What is Progressive Rock ?

• Canterbury Scene
• Crossover Prog
• Eclectic Prog
• Experimental/Post Metal
• Heavy Prog
• Indo-Prog/Raga Rock
• Italian Symphonic Prog
• Jazz Rock/Fusion
• Krautrock
• Neo Progressive
• Post Rock/Math rock
• Prog Folk
• Prog Related
• Progressive Electronic
• Progressive Metal
• Proto-Prog
• Psychedelic/Space Rock
• RIO/Avant-Prog
• Symphonic Prog
• Tech/Extreme Prog Metal
• Various Genres
• Zeuhl

Canterbury Scene

A fraternal collective of musicians clustered around the Kentish tourist town that is home to the Church of England's Archbishop, the Canterbury Scene provided the cradle for a half-dozen of the most freewheeling British bands of the post-psychedelic era. Though the direct musical similarities between Canterbury's major bands — the Soft Machine, Caravan, Gong, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Hatfield & the North, Egg, National Health — aren't overwhelming, each featured a clever synthesis of jazz improvisation and rock rhythms with clever, intellectual songwriting tied to psychedelia. It's no wonder the Canterbury bands became so close, since many of its major figures began their musical careers in a beat group called the Wilde Flowers. Together from 1963 to 1969, the Wilde Flowers included most of the figures who later formed Canterbury's two best bands, the Soft Machine (Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers) and Caravan (Pye Hastings, David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Richard Coughlan). After both the Soft Machine and Caravan released their debut albums in 1968, they became popular in England's psychedelic underground. By the early '70s however, a series of fragmenting lineup changes and the subsequent formation of new bands soon multiplied the force of the Canterbury scene. Early Soft Machine member Daevid Allen formed Gong, and both Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt eventually left the Softs to begin their own solo careers. The musicians that led the new incarnation of the Soft Machine, including Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper, began pushing the band in the direction of instrumental jazz-rock. By the mid-'70s, many of the remaining Canterbury bands had progressed from psychedelic and prog-rock to embrace extended fusion jams with few lyrics. Many of Britain's better avant-garde or fusion musicians of the 1970s and '80s — including Fred Frith, Allan Holdsworth, and Peter Blegvad — also began their career playing in Canterbury bands.

Source:http://www.allmusic.com

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Crossover Prog

Crossover Prog contains progressive rock music that, though 100% progressive, may have a musical connection to popular music-- whether it be the lack of emphasis on extended compositions, or an influence from mainstream music in addition to classical, jazz and folk. Compositions, however, still exhibit a high degree of sophistication, sometimes outright complexity, and the musicianship and virtuosity is often on a par with established Prog acts. Much like their kin in the established prog sub-genres, these groups will incorporate many major parts of what defines prog rock: the fusing of rock with the structures and discipline of more traditional musics, the use of syntheisizers and new technologies, intelligent thematics, and the expansion of the form.

The defining characteristics of Crossover Prog are a pop music influence that is largely vacant in typical prog rock. Songs tend toward shorter, more concise presentations though still reach beyond the typical verse, bridge, chorus pattern. The harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic structures may be more easily digested in Crossover while not losing the musical integrity that a prog listener expects. Whereas Prog Related bands are generally commercial groups with certain prog elements or players that were involved in prog acts, Crossover Prog artists are predominantly progressive with elements of popular music.

The most representative examples for this genre include The MOODY BLUES, SUPERTRAMP, DREDG, CINEMA SHOW, RADIOHEAD.

- written by micky (Michael) and Chus (Jesus)

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Eclectic Prog

The term 'eclectic' in the context of progressive rock describes a summation of elements from various musical sources, and the influences and career paths of bands that take from a wide range of genres or styles. While progressive music can be, in a larger sense, eclectic, the 'Eclectic Prog' term is specially meant to reference bands that trespass the boundaries of established Progressive Rock genres or that blend many influences.

Eclectic Prog combines hybrids of style and diversity of theme, promoting many elements from different sources. The Eclectic category recognizes bands that evolved markedly over their career (in a progressive, evolutionary way), or have a plural style without a clear referential core.

The basic features lie within the music's variety, rich influences, art tendencies and classic prog rock elements. Among the representative bands are KING CRIMSON, VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, and GENTLE GIANT.

- written by Ricochet (Victor)

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Experimental/Post Metal

This group represents bands which belong to neither of the first two groups and achieve their progressiveness by being substantially more experimental and/or artistic than their peer ... including the whole movement of Post Metal.

Experimental Progressive Metal
Obviously this style is related to the style “Avant-Garde Progressive Metal” defined in the second group (Extreme/Tech Progressive Metal). The main difference is that the bands listed here are less technical/quirky and generally more calm/mellow than the Avant-Garde bands. Some are very close to Post Metal – an obvious example is MAUDLIN OF THE WELL who later turned into KAYO DOT who can be described as the Post Metal counterpart of SIGUR RÓS (Post Rock).

Art Metal
These bands all are more artistic than their peer. They're all experimental to a certain extent, but not as openly as the bands of the previous style. Some, but by no means all of them are sticking closer to traditional, non-prog forms of metal, but the level of sophistication in their music is much higher than that of their non-prog peer.

Post Metal
This style is the metal counterpart to the style of “Post Rock”. One common definition of Post Rock is “Music which uses Rock instrumentation for Non-Rock purposes”. This also applies to Post Metal: The heavily distorted guitars – which are a trademark of Metal – are often use for texturing/layering rather than riffing, creating calm and mellow music. This doesn't mean that there is no traditional riffing at all ... but even then it happens at a slow pace and is often interspersed with extended calm and mellow parts.

Post Sludge Metal
The first bands who successfully implemented the style originated in a genre called “Sludge Metal”, which could also be called “Post Hardcore”. Typically these bands feature extremely aggressive vocals (usually in the “growling” style) combined with extremely reduced and mellow music ... still the use of heavily distorted guitars and the slow and drawn out riffing known from “Stoner Metal” and/or “Drone Metal” make this a sub genre of Metal.

Eclectic Post Metal
Eventually other sub styles emerged ... some bands simply removed the vocals and thus the “Sludge” component (RED SPAROWES), others added Jazz elements (KAYO DOT, CALLISTO).

**Written by MikeEnRegalia**

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Heavy Prog

Heavy Prog defines progressive rock music that draws as much influence from hard rock as it does from classic progressive rock. In simple terms, it is a marriage of the guitar-based heavy blues of the late 1960s and 1970s - artists such as Cream, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath - and the progressive/symphonic movement represented by King Crimson, Yes and Genesis.

The electric guitar, amplified to produce distortion (or 'overdrive') is a crucial element, providing the 'heavy' tone required for this aggressive style, and later for the British and North American heavy metal of the late 1970s and 80s. The primary rock format of drums, bass and guitar with keys and/or vocals on top is represented strongly in heavy prog. The presence of the Hammond organ with its deep, intense rumble was also common among harder progressive groups such as ATOMIC ROOSTER. Although certain other acts, such as King Crimson and Jethro Tull, utilize a heavy guitar, bass and keyboard sound, the bulk of their work over the years puts them in a different category.

Bands that represent Heavy Prog would include ATOMIC ROOSTER, URIAH HEEP, TEMPEST, BLACK WIDOW, DR. Z, RUSH, WARHORSE, PAATOS, BIRTH CONTROL, TILES.

- written bt Atavachron (David)

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Indo-Prog/Raga Rock

The private, metaphysical relations to oneself, to the other, the symbolism of existence are connected, transfigured by the particular expression of raga, classical India music. The emotion provided by this music is not only “affective”. It’s a real message, an aesthetic of the nature, of the divine, a virtue able to guide the listener to a state of emotional trance. In the mid-60’s with the launch of international success of raga masters as Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan…European and American artists will become more and more captivated by the dynamical relation between mystical emotion, spirituality and music. The emergence of Raga schools from everywhere (still perpetuating the ancestral musical traditions), the travels of our modern classical, jazz and popular composers to India will provoke a growing agitation for this musical universe. The emphasis on repetitive circular rhythms, ornamentation (gamaka), the use of patterns, the sense of long, endless improvisations are the central characteristics of this music in term of practice and form. Emotionally, the function on the listener is hypnotic, voluntary trying to reach him into a higher state of consciousness, modulating his perception of time. The basic conception of “drone” (continuous sound form) will be taken back in popular music and turned into electronic “drone” (for instance by the 70’s Berlin underground electronic scene). After Seventh sons’ first original but rather discreet effort simply called “raga” (1964), famous bands as the Beatles in “Revolver” and Traffic in their album “Mr Fantasy” will be seduced by the sonorities of Indian raga music, occasionally integrated sitar elements to their music. Among the most notorious artists who participate to the original dialogue between rock and Indian music we can quote many jazz musicians influenced by “world” elements (the guitarists Volker Krieger, Steve Tibbetts, the clarinet player Tony Scott). They are often recognised to practice a fusion between jazz rock harmonies and raga’s instrumentations (tabla, sitar…). Among them Collin Walcott and Alberto Marsicano were Ravi Shankar’s pupils. The world of “raga” rock can also include folk bands as Quintessance, Fit & Limo, Flute & Voice which are largely impregnated by mysticism, sonic meditation and sitar.


Philippe Blache

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Italian Symphonic Prog

Indeed so much progressive music has emerged and continues to emerge from Italy that some people believe it belongs in its own sub-genre. Lyrics are almost entirely in Italian. Compositions sometimes follow traditional Italian arrangements and compositional style, some based on particular regions of Italy. However, Italian prog styles can, and do, also fall within all of the other sub-genres.

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Jazz Rock/Fusion

Sometimes includes progressive jazz. This style fuses traditional jazz arrangements, instruments, and performance style with elements of progressive rock. The result is usually instrumental jazz-rock with a somewhat more technical and complex edge. Very interesting to listen to - especially if you are a musician who marvels at the amazing virtuosity of some of these artists.

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Krautrock

Krautrock (also called “Kosmische musik”) is a German avant-garde / experimental rock movement that emerged at the end of the 1960’s. It was intended to go beyond the eccentricities developed by the wild psychedelic rock universe of the US, by giving a special emphasis to electronic treatments, sound manipulation and minimal hypnotic motifs (continuing the style of “musique concrete” and minimalist repetitive music but within a more accessible environment).

Krautrock put the emphasis on extended and ecstatic instrumental epics, neglecting the format of conventional psych-pop songs. The term Krautrock was first used by the British music press in a very derogatory way. The term rapidly found a better reputation in underground music circles and finally gained a certain popularity (thanks to the Brain-Festival Essen...)

The Krautrock movement is widely associated with notorious bands such as Popol Vuh, Amon Duul, Faust, Neu!, Ash Ra Tempel, Agitation Free, Guru Guru, etc. With their own particular artistic expression, these musical collectives provided rocking psychedelic incantations, mantra like drones, melancholic lugubrious atmospheres, long and convoluted collective improvisations, binary repetitive drum pulses, fuzz guitars, feedback, primitive electronic noises, hallucinatory ballads, and garage blues rock trips. Krautrock can be described as an anarchic, intense, acid, tellurian, nocturnal, spacey, dark and oniric “adventure” through rock music.

The most consistent years of the Krautrock scene cover a relatively short period from 1970 to 1975. After their first spontaneous, hyperactive and psychedelic efforts, the bands generally split up or declined into other musical sensibilities, more in line with mainstream rock or with ambient soundscapes.

Each region develops its particular musical scene, interpreting differently the Krautrock musical structure. For instance the Berlin school focused on “astral” synthscapes, weird electronic experimentation and acid jams (Ash Ra Tempel, Agitation Free, Mythos, The Cosmic Jokers, Kluster...), The Munich scene offered fuzzed out (Eastern) psych rock mantras with some folk accents (Popol Vuh, Amon Duul, Gila, Guru Guru, Witthuser & Westrupp...). Cologne and Dusseldorf underground scenes focused on happenings, political rock, electronics, pulsating rhythms and clean sounding Krautrock (Floh de Cologne, La Dusseldorf, Neu! Can...).

This musical cartography is correct in the absolute but naturally reveals some variations and exceptions. This intriguing and freak ‘n’ roll 1970's German scene enjoyed a rebirth in recent years thanks to a large number of reissues (of long lost classics) published by several independent labels (Spalax, Garden of Delights, Long Hair Music...) as a direct result of Krautrock's musical inspiration of modern post rock bands. There are actually some neo psychedelic rock bands who try to hold up Krautrock, and who notably find a major place to express themselves during the historical Burg Herzberg Festival in Germany.

Philippe Blache
December 2007

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Neo Progressive

Neo-Progressive rock (more commonly “Neo-Prog”) is a subgenre of Progressive Rock that grew out of a strong influence by and admiration for the classic symphonic prog bands that flourished during the 1970s. Debate over when Neo-Prog actually came into being often takes place, some asserting it began with Script for a Jester’s Tear by Marillion in 1983. Others contend it began with Twelfth Night at the dawn of the 80s, while some even suggest the popular symphonic prog band Genesis gave rise to the sound that would typify or at least highly influence the sound that characterizes Neo-Prog with their 1976 album, A Trick of the Tail.

As a transition, if one analyses the progressive movement just before 1980, then some very influential albums easily come to mind: Steve Hackett - Spectral Mornings, Genesis - Wind & Wuthering, Genesis - And Then There Were Three, Genesis - Seconds Out, Saga - Saga, all the Camel's albums between Breathless and The Single Factor included,  and some Eloy's albums, especially Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes. In the 80's, the movement was primarily UK-based, but bands eventually came from countries all around the world, especially in the 90's.

Neo-Prog is characterized by deeply emotional content, often delivered via dramatic lyrics and a generous use of imagery and theatricality on-stage. The music, at odds with a few genres of music held under the Progressive Rock banner, is mostly the product of careful composition, relying less heavily on improvised jamming. The subgenre relies very much on clean, melodic & emotional electric guitar solos, combined with modern, lush, floating and atmospheric keyboards. The main musical influences on the Neo-Prog genre are Genesis, Yes, Camel, and Pink Floyd.

The style of Neo-Progressive music during this decade was surprisingly not very much influenced by the New Wave movement in the realm of popular music, apart from the band Twelfth Night. Many bands who were influenced by the classic symphonic bands of the 70s sought to infuse new musical technology, such as digital synthesizers, and new production values into their sound, creating progressive rock that was fresh yet still characterized by nuances of the classic era of symphonic prog.

Premier bands of the 80s: Abraxas, IQ, Marillion, Pallas, Pendragon, Twelfth Night

Just as popular music became impregnated with the New Wave sound that characterized the early 80s, Neo-Prog moved on to a more refined form that seemed to return more to the roots of progressive rock compositionally, while still trying not to regress into well-worn territory. Neo-Prog often took on a form with a much harder edge than most of the classic symphonic bands ever developed, with bands such as Arena having just as much in common with the Progressive Metal genre as with Neo-Prog.

Premier bands of the 1990s/2000s: Arena, Collage, IQ, Marillion, Pendragon, Quidam, Sylvan

This text prepared by the Neo-prog specialist team - Stonebeard, Cygnus X-2, Greenback

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Post Rock/Math rock

POST-ROCK:

The term post-rock was coined by Simon Reynolds in issue 123 of The Wire (May 1994) to describe a sort of music "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbres and textures rather than riffs and powerchords."

Originally used to describe the music of such bands as Stereolab, Disco Inferno, Seefeel, Bark Psychosis and Pram, it spread out to be frequently used for all sorts of jazz- and Krautrock-influenced, instrumental, electronica-added music made after 1994. Bands from the early 1990s such as Slint, or earlier, such as Talk Talk were influential on this genre. As with many musical genres, the term is arguably inadequate: it is used for the music of Tortoise as well as that of Mogwai, two bands who have very little in common besides the fact that their music is largely instrumental.

The aforementioned Tortoise was among the founders of the movement. After the second Tortoise LP Millions Now Living Will Never Die, the band became a post-rock icon. After Millions... many bands (e.g., Do Make Say Think) began to record, inspired by the "Tortoise-sound" and were often described as post-rock.

In the late nineties, Chicago, Illinois, became the home base of many different groups. John McEntire (of Tortoise) became an important producer for lots of them, as well as Jim O'Rourke (of Brice-Glace, Gastr del Sol and many more). Post-rock began to range from the slow, guitar-based ambience of Boxhead Ensemble to the up-tempo electronica of Stereolab.

Montreal, Quebec band Godspeed You Black Emperor! — later renamed 'Godspeed You! Black Emperor' — brought a political element with anti-globalization movement leanings.

By the early 2000s, the term had started to fall out of favor, while the major artists kept on making high quality recordings. The wide range of styles covered by the term had robbed it of its usefulness almost from the moment it was coined.

Closely related to post-rock is the genre known as Math rock, characterized by more percussive timbres, and more dissonant harmonic gestures.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Post-rock".

MATH ROCK:

Math Rock is a genre that emerged in the late 80's and that was influenced by both the intricacies of progressive and avant-garde rock - King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Henry Cow - and 20th century composers such as Steve Reich and John Cage. The music is characterized by complex structures, angular melodies and constant abrupt changes in tempo and time signature. The name Math Rock is a term that grew out of the Chicago scene and the artists working with engineer Steve Albini in an effort to describe the new style.

The basic building blocks of Math Rock can be traced back to the late 60's and 70's where Progressive Rock artists were making more elaborate compositions than the standard rock bands and were experimenting with song structures. Early Avant-garde groups like Massacre, and artists such as Captain Beefheart and John Zorn were highly influential to Math Rock bands and traces of their music can still be heard throughout the genre. Another big influence to the Math Rock approach was Slint with their album "Spiderland" which showcased many techniques that Math Rock bands will follow in the future. Punk also had significant impact on the sound of Math Rock bands. Other notable influences are: Post-Rock, Heavy Metal, and Jazz.

Although there are Math Rock bands in different countries around the world, most reside in the United States, the Midwest in particular, and tend to be divided by regions: Pittsburgh bands (Don Caballero, Six Horse) Chicago bands (Shellac, U.S. Maple), Ohio bands (Keelhaul, Craw) Louisville bands (June 44, Rodan, The For Carnation, Crain), and San Diego bands (Drive Like Jehu, Tristeza) among others on both coasts. Japan was also an important country in the Math Rock genre with bands like Ruins and Zeni Geva.

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Prog Folk

In the wake of the 60’s, a Folk revival started on both sides of the Atlantic, and got quickly linked with a protest movement, not always, but often linked to more left-wing tendencies, which did not sit well with the authorities. BOB DYLAN, JOAN BAEZ, WOODY GUTHRIE, JOHN DENVER, BUFFY STE-MARIE, but also the FARINA couple Richard and Mimi for the US and SHIRLEY COLLINS and EWAN McCOLL (mentor of BERT JANSCH, JOHN RENBOURN ) for the UK and HUGUES AUFRAY in France. In Quebec, there was the “Chansoniers” phenomenon among which CLAUDE LEVEILLE and FELIX LECLERC were the most popular, waking up the sleepy “Belle Province” and stand up for itself from the English rule. The English part of Canada also brought up JONI MITCHELL, LEONARD COHEN (although he was from Montreal) and NEIL YOUNG.

As DYLAN turned electric with his Highway 61 Revisited album, much to the dislike of purists who yelled for treason, Folk Rock was born, opening the floodgates for younger artists to turn on the electricity. As DYLAN soon abandoned to style to create Country Rock with his next album, his British equivalent Scotsman DONOVAN stayed true to Folk Rock. In the US, THE BYRDS were the main promoters of the style by now, culminating with the superb “Eight Miles High” track with a lengthy (for the times) guitar solo of almost one minute. But countless other bands on the west coast, such as LOVE, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE (and later its spin-off HOT TUNA), GRATEFUL DEAD, QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE, PEARLS BEFORE SWINE, and TIM BUCKLEY all started in the folk rock realm. Even San Fran’s SANTANA with its Latino traditional music and, on the east coast, NY’s THE LOVING SPOONFUL had folk roots. Notwithstanding the immense popularity of SIMON & GARFUNKEL and their delicious harmonies, Folk Rock was appealing only to the rock public as the older generations turned their backs in folkies.

In the UK, following on their countrymen DONOVAN, many Scotsmen were very influent in exploring new grounds for folk rock: INCREDIBLE STRING BAND (led by Scots Palmer and Williamson) with their two highly influential albums “5000 Layers Or The Spirit Of The Onion” & “The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter” and THE PENTANGLE (led by other Scots Renbourn, Jansch and McShee and their superb bassist Danny Thompson) and its incredible fusion of folk, blues and jazz style were very instrumental in developing the style to the same extent as FAIRPORT CONVENTION and THE STRAWBS who by that time were still more conventional US “west-coast folk rock”. The single artistes in folk rock became known as Folk Troubadours were also numerous and often presented a more progressive side of folk: AL STEWART, NICK DRAKE, ROY HARPER, TYRANOSAURUS REX (actually a duo of Steven Took and Marc Bolan) , JOHN MARTYN etc…

However, the real angular album that will lead to further change of Folk Rock is FAIRPORT CONVENTION’s “Liege & Lief” album, that proved to be highly influential for another generation of groups: this album concentrated into electrifying seminal English traditional folk and retained that quaint Englishness taste. It is interesting to see that both leaders of FAIRPORT quit the band after this success to go their respective way: Sandy Denny to a solo folk songwriting career and Ashley Hutchings to a very traditional folk rock. By this time, most connoisseur were talking of Acid Folk, Psych Folk, and Progressive Folk, all having limited differences and no particularly drawn-out limits or boundaries, but all relying on experimental or groundbreaking adventures and good musicianship but not necessarily of an acoustic nature.

Groups like THE THIRD EAR BAND and QUINTESSENCE relied on eastern Indian music influences and, sometimes, medieval tones. Other groups like the weird COMUS, THE TREES, SPIROGYRA, FOREST, the superb JAN DUKES DE GREY (all listed in the ProgArchives) but also TRADER HORNE, TUDOR LODGE, FOTHERINGAY, MAGNA CARTA, TIR NA NOG (all of whom could also be in the ProgArchives) were out to break new ground but with less commercial success as their predecessor. By 1972, all of the glorious precursors bands were selling fewer records and had problems renewing themselves and a newer generation of groups was relying in a more Celtic jigs or really traditional sounds. Such as HORSLIPS, DANDO SHAFT, STEELEYE SPAN, AMAZING BLONDEL, ALBION DANCE BAND and SPRIGUNS OF TOLGUS. Although JETHRO TULL had some definitive folk roots right from the start, their only albums that can be regarded as Prog Folk are 77’s Songs From The Woods and 78’s Heavy Horses. Ian Anderson (another Scots) was very keen in acoustical traditional songs. Some Folk Troubadours such as TIM BUCKLEY and JOHN MARTYN started turning records more and more axed towards fusing jazz and folk (a bit in what THE PENTANGLE were doing) , others became more and more electric and they started to be referred to as Singer Songwriters especially those with country rock influences.

In Germany, HOELDERLIN (and their fantastic debut album), EMTIDI, OUGENWEIDE, CAROL OF HARVEST, WITTHEUSER & WESTRUPP were exploring German folk while KALACAKRA , SILOAH and EMBRYO were indulging with Indian music. In South America, most notably in Chile, LOS JAIVAS (very bent upon Andean Indian music) and EL CONGRESSO (more Spanish-Latino folklore) were using folk in their rock, so much that some press talked about them referring it with the hateful term Inca Rock. In Quebec, the progressive movement exploded with the cultural identity and the Chansoniers tradition and this was carried out with LES SEGUIN and HARMONIUM and so many more. In France, many groups were out for folk rock such as RIBEIRO ALPS, TANGERINE, and ASGARD. In Spain, Flamenco playing a dominant role as well as Basque folk, TRIANA, ITOIZ and HAIZEA were the head of the movement once the Franco regime fell apart after his death.


There is also a very important medieval music influences dimension in some groups as the term Medieval Folk was also mentioned for a while but apparently dropped by musicologists. Among the UK groups are obviously GRYPHON, GENTLE GIANT and THIRD EAR BAND, in France: MALICORNE and RIPAILLE and in Scandinavia: ALGARNAS TRADGARD and FOLQUE.


Hugues Chantraine

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Prog Related

Progressive rock is not a separate universe in music, it’s a genre among many others, a voice in the chorus and as part of a biggest scenario has points of contact with other musical genres.

Prog Related is the category that groups bands and artists that:

- Without being 100% Prog, received clear MUSICAL influence of this genre, OR

- Are widely accepted as MUSICALLY influential to the development of Progressive Rock by the community, OR

- Blend characteristics of Progressive Rock with mainstream elements creating a final product that despite not being part of the genre is evident that are close to Prog.

We specify the word MUSICAL because simple performance of a determined instrument in a Prog or mainstream band is not justification enough to include an artist, no matter how virtuoso he/she may be, Prog Archives has to evaluate their compositional work because the music is what determines the characteristics of a band or an artist.

Prog Related bands are not considered part of the genre but they have contributed in some form in the development of Progressive Rock, the inclusion of a band is exceptional and only after verifying that it’s a contribution for the better understanding of Prog among the members and visitors instead of a source of confusion for the community.


Iván Melgar Morey

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Progressive Electronic

Born in the late 60’s after the expansion of avant-gardist, modern, post-modern and minimalist experimentation, the progressive electronic movement immediately guides us into a musical adventure around technologies and new possibilities for composition. As an author or a searcher, the musician often creates his own modules and electronic combinations, deciding his own artistic and musical action. The visionary works of Stockhausen, Subotnick, John Cage (“concrete” music, electro-acoustic experimentation), La Monte Young, Steve Reich, Terry Riley (minimal, micro-tonal music) express a vision of total reconstruction in the current musical world. Luminous works such as “A Rainbow in Curved Air” (1967) and “Silver Apples of the Moon” (1967) bring an inflexion on opened forms and new ways to explore the essence and the physical aspects of sounds (through time and space). “Static” textures, collages & long running sounds, the power of technology previously exposed in ambitious classical works will have a major impact in “popular” electronic music. 

After the artisan & innovative uses of magnetic tapes, feedback, microphones, etc., the instrumental synthesis, the elaboration of global sound forms and the psycho-acoustic interactions will be sublimated thanks to the launch of the analog synth. A great improvement happened in 1964 with the appearance of the first modular synthesiser (Moog). This material (or "invention") brings the answer to the technological aspirations of many musicians, mainly after the release of the popular “Switched on Bach” (Walter Carlos) and Mother Mallard’s portable masterpiece (pieces composed between 1970-73).

At the beginning of popular essays in electronica, the pioneering technologies (in term of recording and sound transmission) will not be abandoned. For instance, “Tone Float” (1969) by Organisation (pre-Kraftwerk), “Zwei Osterei” & “Klopzeichen” (1969-70) by Kluster and “Irrlicht” (1972) by Klaus Schulze will carry on the domestication of the electric energy and the use of refined harmoniums, organs and echo machines. During the 70’s decade, European groups & musicians such as Eno, Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream will make their name in the music industry thanks to an abundant use of analog synthesisers and original electronic combinations. After weird, mysterious experimentation on conventional acoustic & electric instruments, Kraftwerk enjoyed huge success in popular music thanks to “mechanical electronic pop music”. “Trans Europe Express” (1977) and “The Man Machine” (1978) figure as two commercial classics. The German spacey electronic scene launched by Tangerine Dream with their outstanding “Alpha Centauri” (1971) and Cluster “I” & “II” (1971-72) will have echoes everywhere, starting from the Berlin underground electronic scene (the Berlin School) with Klaus Schulze (“Timewind” 1974), Michael Hoenig (“Departure from the Northern Wasteland” 1978), Ashra (“New Age of Earth” 1976), Conrad Schnitzler’s buzz-drones and repetitive electronics (“Zug”, “Blau”, Gold” 1972-74) . After several innovations always from Germany we notice the dark, doomy atmospheric manifests of Nekropolis (Peter Frohmader) in “Le culte des Goules” (1981), Asmus Tietchens in his colourful and engaged “Biotop” (1981) and the semi-ambient “Hermeneutic Music” (1988) by Lars Troschen (sound sculptor and synthesist).

In France, the “hypnotic” and “propulsive” electronic essays of Heldon (“Electronic Guerrilla” 1974) and Lard Free (“Spiral Malax”1977) introduce an inclination for industrial, urban and post-modern sound projections. The French “avant gardist” Philippe Besombes takes back the inspiration of “ concrete music" (Pierre Henry…) and mixes it to a hybrid rocking universe (published in 1973, “Libra” figures as a true classic). Bernard Xolotl in “Prophecy” (1981), “Procession” / “Last Wave” (1983) will follow the musical path anticipated by Klaus Schulze in his “Cosmic” electronic symphonies.

At the end of the 70’s until the debut of the 80’s Albums as “ambient 1: Music for Airports” (Brian Eno), “Cluster & Eno”, “Deluxe” (Hans Joachim Roedelius side project called Harmonia) will announce the emergence of the famous ambient movement, musically characterised by gorgeous shimmering atmospheric textures.

During the 80’s, Maurizio Bianchi will be searching for absolute “haunted” soundscapes, partly satisfied thanks to sound collages, manipulated tapes and sonic synth attacks (“Symphony for a Genocide” 1981 and recently the mesmerising “A.M.B Iehn Tale” 2005). Before him, the 70’s Italian specialists had been (among others) Francesco Cabiati, Francesco Bucherri, and Francesco Messina for representative, modern and spacey orchestrations. Albums such as “Mirage” (1979), “Journey” (1979) and “Prati Bagnati del Monte Analogo” (1979) gain the attention of the public through their floating, large electronic suites.

Philippe Blache

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Progressive Metal

This category represents the core movement of what is called “Progressive Metal” in the literal sense. Throughout the years many new styles of progressive metal emerged more or less independently of the original Progressive Metal bands. Separating these styles from the core movement helps to prevent the definition of Prog Metal from “watering down”.

Progressive Metal: The Early Years
Progressive Metal emerged in the second half of the 1980s. The first bands were essentially attempting to combine influences from classic prog rock of the 1970s (bands include YES, GENESIS, KING CRIMSON) and the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal – bands include DIAMOND HEAD, IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST).

Classic Progressive (Proto-)Power Metal
These bands were staying close to a style which would eventually be evolve into "American Power Metal". This type of Power Metal is not to be confused with the European style which emerged with bands like HELLOWEEN a few years later and would lead to a second wave of Progressive (European) Power Metal bands in the late 1990s.

Classic (Eclectic) Progressive Metal
This style came to full bloom in the 1990s. The NWOBHM influence is still present in the music, but it's not the main ingredient anymore - in fact one of the trademarks of this style is that it draws from a broad range of influences which all seem equal in proportion. The resulting music is very diverse, making it difficult to describe or pin-point. But it's always melodic and often symphonic, and generally not too explicitly technical – although bands like DREAM THEATER are often accused of being too technical and virtuous there are many bands which take technicality to yet another level.

Progressive Metal: The 1990s
In the 1990s American Power Metal continually lost its dominance over the core movement of Progressive Metal. Instead eclecticism and melodic/symphonic elements became the dominant attributes. DREAM THEATER quickly established themselves as the most popular band of the genre, which also led to them becoming a reference in terms of style. Every new Progressive Metal band was compared to them, similarly to neo prog bands being compared to MARILLION, or new Prog Rock bands of the 1990s being compared to SPOCK'S BEARD.

Modern (Eclectic) Progressive Metal
These bands and albums represent the “heart” of Progressive Metal. They managed to refine their music compared to the beginnings in the 1980s, yet they managed to stay true to the style they had defined with their early albums – at least at the beginning of the 1990s. Of course there were fluctuations – some bands are more technical, some are more symphonic, some albums are more experimental, some are spacey ... but they all maintain a balance between the influences, and that's why they're listed here.

Modern Progressive Power Metal (American Style)
In a way these bands revived the music which had sparked the Progressive Metal movement in the 1980s. In the meantime the musical environment had changed a lot, for example neo-classical elements had been made popular by one Yngwie J. Malmsteen. This was influential for most Progressive Metal bands which were rooted in Power Metal.

The following bands can largely be attributed to American Power Metal, although some are borderline to the Eclectic/Mainstream Progressive Metal bands.

Modern Progressive Power Metal (European Style)
These bands have even more neoclassical elements, the most extreme example being RHAPSODY who can be called “Classical Metal”, which doesn't qualify as being prog for many people. Nevertheless their music is quite demanding to play and contains many elements of serious classical composition and form, which is a strong indication of progressiveness. The following list of bands is quite diverse ... despite of them all being related to European Power Metal they really sound very, very different.

**Written by MikeEnRegalia**

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Proto-Prog

The denomination Proto Prog comes from the combination of two words, Proto from the Greek The earliest,. and Prog which as we know is a short term for Progressive Rock, so as it’s name clearly indicates, refers to the earliest form of Progressive Rock or Progressive Rock in embryonary state.

These bands normally were formed and released albums before Progressive Rock had completely developed (there are some rare Proto Prog bands from the early 70’s, because the genre didn’t expanded to all the Continents simultaneously

The common elements in all these bands is that they developed one or more elements of Prog, and even when not completely defined as part of the genre, they are without any doubt, an important stage in the evolution of Progressive Rock.

Generally, Proto Prog bands are the direct link between Psyche and Prog and for that reason the Psychedelic components are present in the vast majority of them, but being that Progressive Rock was born from the blending of different genres, we have broadened the definition to cover any band that combined some elements of Progressive Rock with other genres prior to 1970.

Some of these bands evolved and turned into 100% Prog, while others simply choose another path, but their importance and contribution in the formative period of Prog can’t be denied, for that reason no Prog site can ignore them.

Iván Melgar - Morey

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Psychedelic/Space Rock

Psychedelic progressive rock music is a part of larger psychedelic cultural phenomena, which emerged in the mid 1960's. During that time British Invasion and folk-rock bands began to expand the sonic possibilities of their music. These groups abandoned the brief, concise verse-chorus-verse patterns of rock & roll, and moved towards more free-form, fluid song structures. Just as important, the groups began incorporating elements of Indian and Eastern music. The free-from principles of free jazz were adopted to the psychedelic sound, emphasising spontaneous emotions over calculated and estimated construction of music. Also experimenting with electronically altering instruments and voices within the studio using new technology was part of the style.

A music being classified as psychedelic progressive rock may contain the elements described before with varying combinations. As the psychedelic movement was a large cultural phenomena, it is difficult to fence psychedelic progressive rock into a one tight category. Therefore psychedelic progressive rock can be found also from the different sub genres of prog, and it also has interfaces with several of them.

Psychedelic prog sub genres

Early psychedelic:

These artists are mostly found from the Proto-Prog section. Among the earliest psych related bands are BEATLES, CREAM, JIMI HENDRIX, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE and also PINK FLOYD with their first album.

Psychedelic folk / Acid Folk:

These bands can be found from the Prog Folk category, earliest of them being Proto-Prog similar time. From the early psych folk acts THE BYRDS were a highly successful group, but later they moved towards country music from their psychedelic style. This band was also a big influence for YES, which first album holds some psychedelic qualities. The multi vocal harmonies stayed in their sound even as they ventured towards the symphonic prog style, a genre which is quite far from psychedelic rock. The early line-up of FAIRPORT CONVENTION with SANDY DENNY released few albums, which combined traditional folk music with psychedelic elements, and their long song "A Sailor's Life" with real interactive improvisational playing had a big influence on psychedelic folk groups like THE TREES. Some psychedelic oriented folk bands also played music outside from the Anglo-Saxon frame of reference, like Italian AKTUALA, blended Middle-Eastern folk music to their records, and British JADE WARRIOR was seeking influences form Japanese and African music. In Germany EMTIDI blended electronic sounds in their sound, and at late 70's CAROL OF HARVEST drew together the essential characteristics of the genre which had matured during the decade in the vast number of psychedelic bands. Other bands which could be mentioned here are SEDMINA from former Yugoslavia and APHRODITE'S CHILD from Greece. both of these bringing elements of their own nations traditional musical heritage to be joined with the elements of psychedelia. Groups like THE THIRD EAR BAND and QUINTESSENCE experimented with elements from eastern and Indian music, which kind of bands are found more from the genre Indo-Prog/Raga Rock. Instead of European roots these artists take their elements from raga, classical India music. During mid-60's RAVI SHANKAR brought raga to success in the Western Christian industrial countries, and it's qualities were adopted to psychedelic culture, as both raga and psychedelia focus on the state of emotional trance. Example record from this genre could be SEVENTH SONS album "Raga" from year 1964.

Space Progressive Rock:

Space rock was developed in the late 60's and early 70's by bands like HAWKWIND, PINK FLOYD and TANGERINE DREAM. These bands created a sound dominated by long synthesizer driven instrumental sequences, echo treaded electric guitars, having much space for improvisations and using science fiction themes for songs, lyrics and album arts. Hawkwind is the genre's key innovator. Examples: HAWKWIND, early PINK FLOYD and TANGERINE DREAM, ALIEN PLANETSCAPES, QUARKSPACE, AMON DÜÜL (the English lineup).


Interfaces with other prog genres

Krautrock:

Early British psychedelia influenced the German bands of the early '70s that expanded the sonic possibilities of art and progressive rock. Bands of this genre moved later to it's own electronic directions, but krautrock can also be considered as 70's "acid" rock from Germany. A majority of bands experiment long instrumental improvisations with an important use of psychedelic effects, weird electronic sounds. Some bands from early 70's resembling still the conventional psych sound are f.ex. AMON DÜÜL, ASH RA TEMPEL, early CAN, GÄA NECRONOMICON and YATHA SIDHRA.

Progressive Electronic:

This style emerged from Krautrock, and some of their most influential artists TANGERINE DREAM and KLAUS SCHULZE started with very psychedelic musical style, and also inspired the evolvement of "Space rock" sound. Influences of progressive electronic music have been adopted to the contemporary techno music scene, and some underground trance techno acts have clear relations with psychedelic music, as they have even similar visual dimensions as part of their musical performance.

Jazz Rock/Fusion:

Psychdelia's free-form improvisation was implemented from the free jazz, which was established by ORNETTE COLEMAN by his album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation from year 1961 Some jazz rock albums may have psychedelic elements in them, for example American AZIGZA fusions middle-eastern elements in a quite psychedelic manner, and Finnish TASAVALLAN PRESIDENTTI implemented elements of psych folk and acid rock to their sound.

Prog Related:

From this genre can be found the solo albums of PINK FLOYD's SYD BARRET, and FAIRPORT CONVENTION. Other artists which might be classified as psychedelic prog related could be jam-oriented stuff like early live recordings of the ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND, and some mainstream bands influenced by classic psychdelia like KULA SHAKER.

Canterbury Scene:

An independent genre influenced by psychedelia, example bands with psychedelic tendencies are SOFT MACHINE and GONG.

Progressive Metal:

Some stoner rock orchestras' music can be either psychedelic rock or heavy metal, and the classifications will have to be done case-sensitive. PHARAOH OVERLORD is an example of psychedelic stoner rock band. Some harder stoner metal bands can be found from progressive metal band list.

- Eetu Pellonpää October 2006

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RIO/Avant-Prog

Rock in Opposition

What is Rock in Opposition?

Rock In Opposition - or RIO for short - is the name of a short lived movement that has gone on to define a genre of music, and which is now applied to musicians whose careers hadn't even started when the first RIO festival took place in London in 1978.

Festival

In the 1970s Henry Cow had, like other more left field bands, enjoyed greater popularity in mainland Europe than they did in the UK. They toured extensively and made contact with similarly inclined bands, most of whom were working independently and had no distribution or realistic opportunity of touring outside their native countries. The idea of Rock In Opposition was to create an independent network of like minded performers that would not be dependent on the largesse of major record companies for their survival.

===written by Chris Gleeson===

Four like-minded bands were invited to play at the Rock in Opposition festival, alongside Henry Cow, on 12th March 1978, at the New London Theatre, Drury Lane in London. The British Arts Council helped the funding of the festival with a £1000 grant.

The Rock in Opposition slogan “The music the record companies don't want you to hear” was altered very slightly for the flyer advertising the first Rock in Opposition concert.

The five initial Rock in Opposition bands:

Henry Cow (England)
Univers Zero (Belgium)
Etron Fou Leloublan (France)
Samla Mammas Manna (Sweden) – at the time they recorded as Zamla Mammaz Manna
Stormy Six (Italy)

This festival generated a lot of interest around the world at the time within the media, as nothing like this had been done before. This somewhat surprised the members of the bands involved and so it was decided to reconvene at Sunrise Studios in Kirchberg, Switzerland in December 1978, to decide on the future of the movement. Henry Cow as a band, had disbanded by this time (some of the members went on to form Art Bears), but two of the former members of Henry Cow, Chris Cutler and Fred Frith (and likely others) still participated in the discussions in Kirchberg.

The decision was to continue with the movement, but it was decided to keep membership of new bands to a minimum and to also make sure they adhered to some key elements:

A) That of musical excellence. This depending on our collective evaluation of same - a source of much fruitful discussion.
B) That of working actively outside the music business.
C) That of having 'a social commitment to Rock'
Groups who only record or only perform could qualify but they should have a permanent continuity of existence. The total number of members should remain small.

Note: the above list is written by Chris Cutler himself.

Three new bands were elected:

Art Zoyd (France) – who had previously toured with Univers Zero and had members of Univers Zero perform on their albums
Art Bears (England) – who consisted of former members of Henry Cow: Chris Cutler, Fred Frith and Dagmar Krause
Aksak Maboul (Belgium) – who had former members of Univers Zero as well as Chris Cutler and Fred Frith amongst them

===written by James R. Yeowell===

They had many disagreements in that meeting about the purpose of the group, and its meaning. They eventually came up with a plan to continue their joined concerts. They organized three more festivals and cooperative record distributions but eventually the RIO group dissolved, leaving behind a legacy that would be picked up by newer bands and the RIO member bands.

RIO therefore, is not a particular sound, but rather an attitude towards creating music. The original bands did not have much in common in terms of sound. Today however one can define a band as RIO if it follows a certain musical path, similar to that of one of the founders. This way, bands like Miriodor or Ensemble Nimbus can be said to have been influenced by Samla Mammas Manna; a band like Sotos or Zaar can be compared to Present, or Univers Zero.

====written by Assaf Vestin===

Date of RIO festivals:

12 March 1978 at New London Theatre, Drury Lane, London, England (set up by Henry Cow)
26 April 1979 to 1 May 1979 at Teatro dell'Elfo, Milano, Italia (set up by Stormy Six)
28/29 September 1979 in Uppsala, Sweden (set up by Samla Mammas Manna)
Bruxelles, Belgium (set up by Univers Zero)

So what do these bands sound like?

As already stated, all of the bands involved within the Rock in Opposition movement had an avant-garde side to them, some more so than others.

Henry Cow took influences from contemporary classical and chamber music, as well as jazz fusion (such as Miles Davis) and when Dagmar Krause (a German by birth) joined, many of their vocals sounded like the Lieder music of Franz Schubert and also had a Bertold Brecht style to them. All of their music was scored, yet used complex time signatures, free improvisation and often used experimental tape manipulations.

Univers Zero took influences from contemporary classical and chamber music, such as Igor Stravinsky, Anton Webern, Albert Huybrechts and Béla Bartók, but generally were darker than Henry Cow in sound and had much less of a jazz influence.

Etron Fou Leloublan took influences from French music hall, jazz and the burgeoning punk scene. Their music was generally comedic in nature and very difficult to listen to, especially on their debut album.

Samla Mannas Manna/Zamla Mammaz Manna took their influences from Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart and also had circus music influences. Again, their music is humorous and wacky in nature.

Stormy Six took their influences from folk music (their debut album was released in 1969, years before the RIO scene was thought of) and their lyrics were generally political and sang in Italian. They were perhaps the least avant-garde of the bands involved in the movement, but they were one of the most vocal, arranging their own RIO festival.

Legacy

Firstly, to quote Chris Cutler:

“In its ten minutes of fame, RIO verified something, it set a ball rolling, it made things happen that made other things happen. In that sense, it was a success. Without it, someone else would have had to have invented it. Of course, the more complex issues were abandoned. Perhaps they could not really have been faced. We raised them though; they are still in the file labelled: Unfinished Business.”

The Rock in Opposition movement ended in 1979 with a fizzle, but its legacy is very strong. So much so, that a Rock in Opposition festival took place in Carmaux in France in April 2007. None of the original bands performed, but many associated bands and musicians did, including Chris Cutler who performed with former Slapp Happy and Henry Cow member Peter Blegvad.

The bands and musicians present at the RIO festival in April 2007 were:

Magma (actually a longtime associated band that played alongside Univers Zero in the 1970s)
Faust (who toured with Henry Cow in their earlier pre-RIO days)
Peter Blegvad (with Chris Cutler)
Present (an offshoot band of Univers Zero, set-up by former Univers Zero drummer Daniel Denis)
Zao
Mats/Morgan Band
Guapo
NeBeLNeST (a French chamber rock band)
Salle Gaveau (a Japanese chamber rock band)
GMEA

As well as the above festival, many bands influenced by the original Rock in Opposition bands continued to be formed in the 1980s to the present and the scene is perhaps more popular now than it ever has been.

Many independent record labels have also been formed because of the Rock in Opposition movement, including Recommended Records/ReR Megacorps, RecRec (an offshoot of ReR in Switzerland), ReR USA (the US branch of ReR), ZNR Records, AYAA (a French off-shoot of ReR), Cuneiform Records and Crammed Discs (set-up by Marc Hollander of Aksak Maboul).

===written by James R. Yeowell===

Noise/Brutal Prog

In the last 20 years Japan has boasted one of the most exciting and innovative Avant-prog scenes in the world. Widely, the scene finds its characteristics defined by harsh unrelenting compositions factoring exceptional displays of musicianship. While influences have been amassed from far and wide - with the likes of Captain Beefheart and John Zorn - the most direct influence can be linked to Keiji Haino (guitar, vocal, percussion [on occasions]). His works range an embodiment of rock, free improvisation, noise, psychedelic, minimalism etc. The archetypal sound and structure [deconstruction maybe a better term] of the Japanese Underground scene was founded with Haino’s improvisational rock group Lost Aaraaf (1970) - later continued with Fush*tsusha. To this day Haino’s influence is still widely recognized throughout the scene, with his involvement with many of the leading musician from numerous bands: Ruins, Ground Zero, and Altered States. Evolving into the formation of Knead and Sanhedolin. Upon a thorough investigating of the scene, one finds deep interconnections between bands, lending to a communal type atmosphere [not too far from the Canterbury scene]. While generally closeted to the outside world, Japan's impact on the worldwide Avant-prog scene has been remarkable. John Zorn has played a crucial roll in the globalization and distributions of Japanese music with his personal label Tzadik, detailing the ‘New Japan’ movement.

The mid 80’s saw the principles of Japanese Avant-prog firmly planned, with the formation of the power duo Ruins (’85). Lead by brainchild Tatsuya Yoshida (drums, vocal, keyboard, guitar), Ruins plays an intense fusion between punk and progressive rock. Yoshida’s drumming was highly influenced by Christian Vander (Magma), honing in on the remarkable technical capabilities, while lacking some of the more emotional entities. Yoshida is infamous for his infinite collaborative work, some of his other bands/collaborations include: Akaten, Tairikuoto vs' Sanmyakuonns, Seikazoku, Musica Transonic, Sunkick, Koenji Hyakkei, Knead, Soft Mountain, Zubi Zuva, not to mention the numerous collaborations with John Zorn [the list goes on].

Round the same time (’86) as Ruins, world famous noise rockers ‘Boredoms’ escaped from the underground, fronted by the ever-charismatic Yamatsuka Eye [better known as simply eYe today]. From the word go ‘Boredoms’ crafted a raw, eccentric form of punk styled noise, fixating on the humorous side of life. Over the years ‘Boredoms’ sound evolved tremendously in to a mature mix between Avant-prog, psych, krautrock and noise. With a line-up of three percussionist, plus eYe, their sound revolves intensely on the rhythmic textures. Once again ties with John Zorn are present, entailing eYe’s involvement with the Naked City projects. Yoshimi P-We (percussion, vocals, guitar) later went on to form the solely female band OOIOO, which can be paralleled as a subdued ‘Boredoms’ with subtle complexity.

Ground Zero [now defunct] formed under the guidance of turntablist/guitarist Otomo Yoshihide and stands as one of the most famous groups from the Japanese underground scene. Forming in 1990, Ground Zero’s sound deviated from the classic Avant-prog scene. Their compositions were generally a profound mix of sampled/recorded sounds, noise and improvisation. Otomo Yoshihide is just as prolific a musician/composer as Yoshida, playing with a huge proportion of the underground scene and numerous American contemporaries. Both Nasuno Mitsuru (bass, vocals) and Yoshigaki Yasuhiro (drums) from Ground Zero went onto form Altered States - who were a cross between Art rock and Avant/free Jazz.

While large proportions of the scene are defined by harsh dissonance, there is also a more refined branch influenced by Jazz and RIO. Tipographica, were a great example of this, with their delicate blend of RIO and Canterbury, focusing on a fusion between improvisational jazz and contemporary classical. Their saxophonist Kikuchi Naruyoshi went on to form ‘Date Course Pentagon Royal Garden’ whose album is sometimes hailed as the Japanese ‘Bitches Brew’. Alternatively ‘After Dinner’ portrays the softer, pop-orientated RIO, in vain of ‘Art Bears’

Today the scene is still taking quantum leaps. While many of the original bands are still active, new generations are keeping speed with new innovative revelations. With the likes of OOIOO, Le Silo and Pochakaite Malko the scene is far from its creative ends.

===written by Adam Rutter===

Thanks to the RIO/Avant-prog team for their collaborations with this definition.

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Symphonic Prog

Symphonic is without doubt the sub-genre that includes the most bands in Progressive Rock because for many people it's almost synonymous classic Prog, something easy to understand being that most of the classic and/or  pioneer bands released music that could be included in this sub-genre, except JETHRO TULL and PINK FLOYD (who still blended some symphonic elements), even KING CRIMSON who very soon expanded their horizons to more experimental music, made their debut with a Symphonic album, "In the Court of the Crimson King" which is a cornerstone in the development of the genre.

The main characteristics of Symphonic are the ones that defined all Progressive Rock: (There's nothing 100% new under the sun) which among others are:

• Mixture of elements from different genres.
• Complex time signatures.
• Lush keyboards.
• Explorative and intelligent lyrics, in some cases close to fantasy literature, Sci Fi and even political issues.
• Non commercial approach
• Longer format of songs
  

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Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

This category contains a very broad range of bands. Most of them have one thing in common: technicality. Their music is very demanding to play and to listen to. The word “Extreme” has been added to the name of the category because most bands which are based in extreme metal genres (Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal) are also quite technical and/or achieve their progressiveness by making their music exceedingly complex.

The Early Years
There were few bands in the 1980s or early 1990s which can be attributed to this category. This is mostly due to the fact that the genres most of these bands are rooted in didn't exist yet. Even the bands listed as Avant – which aren't based on a fixed genre like Thrash or Death – needed these fixed genres as an influence. There are a few though – most notably WATCHTOWER and ATHEIST (Thrash), CYNIC (Jazz-Fusion/Thrash) and PESTILENCE (Black Metal).

The Modern Phase
This phase begins in the late 1990s. Thrash Metal and Death Metal had existed for about 10 years, Black Metal for about 5 years and bands were looking for new ways to express themselves. Similarly to the classic Progressive Metal bands of the 1980s they picked their favorite style of metal and added progressive elements – only this time it wasn't NWOBHM but a more extreme kind of metal instead.

It's slightly different for the Tech/Shred and Jazz-Fusion subcategories: Although the musicians of these bands often had a background in extreme metal they left the extreme elements behind and replaced them with other “things” ... often elements from Jazz-Fusion, but sometimes also from Classical music or classic Prog Rock / Prog-Fusion. A good example for such a transition is the late Chuck Schuldiner who not only turned his band (DEATH) from a standard Death Metal outfit into the first Progressive Death Metal band (as can be heard on “The Sound of Perseverance”), but also released a brilliant album under the band name CONTROL DENIED which wasn't Death Metal at all.

Avant-Garde Prog Metal
In a way this sub category can be seen as the counterpart to “RIO/Avant-Prog”. All these bands are very experimental in an avant-garde fashion ... their music is difficult to “process” for people not used to this level of “quirkiness”. Often weird and unusual instrumentation is used, or instruments used in unusual ways which defy the laws of tradition.

Progressive Thrash Metal
The name pretty much says it all. Technicality is an inherent property of Thrash Metal, so in order to achieve progressiveness the bands must add other elements to their music – usually experimentation, Jazz influences or a more epic and complex approach to songwriting.

Progressive Death Metal
This is not to be confused with “Technical Death Metal”, a non-prog genre. Like explained in the previous category technicality alone is not enough to achieve progressiveness.

Progressive Black Metal
Black Metal is not a very technical genre – at least the original, “old-school” Black Metal is inherently non-technical and lo-fi. Typically the bands listed here are much more technical than the usual Black Metal outfit and/or add avant-garde elements to the music, or a more epic approach to songwriting.

Progressive Technical Metal
This category is quite similar to Progressive Metal Fusion – Jazz elements are frequently used, but not to the same extent. Usually this type of music is instrumental (exceptions confirm the rule), and it's a lot less weird than the Avant-Garde Progressive Metal bands. Often these bands try to make their composition as difficult to play as humanly possible (CANVAS SOLARIS said that in interviews).

Progressive Metal Fusion
These bands are applying Jazz-Fusion to Metal ... the results can turn out quite differently depending on which type of Jazz-Fusion is applied to which type of Metal.

**Written by MikeEnRegalia**

All Tech/Extreme Prog Metal artists list

Various Genres

Albums or CD's where more than one artist is featured either as a SAMPLER or a TRIBUTE to a particular band. Examples: - Peter and The Wolf - Prog Fairytale - 1975 / The Reading Room - 2000 / Leonardo - The Absolute Man - 2001 / Best Prog Rock Album in the World... Ever - 2003 / Un Voyage En Progressif Volume 1 to 8 / Kalevala - A Finnish Progressive Rock Epic.

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Zeuhl

Zeuhl is an adjective in Kobaïan, the language written by Christian Vander, drummer and founder of the French band Magma.

Pronunciation: zEU(h)l, while the EU are like a French E with a slight U, and the (h) is a semi-silent letter which is an integrated part of the EU, totaling in a "syllable and a half".

The word means celestial, although many times it is misunderstood as meaning "celestial music", since the members of Magma describe the genre of their music as Zeuhl. Zeuhl Wortz, though, means Music of the universal might.


The genre is a mixture of musical genres like Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Modernism and Fusion. Common elements: oppressive or discipline-conveying feel, marching themes, throbbing bass, an ethereal piano or Rhodes piano, and brass instruments.

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