What is "vanilla prog metal"?

dtguitarfan wrote: Ambient Hurricanes wrote: Death is actually getting a bunch of kill votes, Max (Fox on the Rocks) and I have been voting against them every time.  They're not bad or anything, but there's so many great bands on the list that I like more.  Do you like them? I'd never even heard of "Death" until recently - probably mostly because I have no interest in Death or Doom metal.  I only like growls/screams when they're mixed in with other styles of singing - you may have heard my "hot sauce" analogy before.  But no, I put them in the list to see what would happen when a band that clearly does not belong in a top 10 of prog bands was stacked up against a bunch that do, and people kept giving kill votes to the ones that clearly do.  The point is: sadly, this place, I believe, has become more about musical disappreciation than musical appreciation since people are more eager to share about what they don't like.

A lot of people like Death, though, and I'm sure some would put them in their top ten bands.  Many peope who dislike DT are fans of Death, so it makes sense that they would keep voting for them.                                                                       You should have picked Torman Maxt, the most hated band on progarchives, instead.

Edited by Ambient Hurricanes - July 08 2012 at 15:18

In any case, I have never heard anyone put Death in a list of the top Prog bands, and when I had the idea to put a disliked band into the fray, I went looking at ratings and saw they had an album that had an average barely over 3, with over 100 votes.

Yes, I dislike pure 100% death metal growls, but I don't make it a point to tell everyone that.  And I've actually listened to a few albums that were mostly growls and found quite a bit of merit to them.  Recently I listened to a Meshuggah album and thought it was good, though I don't prefer the vocals, and more recently I listened to Ne Obliviscaris and thought they were quite remarkable despite not being crazy about the vocal style.

Ambient Hurricanes wrote: dtguitarfan wrote: In any case, I have never heard anyone put Death in a list of the top Prog bands, and when I had the idea to put a disliked band into the fray, I went looking at ratings and saw they had an album that had an average barely over 3, with over 100 votes. Yes, I dislike pure 100% death metal growls, but I don't make it a point to tell everyone that.  And I've actually listened to a few albums that were mostly growls and found quite a bit of merit to them.  Recently I listened to a Meshuggah album and thought it was good, though I don't prefer the vocals, and more recently I listened to Ne Obliviscaris and thought they were quite remarkable despite not being crazy about the vocal style.   Their first three albums were more straight ahead metal, and don't have high ratings on this site.  Their last four (Human, Individual Thought Patterns, Symbolic, and The Sound of Perseverance) are more progressive, and all have ratings over 4 stars with 126-260 ratings each.   I prefer when metal bands mix the heavy portion of their sound with more soft/ambient sections, both in the music and in the vocal style (I think it adds more variety and makes it more interesting and listenable), but I like death growls too.  UneXpect mixes clean vocals with growls a lot, you should try them, though they might be a bit extreme for your tastes.

I've heard that name.  Haven't tried them yet.  They will have to go on the list, which is getting longer and longer since I started it....

My favorites, as far as mixing grows with other vocals styles, are Epica and Orphaned Land, by the way.

Ambient Hurricanes wrote: Looked at the list; you should listen to Iona as soon as you can, their music is breathtakingly beautiful, and they have to be in my top five favorite bands, though I'm still exploring the rest of their catalog.  Start with the live album Heaven's Bright Sun, as it provides an excellent introduction to the way the band sounds, and the performances even surpass the quality of the studio albums.

Thanks!  I'll keep that in mind!  Right now, 2012 albums are taking high precedence because I have decided to try for 100 2012 albums by the end of the year.  I'm at 50 now....  But I'll put Iona near to the top to remind me when I'm taking a break from 2012 stuff.

Slartibartfast wrote: The important question that is being overlooked here is that if there such a thing as vanilla prog metal, what would the black specks actually consist of?

dtguitarfan wrote: Slartibartfast wrote: The important question that is being overlooked here is that if there such a thing as vanilla prog metal, what would the black specks actually consist of? Dark matter.

Side note inspired by silveraindrop75 - anyone know of any good African prog?

VanVanVan wrote: dtguitarfan wrote: Ambient Hurricanes wrote: Death is actually getting a bunch of kill votes, Max (Fox on the Rocks) and I have been voting against them every time.  They're not bad or anything, but there's so many great bands on the list that I like more.  Do you like them? I'd never even heard of "Death" until recently - probably mostly because I have no interest in Death or Doom metal.  I only like growls/screams when they're mixed in with other styles of singing - you may have heard my "hot sauce" analogy before.  But no, I put them in the list to see what would happen when a band that clearly does not belong in a top 10 of prog bands was stacked up against a bunch that do, and people kept giving kill votes to the ones that clearly do.  The point is: sadly, this place, I believe, has become more about musical disappreciation than musical appreciation since people are more eager to share about what they don't like. I haven't seen the thread you're referring to, so perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but it seems strange to use one of the most influential progressive extreme metal bands ever as an example that "clearly" does not belong in a list of top prog bands.  If I've misunderstood, please set me straight.

I have to agree with VVV on this. If you havent noticed yet, there are quite a few people here who generally prefer Exp/post and X-tech to vanilla prog metal (see what I mean about it being a difirentiating term) so putting Death, one of the most iconic and influentel exteme metal bands of all time up against DT (and TFK, it tends to be that Death fans wont like TFK either) was always going to provide a close race.

BTW, of the bands you mentioned in your previous post on this (Dream Theater, The Flower Kings, Pink Floyd and Death), none of them would make my top 10 bands and only PF would get close.

CCVP wrote: Ambient Hurricanes wrote: A lot of people like Death, though, and I'm sure some would put them in their top ten bands.  Many peope who dislike DT are fans of Death, so it makes sense that they would keep voting for them.                                                                       You should have picked Torman Maxt, the most hated band on progarchives, instead.   EDIT -  replying to Geoff, two people posted while I was still writing. Torman Maxt isn't so bad, actually. Too much blind hate towards them IMO because of the sh*tstorm one review caused some years ago.