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The New North American Progressive Metal Scene



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Original post

Posted by helofloki, 09.08.2012 - 16:48
This thread is for discussing the new American progressive metal scene. I am talking about bands like Between the Buried and Me, Protest the Hero and Periphery. I'm sure there are others that fall under this category, but these are the big ones. Anyway, what is interesting about this style and probably also what makes it controversial, is the fact that all of these bands seem to have roots in the dreaded 'metalcore' genre. However, each of them has expanded way beyond this with their creativity and musicianship to make some very interesting music that can really only be classified as Progressive Metal. Sure, these bands sound nothing like Dream Theater or Fates Warning, but isn't that good? Each of these bands still oozes 'progressive' but in new interesting ways.

I also say North American, because as far as I know Europe is doing something else, still following in the steps of Opeth and Porcupine Tree and the like.

So let's discuss. Do these bands deserve to be grouped together or am I full of shit? Do you like this style? Are there more bands you think fit this framework? Is Europe more a part of this scene than I realize? Should progressive metal only refer to the stagnancy of Dream Theater rip off bands?

I'll start by saying it's an interesting development and though I don't love all of it, I like the direction this is all heading in. I hope it inspires more technically proficient musicians to break the mold and try something new.
17.08.2012 - 06:07
helofloki

Cool man. I think that point is central to why calling these bands progressive metal is controversial. Metalcore and hardcore have a certain image and attitude that follow them around that experienced metal heads are either tired of or find repellant. Especially prog metal fans. Still, at least the bands mentioned in the opening post, have garnered respect from prog fans.

It'll be interesting to see where this leads. What bands will rise to the cream next or will the metalcore attitude in fact ruin everything and there will be a lot of rip off bands that don't understand what their doing. Unfortunately I think the answer will be determined by 'djent' which I still think is a ridiculous name for a genre of metal. Every damn metal band 'djents' except for a few select black and doom bands. I think a new wave of progressive metal is just a more inclusive way of thinking about this music and it doesn't exclude bands that don't try to sound like Meshuggah.

Anyway, I'm gonna check some more bands out that fall along this territory. That Northlane sounded cool and I will check Sikth as well.
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18.08.2012 - 06:23
Darkfiber

Is it weird that I don't consider any of the bands you mentioned "progressive metal"? They are more technical metalcore (if I have to label it something), or mathcore, to me. There's nothing really "progressive" about any of their sounds. To me, progressive is not metalcore, or mathcore, or djent, or any other genres who put "progressive" in their band description so people will take them more seriously. I'm not saying these bands are bad, I am simply saying there is nothing progressive about any of their sounds. I listen to progressive music to think. The bands you listed, I listen to for fun and don't take too seriously.

Dream Theater clones have been old for a long time now. I would really like to see prog go in a different direction than either Dream Theater or metalcore. It's always discussions like this that make me want to get off my ass and start writing music again since few bands are actually making the kind of music that I want to hear.
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18.08.2012 - 16:02
IronAngel

I''m hardly a prog buff, but for what it's worth I've always considered Between The Buried And Me (Colors and The Great Misdirect, anyway) to clearly be progressive. Technical aptitude and pushing the envelope of their mother genre seem like the two most important characteristics of the label "progressive." It's a bit difficult to pin down what prog means, because it has something to do with a certain historical tradition and sound, but also with the ideology of progressing a genre's limits (usually by getting more complex, as opposed to minimalistic experimentation). The two criteria can overlap or contradict eachother. Not everything that creates something new and complex out of old elements is progressive, but then again I'm hard-pressed to call some of today's 70s throwback bands or djenty, mid-paced power metal bands (Evergrey, anyone?) "progressive", either. Progressive death metal like Atheist has little in common with Symphony X, too.

Definitions aside, I like BtBaM a lot. The Great Misdirect has lately been in heavy play. Would you recommend some other album in that vein? I'm a big Converge fan too, so I don't mind something a bit more primal.
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18.08.2012 - 16:53
tea[m]ster
Au Pays Natal
We can all agree Europe and the rest of the world have caught up (caught onto?) with American progressive metal. I am disappointed because I am a huge Fates Warning, Queensryche and Dream Theater fan. As these bands have gotten older nobody has taken the traditional prog metal torch from them. Blame? I think bands of other sub-genres of progressive metal have become popular and are slowly starting to drown out the "original" power-prog musical sound Americans have been accustomed to.

Their are active traditional progressive metal bands from America that still hang on by a thread or a recent release that appease the older, stubborn prog metallers like myself:
Redemption
Arch/Matheos
Darkology
Suspyre
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rekt
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18.08.2012 - 17:00
Uldreth

Written by IronAngel on 18.08.2012 at 16:02

I
Definitions aside, I like BtBaM a lot. The Great Misdirect has lately been in heavy play. Would you recommend some other album in that vein? I'm a big Converge fan too, so I don't mind something a bit more primal.

I don't know anything overly similiar to current BTBaM, but if you want mathcore (Converge) I can give recs.
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21.08.2012 - 04:15
helofloki

Darkfiber: I could give you a big argument about why I think these bands are progressive, but I already did on the first page. You will see some excellent arguments for both sides.

IronAngel: As far as I know Between the Buried and Me has become a really unique band. This is one of the reasons why they are great, but also makes it difficult to classify them other than saying that they are just progressive. Their earlier stuff makes me think of The Red Chord, but that band is not really progressive, just technical, but fairly interesting.

tea[m]ster: One of my favorite semi recent bands to carry the traditional prog metal torch has been Andromeda. They got some really catchy and fun riffs going on and are very much in the traditional prog metal style. However, their lyrics drive me nuts, but the music's good enough to get over it.
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23.08.2012 - 18:05
Uldreth

Written by helofloki on 21.08.2012 at 04:15


IronAngel: As far as I know Between the Buried and Me has become a really unique band. This is one of the reasons why they are great, but also makes it difficult to classify them other than saying that they are just progressive. Their earlier stuff makes me think of The Red Chord, but that band is not really progressive, just technical, but fairly interesting.



For stuff somewhat similiar to early BTBAM I can also say Glass Casket, it's a deathcore band that shares some members with BTBAM and they are pretty cool from what I have heard so far but it's not a band I know very well.
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05.09.2012 - 15:20
helofloki

Checked out Northlane, Sikth, and Circle of Contempt. Cool stuff. Not sure if Northlane or Circle of Contempt really make it over the hump, escaping the clutches of metalcore to become truly progressive metal bands. Deffinitely some progressive elements there, who knows, maybe they'll be like Btbam and just kind of evolve into it. But I have no idea what their goals are as bands. Btbam, Protest the Hero and Periphery are all progressive bands because that is the sound that they intentionally went to make.
Also, Sikth was cool, but they broke up, so it's not easy to be part of the spear head when you're not a band. If anyone has any more suggestions of emerging progressive metal bands coming from this kind of background I'd be interested in checking it out.
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05.09.2012 - 19:25
Uldreth

Written by helofloki on 05.09.2012 at 15:20

Checked out Northlane, Sikth, and Circle of Contempt. Cool stuff. Not sure if Northlane or Circle of Contempt really make it over the hump, escaping the clutches of metalcore to become truly progressive metal bands. Deffinitely some progressive elements there, who knows, maybe they'll be like Btbam and just kind of evolve into it. But I have no idea what their goals are as bands. Btbam, Protest the Hero and Periphery are all progressive bands because that is the sound that they intentionally went to make.
Also, Sikth was cool, but they broke up, so it's not easy to be part of the spear head when you're not a band. If anyone has any more suggestions of emerging progressive metal bands coming from this kind of background I'd be interested in checking it out.

Check out After The Burial if you don't know them already, they are quite similiar to Periphery and Circle of Contempt, deathcorey stuff at the basis but they have some crazy shredding and take tons of influence from djent (like both of the above mentioned bands do).

Pretty much all three albums they have are pretty good, though if you have a choice between the original 2008 version of Rareform and the 2009 reissue then try the 2009 one, it has a better guitar tone and a new vocalist that is better than the original.
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24.09.2012 - 06:20
Ag Fox
Angel No More
I agree there is some sort of second wave of progressive metal going on in recent years.

Protest The Hero, Between the Buried and Me, and Sikth are indeed among the more pioneering acts. I don't understand why one can disregard Sikth even though they disbanded =/ The music is there even though the band is no more

Anyway, last year I was raving about an album that helofloki would be interested in:
Today I Caught The Plague - Lore

2012, we have:
The Deadstation. - Episode 01: Like Peering Into The Deepest Ocean Abyss.
bandcamp
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loves 小巫
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30.09.2012 - 07:40
Susan
Smeghead
Anyone who doesn't consider Between The Buried And Me to be progressive has not listened to their actual music

Or, perhaps people have preconceived notions of what progressive metal "should" sound like? That's also a potential discussion. Anyone who thinks prog metal = "sounds like Dream Theatre" or "sounds like X existing prog band" has some horizons that desperately need broadening. Prog bands are not supposed to all sound alike. That's part of the point.

Thanks to everyone who suggested similar bands to BTBAM or at least more bands worth checking out, similar or not I missed Periphery during the Summer Slaughter tour, I took a quick dinner break during their set, but it sounds like they're worth hearing.

I VERY much agree with Ag Fox above: everyone here should check out Today I Caught The Plague - Lore. Blew me away. It's all available right here on Soundcloud. <------Listen! Enjoy
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"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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25.12.2012 - 00:13
helofloki

Written by Susan on 30.09.2012 at 07:40

Anyone who doesn't consider Between The Buried And Me to be progressive has not listened to their actual music

Or, perhaps people have preconceived notions of what progressive metal "should" sound like? That's also a potential discussion. Anyone who thinks prog metal = "sounds like Dream Theatre" or "sounds like X existing prog band" has some horizons that desperately need broadening. Prog bands are not supposed to all sound alike. That's part of the point.

Thanks to everyone who suggested similar bands to BTBAM or at least more bands worth checking out, similar or not I missed Periphery during the Summer Slaughter tour, I took a quick dinner break during their set, but it sounds like they're worth hearing.

I VERY much agree with Ag Fox above: everyone here should check out Today I Caught The Plague - Lore. Blew me away. It's all available right here on Soundcloud. <------Listen! Enjoy

Thanks Susan, pretty cool stuff.

After listening to Paralax II I am more convinced than ever that BTBAM and Periphery have completely taken over the reigns of the future of progressive metal. While Periphery may be more influential, BTBAM is really charting some new territory. Awesome awesome stuff.
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18.01.2013 - 08:34
robbyAGONY

I can see why a lot of people group Protest The Hero with Metalcore, but to say they aren't progressive is silly. A LOT of my friends are huge into metalcore, and they don't like PTH because they are too "Random" and "Don't make sense musical". In actuality, it isn't random and it DOES make sense musically, it just doesn't fit into the 4/4 time with triplet chugging they have grown comfortable with. Just my 2 cents.
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23.01.2013 - 19:08
K✞ulu
Seeker of Truth
Written by helofloki on 25.12.2012 at 00:13

After listening to Paralax II I am more convinced than ever that BTBAM and Periphery have completely taken over the reigns of the future of progressive metal. While Periphery may be more influential, BTBAM is really charting some new territory. Awesome awesome stuff.


BTBAM is of course quite a unique outfit and deserve the attention of extreme prog metal fans, but Periphery... I don't know... They have been described as a heavier Protest The Hero, and yes, maybe one could say that they are taking Protest The Hero to a different level, but I think a more apt comparison would be calling them a modern Meshuggah (or more of a Textures copycat with lots of borrowing from the aforementioned talented Canadian band). Musically speaking, Protest The Hero are definitely more interesting and organic while being very technical; Periphery, on the other hand, sound too unnatural and edgy for the sake of being edgy, not to say repetitive.

On the other hand, I can totally see why one could call Periphery influential: djent being the next best thing nowadays, bands exploiting the trend are going to grow like mushrooms (or they are already). Anyways, I hope it's a trend and nothing more.

P.S. I hope bands like Periphery will not be "the future of progressive metal."
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Savor what you feel and what you see
Things that may not seem important now
But may be tomorrow

R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner

Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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01.02.2013 - 15:34
helofloki

To me Periphery comes across as a band that wants to take metalcore elements and meshuggah polymeter and put them through a sort of progressive framework. Much of the songs take a classic verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/whatever structure, but what makes the songs progressive are how the music develops in each verse. Because of the complexity of the riffs themselves, this simplistic structure keeps the listener from getting lost.

Also, the polyrhythms and meters are much more effective when repeated more often (just listen to meshuggah). In general I think this band plays to their strengths.

As far as djent goes, if it's gonna survive as its own genre it needs some fresh ideas. I really love polymeter and the way it can maintain a certain rhythmic feel while being almost impossible to follow. It would be great to see more experimentation with these elements in progressive metal, instead of just "Meshuggah time, woo hoo!" But I do think Periphery's latest release is a step in the right direction.

As far as the future of progressive metal, I think that Periphery and Djent as a whole are only part of the influence. I'm excited to see what the next big progressive band will be like, but I have a feeling they will draw from the bands I mentioned in the opening post (Protest the Hero, Periphery and BTBAM).
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