I tend to get annoyed when an album gets samey.  As much as I love prog, it's gotten in the way of me enjoying neo-prog to the same extent.

Currently, my favorite neo-prog album is Arena's Immortal for this thread's titular strength.  And right now I'm listening to Frost's Experiments in Mass Appeal to see if it holds the same standard.  I don't need every song to be a different genre, but some obvious variations will easily help.

Here's an example of what I'm looking for: My number 1 album, Led Zeppelin IV's track-by-track tagging pretty much goes:

Black Dog: Hard Rock / Blues Rock

Rock 'N' Roll: Rock 'N' Roll / Heavy Metal

Battle of Evermore: Folk

Stairway to Heaven: Folk Rock / Prog Rock

Misty Mountain Hop: Hard Rock

Four Sticks: Hard Rock / Prog Rock

Going to California: Folk

When the Levee Breaks: Blues Rock / Hard Rock

And this last bit isn't really necessary, but I tend to prefer symphonic prog, jazzy prog and prog-metal.  But I'll except more pop or AOR-rooted stuff.

Variety Guaranteed.

https://bakullama1.bandcamp.com/album/new-2025-broken-hearts-troubled-minds" rel="nofollow - https://bakullama1.bandcamp.com/album/new-2025-broken-hearts-troubled-minds

Although classed on PA as 'Symphonic' the Netherlands band Mangrove put out their masterpiece Bridge To Fiction also last year. That to me is more 'neo prog' although whether it's diverse enough I'm not sure. Don't get hung up on labels is my advice, just listen to the music.

This is easily one of those times where I admit I need some help.  You should've seen the reddit thread I made for this same purpose, but for trance instead 

Good. Then I guess we both made a good call on that one. There can be a thin line between crossover and neo-prog anyway.

Another band I only have one album by is IO Earth. Any opinions on them?

I'll be checking out recommendations as soon as I'm done with Frost, who's kicking ass in this department thus far.  As far as Milliontown goes, I'm willing to forgive an art pop song in the middle if it's around 8/10, and it's the shortest one.  Honestly, when you take into account the amount of tracks, the middle-section makes up about eight minutes total, and right now I'm nine-minutes into the titular epic, which really needs to screw something up if I'm not to give this album a 100.  So currently, Milliontown is the new standard for neo-prog albums to beat in my opinion.

Don't worry, I haven't been ignoring your suggestions.  I wanted to see what the most popular recommendations would be before anything.  So Unitopia is first.  And any bands that have only been mentioned once, I'll go down the thread for recs.

That actually explains quite a bit.  Currently, Frost and Arena are two of the top neo-prog bands on my chart, although I'm still a bit new to them.  My current top 3 neo-prog albums are Milliontown, Immortal and Experiments in Mass Appeal.  I've also found that I'm partial to Marillion's Seasons End as opposed to their Fish era.  Seasons End just made #4.

So, update: I checked out the Unitopia debut, More Than a Dream.  It's more of an "art rock" album than a "prog album" to me, but damn was it good.  Fine sense of spirit, the variety I favor, hell Take Good Care's tribal sound after the classical intro was unexpected.  And if the ratings are to be believed and that in fact IS their worst, I'm in for a good time.

If you like John's guitar work, you might like to check out his side project 'The Urbane'. A bit more mainstream, but Neon was very good.

Update: Unitopia - The Garden

100 minutes of prog is only daunting when you don't have any time for the day.  I had enough for this and the first three Banco albums ( https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/banco-del-mutuo-soccorso/io-sono-nato-libero/" rel="nofollow - Io sono nato libero  is currently my number 1 symphoprog album).  So I immediately had a string of three brilliant albums to compare to this.  Thankfully, the album remained good throughout all 100 minutes.  There wasn't a single moment that I didn't enjoy.  Unfortunately, "good" is the usual.  There are only a couple of songs that barely manage to be great, largely because this typically meets the bare minimum standard of operable prog.  On top of this, the variety displayed on their debut seems absent.  So this gets a solid 8 for me.  About as good as Foreigner's 4, Cher's Believe and for prog, Ruins II, Symphony X's Underworld, Meshuggah's Catch Thirty-Three and (after three tries) Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom.

Unitopia - Artificial

Even though it's a shorter album and fails to run the risk of monotony, it's a MUCH more familiar prog album that feels like it took riffs from other places.  It got better as it went along, but still, another downgrade.  74/100.

Well this one managed to fit the neo-prog vibe, but 70 minutes of worse covers, as charming as they are, doesn't do much when it pretty much neglects the diversity I'm looking for.  73/100.

Second and third are pretty early for me.  It's been around for over 40 years.

Not really. By 1985 it was well under way especially when you consider most first wave neo bands were formed by 1980.

Anyway, I suggest you look up the band Twelfth Night. I think you would like them since they were a bit different from most neo bands.

Personally I only know the recent Love Over Fear album which has some beautiful song writing.

In the 80's I was well aware of Marillion but thought they were a bit of a joke until Misplaced Childhood. I loved the first 2 IQ albums and they were the 'serious' end of neo for me. They had the chops!

A lot can happen in those short years. One year can seem like a long time, two years even longer etc.

Anyway, you think 1985 was really early on for neo-prog and I don't so let's just agree to disagree and move on. 

Can.  That's the keyword.  "Can" and "does" are two different things if you apply it to a specific topic.  In this case, it's the neo-prog scene.

I'll check them out after getting done with Bakullama.

Listen, I'm not an idiot so please don't talk to me that way.  

Well.  That was exceptionally arrogant.  It appears you're the type who takes disagreement too personally, and then you claim that I'm the one who likes to argue.  Let's debate that, shall we?

A: You're completely aware that I never said you're an idiot, so this is purely personal.

B: You're aware that it was your own choice of words, "a lot can happen in a few years," that kept things quick and simple.  A simple argument is not always a convincing one, which means you, who's been on a prog forum of all places longer than I have, are unwilling to have a thorough discussion.  Interesting.

C: Your first short sentence here makes a demand that I believe you by insisting that it does without explanation (again).  Then you shame me for being analytical, place the blame of your own feelings and inability to articulate while in a state of emotional height on me, and then attempt to hijack a pseudo victory by saying "I don't want to talk about it anymore," which is really just forfeiting without having the maturity to admit it.

I don't take demands like that.

You're not discussing properly, you're insisting on the same argument over and over again with cheap comebacks that are, if I might be a little too spirited, kinda of insulting when you take into account that this is a discussion forum for a rock subgenre built on complexity, brain power and many attempts to justify epic lengths with more complexity.

In other words, I've been here for a shorter time than you, I've heard less neo-prog than you, and this discussion and your behavior seems to insinuate that I'm already more qualified to discuss the genre.  I'd prefer if you didn't post on this thread again, not that I have the power to stop you, but all of your replies will be ignored.  And I'll be putting off Twelfth Night.

A: "A fact is not an opinion."

B: "Can and does (in this case did)" and tried to leave the conversation.

This only proves that you're the arrogant one.  How could you be here longer than I have and not be prepared for a discussion?  I would be more than willing to discuss thes things with you if your arguments had depth to them.  There is no one else here I've seen so far refusing this depth.  I had a boss like you that got fired recently: unable to think things through thoroughly, took disagreements offensively, and hid behind age.  I'll bet a part of you is thinking, "I'm over 50 so who's this teenage joker to tell me what's what?"  The only thing I'm telling you is that you should be more indepth.

You are more than smart enough to talk about the history of neo-prog in further fashion.  Obviously, you're incapable of doing so not because of your brainpower, but because of your pride.  And now you demand that I side with you and say I'm arrogant?

It's people like you who make me this way.  You can tell from both of our posts that I'm the one in greater control of myself, and why?  Because I'm used to people like you.

A: Can and does: please don't insult the community by leaving it at a demand for agreement.  We have articles to read, so prove you've been reading them...

B: No you just don't like admitting your wrong.  Doesn't your profile say you're over 50?  Why would you even consider a sentence that could be spoken by children as a form of defense?

Respect may be given at first, but certain situations can cause it to be lost.  I do not, and will not, respect demands.  If I do have arrogance, which is possible, at least I also have depth.  I'd think for a man almost twice my age, you'd have some more of that.

I'm more than willing to respect your opinions if you'd show some depth.  I'm more than happy to be proven wrong if you can provide evidence and facts.  But if you're going to talk like a child, I'm afraid that my ideals dictate that I treat you as you act.  So if you continue this aggression, there's a chance I'll report you.

I am proud of this autistic trait of mine: I don't take sides without a damn good reason, which you haven't provided yet.  If anyone on your side is willing to dictate this with me respectfully, let them.  But your behavior hasn't convinced me that you know much about neo-prog.

I don't do demands.

I don't do accusatory speech.

I am proud, and maybe arrogant, but I have real reasons.  So go ahead and tell me I'll just a this or just a that.

I really need it to be neo-prog.  The whole point of this recommendation thread was to take a step into getting myself into another prog genre instead of checking out recs from genres I'm already invested in, and educate myself in a weak point I've done very little work in.  Diversity helps me a lot when getting into new genres, that's why I requested neo-prog that's diverse.  With respect, I'd prefer that this doesn't become a case where people are recommending me what they want me to listen to rather than what I'm asking for.  I'm going to have to verify genre tags for each recommendation if that's the case.

I normally use the RYM charts, but even then, the diversification in genre-tagging can also mean that all the genres are combined in every song, like Parranoul albums.  It wasn't sufficing, so I figured this could be a better place for recs.

And there's good news.  Soon, recommendations will be gone through much more easily.  I'm taking a break from my Pendragon marathon after Pure, and in a couple of days my Netflix subscription will be temporarily cancelled due to prices, but first I'm gonna speed through the rest of my favorite show: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.  On March 1 I'll have much more time to get through the recs.

I'll check it out at some point, but once I'm done with neo-prog.  And the new Banco.

If you want a straightforward idea of what neo-prog sounds like, then based on the 30+ albums I've heard and occasionally revisited, the most standard sound belongs to Pendragon's album, The World.  Good album, not great.  Check that out and you know what it sounds like.  Tre Seventh House is a good example of diversification within the genre without steering too far out of it.

There is even some neo-prog I would rather tag as AOR instead, like Pendragon's Kowtow, before they honed their sound.

Says the guy who said he'd let me have the last word and still replied anyway.  What I have to say applies to the public here as well.  I'm afraid people will consistently be comparing your behavior to mine and seeing that I'm obviously the one showing more self-control than you are, I mean it's obvious from the names and adjectives you use to describe those who merely disagree with the way you go about discussing something, which is really more of an issue than the fact that you disagree at all.  Everyone else here is perfectly free to disagree with me, but I'd still preferred that they detail the opinion.

You know, you could be simply trying to get under my skin or derail my thread.  I've been through that.  Except, I had a boss acting like you who got fired about a month ago, and I was one of the leading factors as I filed two reports on him, and both reports had proper, mature, gentlemanly language, the kind of thing I've been suggesting you practice.  So I know how to get under your skin as well.  And even if you don't think that's the case, at least others will read this with a bowl of popcorn at their side.  I'm more than willing to provide a polite disagreement if you are.

The only real fact here is that I've shown more control.  See, I'm used to people like you, and my standards that I follow were built on the awareness of the problems with which the manner of speech you've shown in this conversation can in fact generate.  In other words, it's part of my ideals to fight that behavior.

In time you will see that I can accept disagreement here, as there will be times other users let me know when I actually have made an error in judgement AND CAN ACTUALLY BACK IT UP.  So this can go one of two ways: A. the proof in time will show you that you misjudged me, and you may do the thing I expect a 50+ year old to do and apologize like a mature adult, or B: you'll be too embarrassed to.

And now, for the current update on my neo-prog situation: 

Infringement.

1. Transition.  I typically start from the debut up.  Not a neo-prog album like the other two.  It's got some good ideas, but there's a strange lack of activity in the background which makes a lot of sections feel empty despite the consistency and goof flow.  67/100.

2. Alienism.  This one's adds the neo-prog synth layers and has slightly improved songwriting.  Anything wonky about the progressive transitions from the last one is mostly gone.  74/100.

3. Black Science and White Lies.  This one was quite diversified, switching between different eras of hard rock for influence and switching between neo-prog and standard prog.  The tunes and the flow got better as the album went along, starting out good and going into bursts of greatness.  83/100.

Thanks a bunch for the rec, Richardh!  I'll be looking forward to the next Infringement album.  After a creative splurge like this, I'm eager to see what they do next.

The next recommendation is by Grumpyprogfan: Sanguine Hum - A Trace of Memory.  Now the RYM genre tagging is different from the PA tagging.  RYM lists it as standard prog as opposed to neo, even though the band's listed as neo here.  I'll try out this one album first, and if it score the tag on my part, I'll check the other albums out.  If not, I'll move onto Hosydi's suggestion: Edge - Suction 8.

There are SOME synths to it, especially in the ending epic, but not enough to really be a major focus and cement the genre for me.  Not very diversified, either.  Actually, it feels a bit more like post-Seasons End Marillion to me, where they got more artistic with atmospheres.  Having said that, it's easy to see why this album would be liked.  It's a nicely done atmospheric album with the same emotional core as much neo-prog and an ambient production style that drives the force.  And I admit, the style has gotten a hold of my curiosity concerning the earlier works, so at some point, I'll be checking out the other Sanguine Hum albums.  I think I'll give this a 75/100, putting it in the same league as Enslaved's In Times and the Supertramp debut.

So tomorrow, I'll head over to Edge's Section 8.  Thanks for the rec, Grumpyprogfan!

Drifting Sun - On the Rebound            France/UK

Nine Skies - The Lightmaker              France

Believe - Yesterdays Friend              Poland

Barock Project - Coffee In Neukölln      Italy

This Winter Machine - The Clockwork Man  UK

Cosmograf - Rattrapante                  UK

Huis - In the Face of the Unknown        Canada

Galahad - Beyond the Realms of Euphoria  UK

Collage - Moonshine                      Poland                     

Comedy of Errors - Fanfare & Fantasy     UK

Thanks a bunch!  With this my activity will be doubled, so I'd better blow through this forum's recommendations.

UPDATE: Edge - Suction 8

OK, wow.  Just utterly beautiful.  Every song tends to tackle much of the same genres present, but there are quite a few of them: folk, jazz, prog pop, goth rock, it's just an utter orchestra of glorious and magical unpredictability.  It might be slightly disjointed at times, but it never gets too far in the way of the magic.  That's not even the best part: the lead singer sounds almost exactly like one of my favorite female singers: Siouxsie.  This whole album is basically what would happen if the Banshees went neo-prog, and I was taken in as easily as I was with Hyaena.  I'm so pissed that not only did they only have one more album after this, but it's not even neo.  93.5/100, same league as King Crimson's Nightwatch live album, Banco's Garofano rosso and Quella's Il tempo della gioia.

Solstice - Silent Dance

Wow!  These people absolutely adore the classic folk rock of the 60's and 70's.  The singer sounds exactly like she came from that era.  The band's focused entirely on the folksy prog experience right here, and it's easy to get drawn into.  Unfortunately, it gets in the way of melodies developing properly, so the band didn't reach their full potential here.  Still great, but needs that fixed.  I'll be checking out more Solstice today.  87/100, same league as Soft Machine's Bundles, Banco's di terra and Mike Oldfields Amarok.

Major thanks to Hosydi and Logan for their recommendations!  These are the best two so far!

I've actually been waiting for neo-prog that steers into the folksier side of things.  It's been a key component to prog's variety since In the Court.

Btw, Solstice #2: New Life.

It may be a shame that the old singer left during the 9-year silence, but this woman's still a damn good singer with a Kate Bush presence.  It sounds like they've fleshed out a proper sound for themselves, a brand of neo-prog that's violin-based and mature.  Of course, there I'm not sure this is neo.  Synths are largely absent in place of violins.  I could be wrong on that, as I'm still fairly new.  Only heard about 40 neo albums so far, but if I'm wrong about that, please let me know because I'd like to learn as much as possible about neo-prog before I get tired with it and move onto something else.

[/QUOTE

I'll check out a few of their songs to see if they fit the bill once I'm done with these recs.  Right now, I need to prepare myself for the new IQ as well, so in the middle of getting these recs sorted out, I need to listen to some more IQ and re-evaluate Subterranea later.

1. Paraphernalia.  A nice and eclectic, if not a little unpolished debut.  73/100

2. Compendium.  A style is developed, and the production's better, but it's also a little more generic.  Ups and downs basically keep this from too much of a shift.  72/100.

3. The Overlap.  Sappy semi-rock barely able to make the neo-prog tag with some cute melodies but too much Kenny G sap.  54/100.

4. Sugarstealer.  This reunion album threw around more ideas as an accessible prog album, but never without forgetting to be a rock album.  But the lyrics are a little generic.  75/100.

Gonna hear the fifth one tomorrow.  After that, I'll head right into Richard's rec, It Bites.

So & So Sketchbook: Not as bad as RYM made it out to be.  It's obvious that these demos needed some more work, but it was an enjoyable rock experience.  68.

Truths, Lies & Half Lies: This one surprised me.  It got wild and outlandish while keeping a perfect balance between accessibility and progginess.  82.

The Big Lad in the Windmill: Starting out as a pop rock band, this was a fairly enjoyable pop rock album with some cool ideas, some wild diversity and decent melodies.  74.5.

Once Around the World: While everything was improved on, it took a while for it to become a neo-prog album.  I might say Rose Marie is neo-prog.  Once it did pick up, progginess was a leading focal point, but the album never lost the band's sense of art and theatrics.  85.

Thanks to Hosydi and Richardh for their recs!

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: I only have two by It Bites. One is a later one called the Tall Ships and the other one is their first called a big lad in a windmill. I don't really like the production on this first one. I'm pretty sure that's what it is about it that kind of rubs me the wrong way. Once around the world is supposed to be better so if I do try this band again it will probably be with that one. Tall Ships is a pretty good album but it seems to be mostly a pop rock album with some prog leanings. There's a longer song that is probably the proggiest thing on there. I don't personally consider this band neo prog but I can see why they get lumped into that genre sometimes because of the time period they first came out.

I was a bit worried about that myself before I turned it on, especially with so many AOR and pop rock albums being tagged as neo-prog for simply being involved in the scene or getting jumbled in with actual neo-prog discographies.  It Bites No. 2 was certainly not the first neo-prog album that pushed the limits of acceptability.  Thankfully it made an even shift gradually through the second half, taking up half the runtime with the basic criteria I agree on.  I'm still weary about it, but if I started a band then I'll finish it.  That second easily has me curious about the other albums.

UPDATE:

1. Non-rec: Beat the Drum by Pallas: I just reviewed this one.  It's got some decent melodies in its 70 minutes, but it's overdrawn and progless for the most part.  OK AOR, really.  58/100

2. Pride by Arena: I actually prefer this one to their debut.  The melodies are much more clever and hard-hitting, even the softer and occasionally folksier midtros.  92/100

3. Eat Me in St. Louis by It Bites: Once again, not neo-prog.  Decent AOR that manages to hit hard than Beat the Drum in a shorter runtime, but the mixing drowns the guitar riffs in lacking synths, and gets in the way consistently.  On top of that, despite the attempts at variety, the bad mixing makes most of the songs sound the same.  63/100

4. The Tall Ships by It Bites: after what the hell happened during the last album, I am INSISTING the powers of the universe, be it God, or the Big Bang or even the fictional deities I made up for my debut novel that this is a legit prog album.  Thankfully, the opener started to heavily suggest that.  I'm a bit taken aback by the whole new sound, being much more modernized and almost sci-fi oriented.  Now it steers more toward modern melodic rock sometimes, but it's drastically less AOR and more in-tune with what I'm looking for.  But it's switches between prog pop, neo-prog and pop rock don't always work out as each song feels basically the same.  77/100, so it's the second best of the It Bites catalog I've heard IMO.

Now that that's out of the way, the next rec was Dimensionaut, and I gotta say that I love the genre-tagging I'm seeing there.  BUT, I need to be absolutely certain that it's neo-prog, especially since other sources, including RYM and PA, have been problematically tagging synth-rock / AOR albums as neo-prog due to relation to the scene, like calling Ozma a grunge album.  So I'm making a note that I'll check out Dimensionaut at some point, but for now, I'm gonna switch to a more neo-prog-oriented rec.

Hosydi's been a big help with this project, and he's got plenty of recs to check out.  But I'm gonna give someone else a turn.  Gentle and Giant has a whole list prepared for me, so my next recommendation project will be Drifting Sun.  Then I think I'll head to Flower's rec, Twelfth Night.

UPDATE:

Drifting Sun - Drifting Sun: OK, I don't normally update after one album, but I want to get these thoughts out right now.  This album had a lot of good melodic ideas.  This probably would've been a fantastic album if not for a couple strong malfactors: A: the lyrics and their content is kinda cheesy.  B: The instruments feel out of place with each other, like they can't decide which decade they're in.  They're obviously trying hard, maybe slightly too hard, so thankfully the theatrics help as much as they hinder.  64/100, same rating I gave Kenny G's Duotones.

UPDATE: Drifting Sun albums

On the Rebound: This one was loaded with mostly good ideas that features some very artistic delivery, and I liked the Ronnie James Dio quality in the singer's voice.  87/100

Trip the Life Fantastic: So almost 20 years have passed, and this one has pretty production and some very nice melodies, but the longer epics are much less interesting than the midtros, and the album feels kinda generic and cheesy.  66/100

Safe Asylum: The first half is completely lacking in anything interesting, and it's too soft and not rock enough.  Things don't actually get interesting until track 5, Wonderland.  The rest of the album falls back into standard prog territory.  64/100, worse than the debut to me.

1. Twilight: Pretty nice progressive stuff.  Perfectly operable, never outreaching or unique.  71

2. Planet Junkie: Goes for more variety, but fails to be as intriguing as it is catchy.  68

3. Forsaken Innocence: Not as diversified as I'd hoped, but its compositions are much more interesting. Their instruments still feel a little out of place with each other, a trait that exists among all their albums to that point.  88

4. And NOW they're getting creative and outreaching.  The Thing is probasbly their best song so far.  92.5

G&G, thanks a bunch for this recommendation!

Now I'll be checking out Twelfth Night in tandem with Fish.

Non-recs:

1. Fish - Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors: Extraordinary pop rock album, lightly neo-prog, somewhat symphonic and full of catchiness and creativity, as well as a perfect flow.  97.5

2. Fish - Internal Exile: Good pop rock album, but certainly not proggy or folksy enough for its tags on RYM.  Balanced, enjoyable.  81

3. Fish - Songs from the Mirror: These covers can't beat the originals, but there's nothing bad about them.  71

Recs:

1. Twelfth Night - SKAN: Interesting ideas on this early debut.  Fur Helene Pt. II sounds like a TRANCE song in 1979.  Impressive, but not always as melodic as it needs to be.  66

2. Twelfth Night - Smiling at Grief: The band clearly wasn't sure of who or what they wanted to be.  58.

3. Twelfth Night - Fact and Fiction: This is way more in line with what I'm looking for.  Actual prog, uses a good balance between, dramatic, soothing, eclectic, robotic, psychedelic, etc.  Great way to balance the melodramatic neo-prog with obnoxious new wave tendencies like it's nothing.  Too bad they dropped off the face of the planet after this, because this album's perty damn inspiring.  87, same level as In the Quietest Moments.

Thanks a bunch for this one, Flower!  I'll be checking out the rest of this along with more Fish, and then I'll hit The Violet Hour.

Sorry for not being very active here, guys.  God, you wouldn't believe my week.  Goat pregnancies, rains, extra chores, busier at work, and the only real free time I had was to get a lavender latte at Starbucks (actually perty damn tasty) and to go see Mickey 17, which I've been waiting two years for since I'm a fan of the author.

Okay, so about Twelfth Night... I really can't with these guys.  It's so odd; the more "neo-prog" I explore, the less neo-prog I can justify with the tag.  Art and Illusion and XII are just pop rock albums that barely touch up on the genre at all, with XII being so generic and underwritten that it almost hurt in comparison to all the stuff I've been hearing.  They had the one neo-prog album, and it got a great rating from me, but these two are a 63 and 46.

So next I'm heading toward The Violet Hour, after a little Donald Byrd.

Aisles - Chilean band that is nothing if not diverse.  I'm not a fan but do like that they don't stick to a formula

Albion - love these Poles (that will be a recurring theme.  To me Poland is by far the best neo prog country)

  Female vocals and fairly diverse.  Easily likeable and doesn't grow stale with exposure

Asturias - Japanese and electronic instrumental neo.  Brilliant Streams and Circle in the Forest are both very good.  If you want to hear one piece, then make it "Rogus"

Believe - fronted by ex Collage and Satellite guy Mirek Gil.  His Mr Gil solo albums are perhaps more diverse but not always very neo.  I wqon't remention Satellite as you have rated their albums

Clepsydra - superb neo from the Italian part of Switzerland.  Not super diverse but not samey either

Collage - their Moonshine album is a must diverse or not, and their recent reunion album is great too

Earthstone - sole album is earth centered neo prog rather than the usual; self pitying lyrics

Egoband - Italian maybe worth checking out

Faun - German neo with lots of foplk elements.  Searing lead guitars, pagan themes, only released one album, a double live.  Listen!

Grace - English group with several phases.  Most not that great but highly recommend "Pulling Strings and Shiny Things".  Folk oriented, yes that's a recurring theme for me for obvious reasons

Harnakis - Spanish group that sounds more British, sole album pretty good

Haze - the British group.  Underwhelming but not your typical British neo.  Folk oriented

Jump - again folk oriented British group, very unlike the "masters".  Also rock way better.  Diverse styles, great singer, some more universal and less solipsistic themes

Mad Puppet - Italian group.  Album "Masque" worth checking out

Osiris - great Bahraini group most like Camel

Sigma - instrumental neo meets new age.  Some jazz aspects

Solis - unusual Brazilian one-off

Step Ahead - French neo from the original era

Visible Wind - Quebec diverse neo

Any questions just ask, and enjoy!

http://www.progarchives.com/Collaborators.asp?id=11349&genreId=18&showall=true#reviews" rel="nofollow - https://www.progarchives.com/Collaborators.asp?id=11349&genreId=18&showall=true#reviews

SKEEM - Skeem (2001)

https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=1753" rel="nofollow - https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=1753

SPEKTRUM - Spektrum (2003)

https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=2238" rel="nofollow - https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=2238

Right now, as pretty as this Violet Hour album is, I'm on track 4 and there's barely anything proggy about it, just artsy.  I can't keep taking recommendations if they're not going to actually work.  So if you recommended an album that doesn't fit this standard, then please re-evaluate your recommendations.  If not, I'll have to stick with the top RYM charts and take a gamble (Fish hasn't been working out either).  To give you an idea of what qualifies as neo-prog do me:

Script for a Jester's Tear, Fugazi and Clutching at Straws: Yes.

Misplaced Childhood: No.

It NEEDS to be proggy.  Considering all the pop rock and AOR I've come across, King Crimson / Yes proggy is preferred.

I never said "the proggiest."  I said it needs to be diverse, and it needs to be actual prog, not this no-imagination overly-accessible AOR stuff inaccurately lumped in the same scene because "synths."  It completely ruined Twelfth Night as a band.  The tag is obviously widely abused at this point. Now this Violet Hour album is quite good and beautiful, but I'm labelling it "art rock" and maybe "folk rock."

All the pop rock stuff is starting to disillusion me from the genre again.  I really do need it to be at least as proggy as the three Marillion albums I mentioned up there, or at least as much as Magenta's Revolution.

https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=797" rel="nofollow - https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=797

I'm going for a specific behavior that encompasses the instruments as well, not just the album layout.  One element shared with prog doesn't qualify the entire whole.  If you're gonna call yourself progressive, progress.  Being a concept album only means you're a concept album.  Nothing more.  I'm not going to introduce someone to prog through something even poppier than Invisible Touch.  And for the record, Clutching had some more prog tendencies.  I listened to all four and several Hogarth Marillion albums this over the last several weeks.

I don't know if this is just a hot take or simply baiting and trolling. 

Among other music forums I preside, I'm known for my hot takes.  All I really want is something that balances out proggy with variety.  If I can't get that, I'm gonna cancel to neo-prog for now and stick with symphonic for the time being.  I plan on possibly getting through the whole Wobbler catalogue today.

richardh wrote: These is a lot of modern symph prog that isn't particularly diverse and arguably even some of the classic era releases don't always do that. Wobbler are great but their music is set on doing one thing very well. If you want keyboards, keyboards and more keyboards then great. I remember though listening to Hinterland and feeling like I was being bashed over the head with mellotron (if that's even a thing). The Lars Fredrick Froislie (the keyboard man from Wobbler) album from 2023 is probably better than Wobbler for being a bit more diverse and embracing the more folkier aspect of Norwegian prog that Wobbler sometimes leaves behind in its attempt to be the new Yes and then there are those Chronicles Of Father Robin albums that are a lot more fun imo.

I actually heard the entire Wobbler catalog in one day.  Hinterland was pretty samey, but very creative with its melodies.  There's a very different story, however, with From Silence to Somewhere, which is an example of flatout amazing melody writing, which helps justify a balance of two major components: standard and slightly jazzy prog and symphonic prog, and one minor component: folk.  That album was a 100 for me, but it's not often I do that.  I'll repeat: rare examples of single-genre albums I've given 100 to are Songs of Leonard Cohen, South of Heaven and Almoraima.

I'm coming back here for an update if someone wants to know what I'm looking for as far as progressive behavior goes.  Now diversity is still a must, but for the progginess, an EXCELLENT example of a base level that I'd prefer would be...

I just finished IQ's Resistance and Dominion today with plenty of other albums.  Dominion is an album I would choose to introduce someone to neo-prog.  This is the prefered base level.  Do this with variety, and we're good.

Unfortunately, I'm still focusing on symphonic, so I won't be going through requests right now.  In recent times I've gone through Wobbler, Triumvirat, M.I.A. Argentina, Le Orme, Atoll and Beggars Opera.  Once I'm done with that, I may shift my focus to jazz fusion.

I agree sad to say. Even Nomzamo was a more interesting album although that's a very different era admittedly.

With enough free speech practice, you get used to it.  In my review I wrote that it does a good job recollecting a vast number of common traits in a consistent and pretty melodic whole, doing more in less time than Resistance did.  That's why I would consider it a good "introductory" album to introduce the sound.  Not one of their best, but much better than 40-year-later stage albums typically warrant.