Crazy complex prog. The most demanding listens

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Hey. I've made a list on RateYourMusic called Crazy complex prog rock

and i'm trying to find the absolutely most complex and demanding prog albums there are to be heard. Here is my list. Any suggestions for addition would be greatly appreciated since i'm always seeking out the most bizarre, experimental and demanding music that exists. Thanks!

Crazy complex prog rock - Rate Your Music

The most unapologetic complex progressive rock music there is to be heard. This is music so dense, so convoluted and so uncompromising that it takes a fair number of listens to comprehend what's going on with some of these having taken me well over a decade to crack the secrets within. Some of my absolute favorite music exists in this realm where every musical idea swirls in creative concoctions of complex yumminess. Please let me know what i'm missing! This stuff tends to be underappreciated and obscure but for those with the patience and need for such stuff - an essential element for life happiness :) This list is pretty much limited to the rock genre which includes metal. I'll add more as i think of some i've missed. None of these are ranked in any particular order but all are heading for a 10 on the progometer scale of complexity
1 Island
Pictures (1977)

This crazy Swiss band created one of the weirdest prog workouts mostly based in the symphonic side of the genre. They released this one little gem of complexity "Pictures" that even after several decades rarely gets the respect it deserves simply because it is literally as alienating as the album cover suggests but well worth the effort if unrelenting prog rock workouts is what you crave. Yes, that is indeed an H.R. Giger painting on ISLAND's sole release 
2 Jethro Tull
A Passion Play (1973)

Hot on the heels of the much more accessible "Thick As A Brick,"JETHRO TULL released their own prog folk rock answer to Yes' excesses heard in "Tales From Topographic Oceans." Upon first listen a seemingly random and chaotic rotisserie of gibberish and overweening pomp, but after well over a decade of letting this sink in has revealed itself to be a top dog of concept albums with so many elements stuffed into that it needs a period table of elements just to help the listener navigate. Like Rodney Dangerfield, still waiting to get the respect it deserves but history will surely prove it to be JT's most ambitious effort ever 
3 Yes
Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973)

The oft loved and more ofter loathed double album extravaganza showing YES take their unique sound to the ultimate heights of prog pomp and grandiosity. While not as impenetrable as other albums on this list because it actually has quite accessilbe segments that basically take their already established sound and sew them together in a long drawn out fashion, it nonetheless qualifies as one of the most multifarious prog behemoths of music history with each of the four tracks swallowing up an entire side of the original vinyl LP. Castigated for having long drawn out segments that meander eternally, it equally provides passages so elaborate and tangled that leave the first time listeners scratching their heads in dismay 
4 Yes
Relayer (1974)

Although Relayer was much more accepted by fans after the divisive "Tales From Topographic Oceans" doesn't mean it was any less complex, dense and layered. In fact i would argue it's even more so but somehow managed to channel and refine all the elements that take the limits of progressive rock and creatively invent newly founded hooks that yielded perfect compositions. The peak of YES' creative prowess can be heard on this album and then they would slowly slip into more commercial endeavors 
5 Gnidrolog
In Spite of Harry's Toe-Nail (1972)

The Goldring brothers were always adventure seekers and when they finally released their debut album "In Spite Of Harry's Toe-Nail" even aficianados of the then burgeoning prog rock scene were thrown off by the sheer audacity and musical mangling heard on this album. While clearly steeped in the folk music that initiated their musical endeavors, GNIDROLOG took hitherto unheard liberties in aggregating some of the most labyrinthine and circuitous polyrhythmic melodies that have never truly been matched. This one requires a great many spins to sink in but has emerged as one of my all time favorites albums that even makes my desert isle list 
6 PoiL
Brossaklitt (2014)

A sonic celebration of spastic punk energy infused with psychedelic lysergic freakouts and childish Zappesque avant-prog that engulfs a near hour long of absolutely unrelenting craziness. Harsh and insulting to the ears like a Ruins album on steroids, France's PoiL delivers for the adventurous music lover who relishes in doing somersaults on roller coasters 
7 Yūgen
Death by Water (2016)

YUGEN's whole mission as a band was to create the most complex music possible and on "Death By Water" they succeed in creating a blissful sonic compound of tortured polyrhythms that play together like swirling electrons around an atom. While their other albums were steeped in complexity, this one takes it to new heights and also achieves an avant-prog yumminess that even manages to create a melodic underpinning to the mondo bizarro maelstrom of sounds 
8 Marsupilami
Marsupilami (1970)

Nipping on the heals of King Crimson, MARSUPILAMI, also from the fertile British scene of the late 60s unleashed the most complex album of 1970 with an album filled with jaw-dropping complexiites such as incessant time signature and dynamic orgies of sound that change from rock to folk and beyond at a drop of the hat. While melodic passages are abound, they are steeped in dissonance, off-kilter jazz infused chord changes and sudden abrupt surprises that create most unorthodox compositional liberties that make this one of the most creative albums of all time 
9 Marsupilami
Arena (1971)

While some bands release one album of craziness and then calm down in hopes of more commerical exposure, MARSUPALAMI went the opposite direction by taking all of their bizarre and unique progressive rock complexity on "Arena" and added a concept story involving ancient Rome to the mix thus releasing the second and last album of their career. I'm still trying to figure out which one i love more 
10 Unexpect
In a Flesh Aquarium (2006)

While starting out as a rather avant-garde death metal meets classical music band, the dam of creativity burst wide open for their third release "In A Flesh Aquarium" which adopted the Mr Bungle approach and took it to disturbing new levels of craziness. While many bands have mastered the fine art of alternating musical genres in their compositions, UNEXPECT took disparate genres such as Western classical, dark cabaret, opera, jazz, funk, electronica, ambient, noise rock, circus music and gypsy swing and threw them all into a blender which when augmented by the beauty and beast vocal approach yielded THE most bizarre album in all of the metal universe. This one requires a ridiculous amount of listens to sink in but has a high pay off and has also become a candidate for the desert isle list 
11 Gorguts
Obscura (1998)

This little gem is fairly popular these days for its unique tortuous and twisted take on death metal. Emerging on the tail end of the 90s after the golden age of extreme metal, GORGUTS departed from their fairly generic take on the death metal world after two albums and took the world by storm with their mangled technical wizardry on "Obscura" which has become the cornerstone of tech death metal influence for the 21st century. Despite having heard this for a while now, i still have no idea how it sounds until i put it on as the compositions are as atypical and non-traditional as is possible but somehow has hidden elements that create some sort of patterns of recognition that keep the listening experience a constant guessing game 
12 Deathspell Omega
Fas – Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum (2007)

DEATHSPELL OMEGA from France single handedly gave a much needed injection of creativity to the stagnating black metal scene in 2007 with their classic "Fas - Ite, Malecticti, In Ignem Aeternum." While firmly planted in the the black metal world thematically and instrumentally speaking, this mysterious band catapulted itself above the pack by creating one of the most bizarre and experimental black metal albums ever. The compositional structures are far beyond the simplicity of the previous decade as is the metaphysical nature of the lyrical content. Truly a major leap in complexity in this metal arena where not only black metal is given a much needed boost of energy but DEATHSPELL OMEGA proves they can traverse throughout the entire extreme metal universe and stitch it together without effort 
13 Kayo Dot
Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue (2006)

While most cite "Choirs Of The Eye" as their favorite KAYO DOT album, i'm quite partial to the second release "Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue" which musically is as convulated and impenetrable as the title and cover art suggest. Based on a tortuous assault of jangly guitar distortions with unthinkably complex jazz based chords and time signature assaults, this album also has lush chamber rock meets post-rock passages that flow like ethers in the eye of the hurricane that emerge around it. I honestly don't know why i love this one but once i put it on i'm mesmerized as it suspends every expectation of what music should be 
14 Yezda Urfa
Boris (1975)

One of the more accessible acts on this list is YEZDA URFA that takes hummable melodies and twists them and infuses them with virtuosic workouts on "Boris" that are so intense that some of the instruments must have surely melted during the recording of this album which was actually only supposed to be a demo to begin with. While somewhat easy to grasp upon first listen, subsequent listens to the details will awe with dizzying and daring sonic assaults that display a juggling of many facets of music simultaneously 
15 Il Balletto di Bronzo
Ys (1972)

One of Italy's most eccentric bands in the boom of RPI (Rock Progressivo Italiano). While most bands were going down a similar symphonic path laid out by PFM and Banco, some bands like the Naples natives IL BALLETTO DI BRONZO were much more daring and creative in how they approached their craft. Their triumphant album "Ys" is chock full of progressive workouts with huge swaths of purely experimental and alienating passages along the way with some of the most energetic and frenetic musical displays of any album of the early 70s 
16 Moving Gelatine Plates
The World of Genius Hans (1972)

One of the scant non-English followers of the UK's Canterbury Scene came from France's MOVING GELATINE PLATES that took all the zany whimsy and jazz-rock fusion workouts found from the likes of Soft Machine and Caravan and infused it all with a healthy dose of extreme musical acrobatics and insanity which resulted in the OMG offering "The World Of Genius Hans". The musicianship is off the chart as the band navigates some of the bizarro mondo musical terrain that results in ridiculously complex but satisfying compositions that took the experimental rock scene to some of the most ambitious offerings that have ever been recorded 
17 Buckethead
Teeter Slaughter (2014)

One of many totally "out there" examples in the BUCKETHEAD Pike series. "Teeter Slaughter" is one of my absolute favorites as the chicken lover meanders through his own musical universe and in the process offers the energy of thrash metal, the compositional complexity of avant-garde jazz all decorated with the most bizarre sprinklings that experimental rock has to offer. This all instrumental album is guaranteed to take you somewhere you never knew existed and is the perfect album to prove to anyone that Buckethead is more than funk rock and cheesy lullaby music. This is his most adventuous stuff he has to offer 
18 Area
Caution Radiation Area (1974)

Italy's most left-leaning and unapologetic avant-jazz-fusionists AREA managed to add catchy melodies to the majority of their albums with lots of influences from the Balkans in the way of gypsy music, but on "Caution Radiation Area" the band created a bizarre concept album which begins much like their other albums but incrementally becomes more disjointed and breaks down altogether as chaos at the end which i have always taken as representing the effects of radition on the human body or other biological systems 
19 Dimesland
Psychogenic Atrophy (2014)

DIMESLAND takes the extreme metal thing to new worlds. With a title like "Psychogenic Atrophy" which sort of means the failing and weakening of mental and emotional processes, it is apparent that this music is meant to assault the senses and slay any expectations of preordained compositions and take the listener on a startling and often frightening audio journey. While this isn't one that i've gravitated towards often, there is no doubt that it delivers some of the most complex prog metal there is to be heard with everything from extreme time signature and tempo changes to complete breakdown in any structure. Although i HATE the album cover i have to admit this is a good candidate for some of the most extreme and proggy metal since Gorguts' Obscura (that i've heard) 
20 Mr. Bungle
Disco Volante (1995)

MR BUNGLE proved on their first album they could be as eclectic as any 70s prog rock artist but it wasn't until their second album "Disco Volante" that they really let their freak flag fly. This album is the perfect concocted infusion of everything from blues, jazz, death metal, ambient, funk to ample amounts of prog and ethnic influences combining to create an album like no other. Despite the everything but the kitchen sink approach MR BUNGLE manage to create the perfect balance of accessible catchy melodic segments with jarring and psychologically damaging assaults. One of my favorite albums of all time 
21 Kracq
Circumvision (1978)

KRACQ is a bit of an obscurity of crazy prog from the Netherlands and released their sole album "Circumvision" in 1978. The albums comes off more as two EPs rather than a cohesive whole but is quite the adventuous album in both regards. The first side is an array of complex symphonically based rock craziness taking extreme liberties with both time signature changes and tempo. The second half is somewhat more mainstream with synthesized vocal parts but as a whole this is one weird album that may not reach the heights of complexity as other albums on this list but is just bizarre enough and relentless at times for me to include it 
22 Pentwater
Out of the Abyss (1992)

What was supposed to be their second release in the 70s didn't actually find a release date until 1992. Pentwater was one of the most creative bands to come out of the less fertile prog scene of the USA. With an energetic symphonic approach of Keith Emerson along with crazy roller coaster prog workouts and strange off-kilter melodies, this is the stuff brutal prog dreams are made of. This unapologetically maelstrom of sound meanders all over the musical map with outstanding musical cohesion and pleasant high resister vocals that always have just enough hook to keep the listener engaged in familiarity but then once hooked takes a completely different journey altogether 
23 Satanique Samba Trio
Sangrou (2007)

This Brazilian band sounds like no other and takes the bizarre world of avant-jazz and marries it with samba and rock. The result is some of the strangest music i've ever heard with all the attributes of both jazz and prog rock happily dancing side by side with the cheerful edge of samba keeping it from teetering into darkness. Really must be experienced to be comprehended. SATANIQUE SAMBA TRIO definately hit on something with their debut "Sangrou" 
24 Univers zéro
Hérésie (1979)

No one has ever made a chamber rock album more haunting and freaky than UNIVERS ZÉRO did with their second album "Hérésie". This bizarre album ratchets up the emotional dread and creepiness completely over the top for its near one hour run. With an instrumental 13 minute plus track dedicated to Jack The Ripper, you know this isn't suitable for a Disney film. This is pure horror flick soundtrack music which is made even more so by the complexities involved in the compositions 
25 Art Zoyd 3
Symphonie pour le jour où brûleront les cités (1976)

ART ZOYD was one of the first to take chamber rock and marry it with complex progressive rock to create some of the most bizarre music ever laid down to tape. While very much steeped in free jazz and classical music, "Symphonie Pour Le Jour Où Brûleront Les Cités" also has healthy doses of Zappa inspired avant-prog rock but mostly resides in some parallel experimental plane that mere mortals don't often experience 
26 Mirthrandir
For You the Old Women (1976)

This was an American (United Statesian that is) band that delivered complexity for complexity's sake, MIRTHRANDIR released their sole album "For You The Old Women" in 1976 and disappeared from the music scene but this one album has a whole career's worth of ideas stuffed into every nook and cranny. Much like Pentwater and Yezda Urfa, MIRTHRANDIR was ruthless with complex time signature changes, tempo upheavals and unpredicatable style changes that keep the listener engaged throughout its all too brief run 
27 King Crimson
Lizard (1970)

After KING CRIMSON helped launch the progressive rock explosion in 1969, they didn't just stop there and only a year later created one of the most complex albums of 1970 with "Lizard". The album cover artwork alone should be on a museum wall for its intricate depiction of the subject matter that is presented in the music itself. While progressive rock itself was still very much a newbie on the music scene, KC was already experimenting with avant-jazz and classical elements while adding ample amounts of art rock and experimental elements. This is one of the KC albums that has taken me the longest to appreciate but once it finally clicked it was as good as gold and probably one i could spend a whole life time trying to figure out and still not figure it all out 
28 Henry Cow
In Praise of Learning (1975)

After a couple albums that sounded more like avant-jazz with a few rock elements behind them, HENRY COW toured with the progressive pop outfit Slapp Happy and hit it off so well that they basically merged into one act under the HC moniker. While one would think that anything involving Slapp Happy would steer the creative juice more towards the accessible side, on "In Praise Of Learning" it steers in the opposite direction. This is some strange otherworldly music here that takes the principles of extreme free jazz and tames it into certain avant-prog patterns of musical creation but are totally unique. In most cases it sounds like all the instruments are playing in different time signatures and augmented by Dagmar's bizarre vocalizations. HENRY COW was truly revolutionary with this kind of stuff and was the obvious influence for all kinds of bands like Thinking Plague and a gazillion others to follow 
29 Henry Cow
Western Culture (1979)

After Slapp Happy dissolved from the brief fusion of bands, HENRY COW released their final magnus opus "Western Culture" which took all the otherworldly aspects of In Praise Of Learning even further minus the vocals which meant more time to explore the strangest and more complex ways of instrument interactions. Fred Frith particularly stands out with his alternative tuning system on his guitar as well as the bombastic in-yer-faith time signature leaps into other dimensions. An extremely demanding album that is almost like a photographic negative in sound of anything else that was going on at the time 
30 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Trout Mask Replica (1969)

Who says there is no such thing as progressive blues rock? Well one listen to CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND's bizarre "Trout Mask Replica" will tell you otherwise. While long associated within the Frank Zappa universe, Don Glen Vliet AKA the CAPTAIN was just plain nuts. This album was one of the many surprises of 1969 but has become a cult hit over the years but still remains a challenging and off-the-wall listen. Definately not one that earns an instant ticket to your heart but does cast its spell once experienced enough :) 
31 Cornucopia
Full Horn (1973)

The Hamburg based CORNUCOPIA took Krautrock to new heights with their one and only release "Full Horn" that bascially combined all the disparate strains of Kraut into one lysergic experience. One can hear aspects of Can, Amon Duul II, Popol Vuh and pretty much the rest of the related pack shapeshifting into a bizarre musical experience at the prog peak of 1973 
32 Amon Düül II
Tanz der Lemminge (1971)

AMON DÜÜL II went for broke with their third album "Tanz Der Lemminge" where the band reemerged after a series of tragedies and created one of the most bizarre and creative albums of their career. Far beyond the two previous albums, this one takes the listener through a whole spectrum of contemplative and psychedelic experiences which allows the listener to suspend all preconceived notions and fall into a deep hypnotic trance of the band's making. Originally a double vinyl LP, "Tanz" is the perfect gateway to a primieval trance that sums up the Krautrock movement in perfect form

Edited by siLLy puPPy - February 07 2017 at 08:47

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