# All Instrumental Prog Metal Bands?



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Djam Karet
Divorce Applause
Group 87
Simon Steensland
Apocalyptica
Attention Deficit
Fire Merchants
Bruford Levin Upper Extremities
Steve Morse Band
RMS
McGill Manring Stevens
GHS
Vital Information
Tunnels
some John Scofield and some Dave Weckl fit that description too

Give me a couple hours I could give you twenty more if I'm on the right path here. PM me


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Thanks bro.


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Liquid Tension Experiment.


----------



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

NoCoPilot said:


> Djam Karet
> Divorce Applause
> Group 87
> Simon Steensland
> ...



All good bands.

But not sure any of them can be considered prog-metal.

Some are prog, some are fusion, one is avant-prog, but I don't see too much prog-metal.

Attention Deficit, Fire Merchants, and McGill/Manring/Stevens are all certainly pretty heavy, but I think they fall in the fusion category.


----------



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Here's a few.

*Counter-World Experience 
Behold...The Arctopus /very technical
Blotted Science / also very technical, use 12 tone method sometimes
Intervals
Gordian Knot / can be less metal and more prog on some occasions
Continuo Renacer /Spanish band that release 2 great technical-metal, fusion albums, then disappeared 
Scale the Summit
Exivious / similar to the non-instrumental band, Cynic
Ron Jarzombek's solo albums (PHHHP! , and Solitarily Speaking Of Theoretical Confinement) / very technical
Electrocution 250 / only 1 album, "Cartoon Music from Hell", but it's a good one. Sounds like Bugs Bunny cartoon music, played by musicians with terrifying metal chops. 





*


----------



## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

A lot of the aforementioned music is difficult to listen to, and I am not referring to its complexity. It's often just plain ugly ... and not in an interesting way. The chaps can play their instruments but do not have the ability or talent to compose anything cohesive and/or interesting.


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Simon Moon said:


> Attention Deficit, Fire Merchants, and McGill/Manring/Stevens are all certainly pretty heavy, but I think they fall in the fusion category.


I tend to over-generalize rather than under-. One can all get tied up in knots trying to create too many fuzzy distinctions. But I agree with you 100%....


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Red Terror said:


> A lot of the aforementioned music is difficult to listen to, and I am not referring to its complexity. It's often just plain ugly ... and not in an interesting way. The chaps can play their instruments but do not have the ability or talent to compose anything cohesive and/or interesting.


"Technical metal" fits that description for me -- let's take vapid non-tuneful songs and play them as fast as humanly possible. About as appealing as a chemical peel.

But then, almost anything with "metal" in the name is more about the sound than the song-writing.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Vital Information is jazz rock, not metal. John Scofield hasn't done anything close to metal music. Tunnels is a prog / jazz group. Bruford / Levin is prog rock but not metal. Prog metal would be somebody like Tony MacAlpine or Jason Becker. And you could seek out some of Dream Theater's instrumental tracks. Metropolis, for one. Trey Gunn has recorded a lot instrumental prog music. Some of his tunes could be described as metal. I recommend going to Bandcamp and listening to his excellent compilation, I'll Tell What I Saw. This also includes many exotic world music inspired prog tunes. Great stuff!


----------



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Red Terror said:


> A lot of the aforementioned music is difficult to listen to, and I am not referring to its complexity. It's often just plain ugly ... and not in an interesting way. The chaps can play their instruments but do not have the ability or talent to compose anything cohesive and/or interesting.





NoCoPilot said:


> "Technical metal" fits that description for me -- let's take vapid non-tuneful songs and play them as fast as humanly possible. About as appealing as a chemical peel.
> 
> But then, almost anything with "metal" in the name is more about the sound than the song-writing.


There are plenty of technical-metal bands, that write great melodies and tuneful music, but they tend to have vocals. Which the OP was not asking for.

Tesseract (Altered State), The Contortionist (Language), Thank You Scientist (Strange Heads Prevail), Cynic (Traced in Air), are just a few with highly tuneful and emotional music.

Even if I accept (I don't) your description of the bands I listed above, as ugly, vapid, non-tuneful, my tastes in music, and the reasons why I listen to various types of music, is broad enough to appreciate them, for what they are.

My tent is big enough, to listen to music that is drop dead beautiful, thorny and atonal, quiet and sparse sounding, chops laden fusion, and highly technical metal. I listen to them for different reasons, emotionally and/or intellectually. And sometimes, listening to very complex forms of metal, fills one of the many reasons I listen to music.


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

starthrower said:


> This also includes many exotic world music inspired prog tunes.


Yeah I was considering mentioning Saqqara Dogs and another band with Middle Eastern influences... but I've been unable to pull their name up in my flawed mental filing system.


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

starthrower said:


> John Scofield hasn't done anything close to metal music.


The distinctions are fuzzy in my mind.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

That sounds closer to an old school rock jam than progressive metal. And of course everything else on the record is intimate jazz trio material.


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

starthrower said:


> That sounds closer to an old school rock jam than progressive metal. And of course everything else on the record is intimate jazz trio material.


Whatever it is, it's very tasteful.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Whatever it is, it's very tasteful.


I agree! I'm a big Scofield fan.


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

His latest is absolutely killer!


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Captainnumber36 said:


> His latest is absolutely killer!


Are you referring to his solo guitar album?


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

starthrower said:


> Are you referring to his solo guitar album?



Yes.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I'll have to pick it up at my local record store. I have to admit that although I bought his last two releases, I haven't listened to them all that much. I miss his old guitar sound with the chorus and mild distortion. Although I do really like Country For Old Men.


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I think you'll like it.


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

My fav band he's been in is when he joins MMW. At least on the album a go go.


----------



## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

If you don't make much of a distinction between prog and fusion, there's some quality stuff out there.

A few examples:

Android Trio - [2021] Other Worlds

Arcana - [1997] [2021] Arc of the Testimony

Radian - [2016] On Dark Silent Off

Marc Edwards / Mick Barr - [2018] The Bowels of Jupiter


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

I absolutely LOVE it when you guys post bands I've never heard of. Either I get great discoveries out of it, or I get to satisfy myself that I just saved a ton of money.


----------



## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Simon Moon said:


> *Electrocution 250 / only 1 album, "Cartoon Music from Hell", but it's a good one. Sounds like Bugs Bunny cartoon music, played by musicians with terrifying metal chops. *


thats cool, reminds me of the last Fantomas album, which counts as instrumental is you allow nonsense vocals


----------



## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

If prog = wanky guitar shredding, this definitely aint prog, but Earth has made some of the best heavy guitar instrumental records out there

Bill Frisell is also on the first, fourth and fifth tracks


----------



## Calipso (May 10, 2020)

Planet X


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Calipso said:


> Planet X


Yes, that might qualify as "Prog-Metal" according to Simon Moon's definition. Personally, I don't hear much that is "progressive" in it, but it definitely has that "metal crunch."


----------



## Calipso (May 10, 2020)

NoCoPilot said:


> Yes, that might qualify as "Prog-Metal" according to Simon Moon's definition. Personally, I don't hear much that is "progressive" in it, but it definitely has that "metal crunch."


Depends what is "progressive" for you. Personaly, I dont like that word, too pretentious for me. Anyway, they are certanly a prog metal band with some kind of rock fusion vibe, especially on Quantum album, played Brett Garsed and Allan Holdsworth. Their live album Live from Oz has some incredible guitar solos from Tony Macalpine. 

I never was big fan of genre, but liked this group because love these musicians. I was much more loved jazz and fusion, but now not warmed anymore. Similar story with prog metal, great musicianchip( and better than prog), but tragic lack of compositional talent and depth.


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

NoCoPilot said:


> Yeah I was considering mentioning Saqqara Dogs and another band with Middle Eastern influences... but I've been unable to pull their name up in my flawed mental filing system.


Paranoise was the band I was thinking of, but listening back to them, they're not really metal. Still, an interesting amalgam.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Just found a copy of this CD in my collection. This is the first track.
Planet X - Alien Hip Hop - YouTube


----------



## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

a little curiosity for those who could be interested, the only example of Allan Holdsworth playing on a metal tune


----------



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Bwv 1080 said:


> If prog = wanky guitar shredding, this definitely aint prog, but Earth has made some of the best heavy guitar instrumental records out there
> 
> Bill Frisell is also on the first, fourth and fifth tracks


No, prog =/= wanky guitar shredding. 

For me, prog is much more about the structure of the music, not a particular sound, style, instrumentation. 

The things that define prog for me, are : Complex time signatures, chord progressions, very high level of musicianship, (usually) long form songs, avoidance of verse>chorus>bridge structure, incorporating influences from classical, jazz, folk, world music.

I am almost "style agnostic" with regards to the type of prog. I listen to: classic prog, avant-prog, prog-metal, Canterbury, prog-fusion, Zeuhl, because they all have most or all of the previously mentioned attributes, even though they are all quite stylistically different. 

Planet X, for me is progressive, due to their constantly changing complex time signatures, advanced soloing techniques, counterpoint, polyrhythms, etc. Not because they fit any sort of 'style'.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Odd time signatures and high level musicianship have been a part of rock music for decades so why would this be considered progressive in the year 2022? If Dream Theater were to move away from their formulaic music and do something totally different I'd consider them progressive. Maybe if they hired a producer to help nudge them in a different direction and Petrucci stopped playing lickety split, Steve Morse inspired solos, they could do something genuinely progressive.


----------



## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

starthrower said:


> Odd time signatures and high level musicianship have been a part of rock music for decades so why would this be considered progressive in the year 2020?


Yes, I find the whole term confusing - even back to the 70s - no one calls Steely Dan prog, but they certainly wrote more sophisticated music than ELP or Genesis. ISTM prog is more of an implementation of a Romantic CM aesthetic - epic programmatic type music


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Simon Moon said:


> The things that define prog for me, are : Complex time signatures, chord progressions, very high level of musicianship, (usually) long form songs, avoidance of verse>chorus>bridge structure, incorporating influences from classical, jazz, folk, world music.


That's as good a definition of prog as I've read anywhere.

These days, "prog" no longer needs to be progressive (as in, "new & different") because there are such things as "neo-progressive" and "classic progressive" and "traditional progressive"(!)


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

From the Story CD by Terry Syrek.

Featuring Marco Minnemann, Bryan Beller, Mohini Dey.


----------

