Progressive metal
[1] Watchtower,[2] Queensrÿche, Dream Theater, Tool, Symphony X,[3] Shadow Gallery, King's X, and Fates Warning are a few examples of progressive metal bands who achieved commercial success.
Records such as 2112 (1976) showcased technical expertise and complex compositional skill while still utilizing a more direct and heavier approach than the well-established English progressive rock sound.
Both expanded their music to include more progressive elements (The Warning, 1984; The Spectre Within, 1985) – some through sound experimentation and compositional refinement, others through extremely complex structures and atypical riffs – up to the two seminal works in 1986: Rage for Order and Awaken the Guardian.
[10][11] In the following years the two bands, while following different paths – more basic and simple the first, more articulate and complex the latter — explore and expand the technical refinement and sonic finesse of their music, continuing to lay the foundations of the genre with important works such as Operation: Mindcrime (1988) by Queensrÿche,[12] and Perfect Symmetry (1989) by Fates Warning.
[14] Among the other pioneering thrash metal bands, one of the most important is Canada's Voivod, with their complex and experimental style, full of psychedelic dissonances (Dimension Hatröss, 1988; Nothingface, 1989).
[15] "Math-metal" pioneers Watchtower, from Texas, took the concept of time-changes to a new level, combining thrash metal, syncopation and prog in their albums Energetic Disassembly (1985)[16] and Control and Resistance (1989), giving rise to an extremely technical approach based on the rhythmic deconstruction typical in jazz fusion.
The former, with an approach halfway in between Watchtower and Fates Warning, produced A Social Grace (1990), melding their signature sound with the psychedelic Into the Everflow (1992),[20] while the latter explored the legacy of the bands that preceded them while advancing their personal style with When Dream and Day Unite (1989).
Dan Swanö produced Opeth's first release, Orchid (1995), which was unique for its combination of death metal vocals and instrumentation, melodic guitar harmonies, and acoustic passages, but it wasn't until their hallmark record Blackwater Park (2001) that they received critical acclaim.
Steven Wilson, progressive rock icon and frontman of Porcupine Tree, was given a copy of Opeth's prior record Still Life (1999) from a friend, and, after listening, noted that the experimental music he had been after had drifted into extreme metal.
[34][35] In the 2010s, due to the rapid growth of djent led by bands such as Periphery and After the Burial,[36] progressive metal saw an increased interest with a large number of newcomers to the genre.
Orphaned Land from Israel debuted as a melodic death-doom/melodic death metal band that fused middle eastern rhythms and melodies into their music with a progressive edge.
[44][45]In the late 2000s, bands such as Periphery, Tesseract, Animals as Leaders and Vildhjarta popularized the "djent" style of progressive metal in a sound originally developed by Meshuggah.
