Wobbler vs Steven Wilson

Same for me. New for me might be All Traps On Earth, or Thank You Scientist, or A Formal Horse, or Mercury Tree but it might also be stuff that I never paid much attention to until the last few years. Stuff like pre-DSOTM Pink Floyd, or Gentle Giant, or Happy The Man, or 70s Scorpions, or Greenslade.

So much stuff out there to explore and enjoy.

I think it's ridiculous to draw a conclusion that people don't listen (or like) new music because they are voting for Wobbler over Wilson. Talk about throwing all your toys out of the pram because the result is not what you want.

I'm still finding a lot of stuff from the seventies that I had not listened to before and beginning to discover and enjoy. I do listen to a lot of new stuff and actually have limited time for constantly playing old stuff. My second favourite album is Close To The Edge but I haven't listened to it for years. Same is true of a lot of classic prog. Even ELP (my favourite band) generally only get the occasional listen and then its nearly always the same album. I devote probably 90% of my listening time to new music and I reckon for many here its the same.

Maybe new stuff that sounds old like the previously mentioned Raven and FSTS? Maybe for some people, but others will write it off as unoriginal which is very frustrating to me. Gonna go off on a tangent sort of...

It seems a lot of people believe that Neal Morse is the champion of modern prog while hes been just writing the same silly songs a little differently for years now. There's a ton of more original and, well, good prog coming out. I don't think all Morse is bad or anything but its just... idk how to describe it, its just goofy. I also think the abundance of neo-prog and prog-metal could certainly be a turn off to older symphonic/eclectic prog fans as that stuff is generally much different. Also I think their is an abundance of prog epics and 20+ minute songs in modern prog that can be a bit inaccessible, but thats just a minor gripe I have. It's just important to keep an open mind and understand you need to acquire the taste for lots of stuff. Speaking of acquiring the taste, I hated Gentle Giant for the longest time but I finally understood it after giving it time. I hated Opeth because of their vocals, but after really listening focused to Blackwater Park, it made sense. Even just recently I've gotten really into classic jazz and jazz fusion, two genres I disliked for the longest time. It's OK to have preferences, I prefer 70s prog myself. But to believe that an album like Close to the Edge or Thick as a Brick are the end all be all, pinnacles of prog that will never be topped is just close minded to me. However I think most active reviewers are pretty fair in what they rate and how they rate it. Having only one album after 1981 in the top 20 is a bit of a travesty to me though tbh.

Hand. Cannot. Erase. is, in my opinion, one of the two best albums of all time (the other being Metropolis Pt. 2 by Dream Theater). The concept gets me rather emotional (something that isn't very common for me), but more importantly, I find this to be the perfect balance of ambience and virtuosity, simplicity and complexity. This albums perfect segues from one track to another, with no filler, no bulls***, and 66 minutes of baller music.

FSTS is great. It's definitely one of the best albums to be released in a while. But it pales in comparison to HCE.

One reason that HCE may be doing so poorly in this poll is the fact that most of the people voting are fans primarily of classic prog, the early 70s stuff. That's where I started, but opening my mind up to modern prog was the best thing I've ever done for my music tastes. Artists who are still truly progressive today (Steven Wilson, Thank You Scientist, Phideaux, Opeth, etc.) are still pushing music's boundaries today. There is no other album that sounds anything like HCE (which is a sad thing for me), combining pop, rock, jazz, psychedelia, and ambience in the same way.

FSTS is a great album, but it's nowhere near as revolutionary HCE was (and still is).