a non-DT bandā¦
Metallica
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Itās an absolute travesty that they are not mentioned. Supperās ready and Cinema Show both are mentioned in Octavarium. And tell me the synth solo in that section (Full Circle)isnāt inspired by In The Cage?
Thank you scientists!
I was looking through the comments for another Thank You Scientist fan. I went with Devin Townsend this round, but people should check out TYS if they haven't yet. I particularly like their debut album. Such a great fusion of jazz and hard rock/metal.
In my top 3 prog bands
Iāve looked through every round for TYS fans haha. Based on the upvotes Iāve surmised thereās about 30 here haha.
This is the shit! I am so fucking addicted to them!
Death
King Crimson
between the buried and me. If you donāt vote for them youāre a fool
Would really like to see BTBAM take one. So much talent in that band.
I would also argue that among all of the groups already listed (except maybe tool), BTBAM has had far more influence within the genre in the past decade.
Guess I'm the fool then. Oh well...
Double fool for outing yourself
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 996,149,169 comments, and only 198,297 of them were in alphabetical order.
Oh what a fool am I for liking some other bands more than BTBAM and wanting them to take the last spot. Never said that I dislike BTBAM, I even gave an upvote, but "*iF yOU dOn't liKE BTBAM YoU're a FoOl*" is so pretentious and cringe that I wanted to downvote the comment
Just joking around man
I know man, I'm just trolling since I'm too lazy to go back to studying
What are you studying
Programing
Itās a fucking joke, chill out.
Not the fool, just the writer
They told a lot of people to kill this guy...
Everything by Arjen Anthony Lucassen (Star One, Ayreon, The Gentle Storm, Guilt Machine)
Why is that one solitary Guilt Machine album such a banger?
This is of course my opinion, but I think the vocals add a little something "je ne sais quoi". It's one of my favorites in his catalogue.
The vocals are sick. Dude's Belgian but I can't hear an accent at all.
Exactly, and his clean range is amazing, I feel the emotion in his voice.
Dude can comfortably sing like a half an octave higher than me without falsetto... Yeah, I love his voice. I wish they made another album.
Really hoped he would do too... He revived Star One after many years, so maybe there is some hope.
Ayreon or I riot
The Dear Hunter
So underated
Truth.
Queensryche!
If it is not Queensryche, then this list is null & void.
Exactly!
Remember to downvote all the non QR bands to ensure victory . Guerilla tactics for the win!
I like the way you think lol
How is Metallica not here yet
Larz
Yesss.. i went from Metallica to DT back in the days..
Gojira
Queen
Being raised on Queen songs may be one of the biggest reasons I later got so much into DT so Queen is the only right band for me to get the final spot in the top 10 here
Dream Theater made a stupendous medley of some of their songs: https://youtu.be/7alYOvzfW7w
Ayreon
Riverside
Also really good yes!
Definitely
Devin Townsend
Nightwish
Mastodon
Fates Warning
CHTST
Does Flying Colors count since Portnoy is in it? I'd have to go with them or Neal Morse Band.
If you could group NMB, Transatlantic, and Flying Colors into one since they have very similar lineups they would probably earn a spot on this list, but one individually probably won't
someone already suggested "everything from Arjen Lucassen", so we could try to stick to a single "everything from Neal Morse" and upvote that lol...
That was me ;) It's ultimately about the artist (s) creating the music, imho. That's why I went with the blanket approach.
that was a smart move lol, let's hope it counts if any of these general entries get upvoted!
The Beatles
Van Halen
Avenged sevenfold!
Iāve been saying them every day
Pain of Salvation
Blind Guardian, they are such a great band.
Toehider
king crimson
Buckethead. I don't care if it ain't Buckethead
A7X!
BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME
Username checks out!
Periphery!
Hell yes.
Ayreon
Avenged Sevenfold is my favorite right now. Dream Theater comes in second.
Mine is flip flopped haha. Such great bands. Canāt wait for the new A7X album to drop (if it ever does)
Diablo Swing Orchestra
That's a fun one.
Whoa, I haven't heard of that band in ages! Before streaming was a thing, I used to scour the internet for free music downloads, and I came across one or two of their albums and thought they were awesome. I had no idea they were still around! Gonna have to check out some of their newer stuff.
Free or "free" :D I remember those days. Reading or sorts of forums, getting recommendations, searching the internet, or even crazier, going to the local Cd store, hoping they gave the artist in question, and listening to it in the store. Yes, I'm old :p
Completely free. š Pirating music is way too easy - I found it much more interesting to see what could be downloaded legitimately. Whether it was artists offering free songs/albums from their (or their record label's) websites (I remember "A Rite of Passage" was actually offered this way for a while, which was awesome), startups offering novel ways of downloading music, Creative Commons-licensed music, public libraries - it was a fun way of discovering new music.
Their latest album is fantastic
Sure is! I also like Kirstin on vocals a little more compared to AnnLouice. Just personal preference, not saying one is better than the other.
Stratovarius
I'm surprised Avantasia hasn't even really been mentioned yet. They have so many great epics: The Scarecrow, The Seven Angels, Let the Storm Descend Upon You, The Raven Child, The Wicked Symphony, The Great Mystery, etc. Plus they're able to use multiple singers and a lot of orchestral elements without making it sound cheesy or unnecessary. In terms of progressive/symphonic metal there's no doubt they're up there along with DT and other greats.
Leprous
Pain of Salvation !
Devin!
Riverside
Avenged Sevenfold
Jinjer
Muse
Riverside, im pretty new to this band but they are become one of my top ones to listen
So Good
Liquid Tension Experiment, its literally Dream Theater instrumentals.
Where's Metallica?!?! DT even covered one of their albums live. Also this is just me speaking but this is the band which brought me into metal!
I don't disagree. I wonder if they're either A) too obvious, or B) got too "big"/mainstream for people to want to vote for them. There's just no way this list shouldn't have them on it
More likely that they haven't released anything relevant since the 90s. Granted, they were one of the band to define thrash, and their first 4 releases are must haves if the genre, and their self titled album brought thrash metal into the mainstream. Load/Reload weren't good, St Anger is absolute garbage, DM and HtSD are ok.
Death Magnetic was really good. And not just "compared to Load/Reload/SA" good. Like, a legitimately good album.
There are legitimate bangers on that album, but I have some serious complaints. First, there is no need for the songs to be that long. They drag along, and I find myself fast forwarding through songs and downright skipping others. Second, the production is downright horrible. It's so compressed that it even sounds like garbage on my little mp3 stereo. Put it through my tube amp and Klipsch towers and it's unlistenable. I have the same gripe about Mastodons Crack the Skye, which had amazing songwriting, but sounds flat as a board. I've heard there is at least a double LP vinyl version that sounds good, but never felt it was justified to spend $175 to snag a used copy.
where the fuck is metallica? they covered it plenty
Caligula's Horse! You owe yourself a listen to them.
Gotta get them some love. I looked through this list earlier today and came back to add them but luckily you beat me to it
Metallica
No Ayreon, Nightwish or Pain of Salvation? Damn. For Shame.
Polyphia!
If weāre going prog metal, the contortionist was always a fav of mine and they put on a fun show. Prog rock in general tho? No question or hesitation, my answer will forever be the Mars Volta.
Gentle Giant
Plini
FATES WARNING!!!!
The list is finished and people still dont put Metallica on it. A obvious band to pick
A7X has to make this list, especially if we up it to top 15! I mean, DT is connected to them through Portnoy who played all of the Nightmare album.
I actually don't find them all that impressive. I remember listening to some of the songs Portnoy played on and thinking "He left Dream Theater for THIS?" š However, that's my problem. They do seem to have a good chance of getting onto this list, but you all need to get together and upvote one of their comments, or they're going to end up splitting their own vote.
I thought I didn't like them that much, but then I saw them live in one festival in 2018 and damn, they are so much better live
I donāt particularly like their first two albums that much. The second a lot more than the first. Itās all about City of Evil and up for me. Thereās just something about them that I love. I also grew up listening to them. Edit: I meant I like their second album a lot more than their first
I'll say this til the day I die, City of Evil is one of the greatest guitar albums of all time.
Agreed!!
CoE and Waking the Fallen brings me so much joy. Their first album, uh... was awful.
TesseracT
āš»
Leprous
Andromeda (The one with albums extension of the wish, II=I, chimera, the immunity zone, manifest tyranny)
Pain of Salvation
Queen
Stratovarius
Any other Evergrey fans ?
Meshuggah
Gojira
Interloper
Fates Warning and Leprous
Mastodon
Protest The Hero
Thrice
Primus
DVDA
Camel
QueensrĆæche
Bit of an oldie, the doors
Frank Zappa
Protest the Hero! Edit: anyone want to explain why I'm getting down voted? I mean Protest the Hero is in r/progmetal's hall of fame.
Protest the hero is the best band ever and no one can change My mind
I mean for me they are kinda tied with Dream Theater, but I think I am a bigger fanboy for Protest the Hero.
Surprised r/Weezer hasnāt invaded
WHY IS FAITH NO MORE NOT ON THERE
I'm disappointed about the fact that System Of A Down and Mudvayne aren't here.
Mr Bungle
My Chemical Romance
One last time. One last try Darkwater
I like every one of these bands more than Dream Theater, with the exception of Symphony X
Cynic
You gotta listen to ĪĪµĪ½Ī¹Ī¬ ĻĪæĻ Ī§Ī¬ĪæĻ Ļ tho. Especially the ĪĻĪ±ĻĻĪ±ĻĪ“ĪæĪŗĻĪ±ĻĪÆĪ±.
C'mon guys, Between The Buried And Me absolutely deserves to be in this list
I haven't been following this thread closely, but I cannot believe that Fates Warning is not in this list. There was a time, early 90s, when DT,, Queensryche, and Fates were the triumvirate of prog metal. In fact, they toured together.
No one's mentioned The Pineapple Thief, Porcupine Tree Jr.
King Crimson is the og prog band though
Meshuggah
Alice in Chains
I SWEAR IF IT AINT KINGS MOTHER FUCKING X
Slipknot, amazing live, please upvote
Remove iron maiden and it's perfect
Liquid tension experiment