Prog Metal and Dream Theater

I think it's because they are so massively influential.  They really solidified progressive metal as a genre and inspired many bands to play progressive metal.

Because John Petrucci is a bear and can kill you, Jordan Rudess is a magical wizard who can kill you, John Myung is a ninja and can kill you, James LaBrie is a pirate and can kill you, and Mike Mangini is a genie.... and can kill you.

Also, Mike Portnoy and other past members can kill you.

Interesting that you almost sound offended by this... but the fact is that Dream Theater is the single most influential progressive metal act. They were one of the first progressive metal acts to have a keyboard player in the lineup that had an equal role to the guitarist. I´d say that´s one of the things where they really sounded different from other contemporary acts in the late eighties/early nineties. Their virtuosity level was also incredible. Usually in those days metal acts had one, maybe two outstanding musicians in the lineup and the rest were solid, but here was an act where every member was incredibly skilled and got to show it.

You mention Fates Warning and Queensrÿche, which are definitely also two of the most influential progressive metal acts on the scene (along with maybe Watchtower and Dream Theater, that´s about it in my book) and I think you´ll find quite a few reviews where the artist in question is compared to those two.

The other acts you mention are to my ears not very original sounding or Unique. They are great acts, but that´s a completely different story. Many of the ideas they use are influenced by the four acts I mention above.

Just my opinion... and completely different than yours I guess

UMUR wrote: Just my opinion... and completely different than yours I guess

Earendil wrote: I think it's because they are so massively influential.  They really solidified progressive metal as a genre and inspired many bands to play progressive metal.

Massive influence? Pretty hard to measure. The comparisons in reviews are surely more to do with massive exposure. The late 80's/early 90's were a period where bands required a big label deal to gain any type of exposure. They and Queensryche linked what was being done be other artists to a commercially accessible sound. I would be surprised if many progmetal artists were influenced by DT albums beyond the first 2.

This is one of the reasons I don't read the comments on YouTube for prog metal artists. 

My point was that virtually everyone that listens to progressive metal knows Dream Theater's music, so they make a useful benchmark.  And additionally, Dream Theater's sound has indeed inspired (or been imitated by) many bands, so they also have had a direct influence on how other progressive metal sounds. 

Edited by Earendil - May 07 2013 at 15:57

Triceratopsoil wrote: It's because your average prog metal fan has extremely limited taste

FIFY

There are bands that really are Dream Theater clones.

I would agree with Earendil in that I think this is just a result of the band's massive influence.  I do think that it's somewhat unfortunate, however, that progressive metal bands can hardly escape from comparisons to DT; that's just, in my opinion, an unfortunate result of their influence and prominence.  I would say that I think DT is the best band in prog metal that I've heard so far (just including the specific prog metal genre, not other metal subgenres) and I don't think their prominence is undeserved.  It would be better, though, if bands could be reviewed on their own merit without so much reference to DT.