Progressive Metal Rules!

[don king]

Shammy, what do you think of Iron Mask? I'd love to see them tour with Symphony X (crosses fingers).

[Shamrocked]

Never heard of them. I'll check them out!

[don king]

Never heard of them. I'll check them out!

haha

too cool if I can turn you onto a band and start to repay the favor

I just ordered Black As Death (2011) from Amazon after listening to my downloaded version twice.

[don king]

They are classified as a neoclassical/power metal band, not progressive metal. Remind me of Symphony X but not a derivative or copy band. I really like Black As Death, but don't like Shadow Of The Red Baron at all; that one sounds more Euro symphonic metal, which I don't care for at all. I think you'd like Black As Death, but Shadow ... would be a terrible introduction IMO.

I'll give their other two albums a listen and let you know what I think.

[Shamrocked]

Yeah, definitely more of a Euro, power metal/neo classical vibe. I hear a bit of Symphony X in there, but to me they sound more like Hammerfall, Blind Guardian or even a little Dragonforce. If you like that sound there's literally dozens of bands that do that pretty well (mostly European bands). I dig that stuff for a while, but it's almost too melodic at times (bordering on gay). Also it's hard to get too into any band that sings about dragons, wizards, knights etc. that isn't named Dio. Cool find though.

[NuclearExorcist]

You guys tried Ayreon or the Guilt Machine by Arjen Lucassen?

[Shamrocked]

Yeah, definitely more of a Euro, power metal/neo classical vibe. I hear a bit of Symphony X in there, but to me they sound more like Hammerfall, Blind Guardian or even a little Dragonforce. If you like that sound there's literally dozens of bands that do that pretty well (mostly European bands). I dig that stuff for a while, but it's almost too melodic at times (bordering on gay). Also it's hard to get too into any band that sings about dragons, wizards, knights etc. that isn't named Dio. Cool find though.

I sounded a little dismissive of the Iron Mask album here, but that wasn't my intention. A few times through it though and I'm really enjoying it. Also, I hear alot more Symphony X in there than I did at first listen.

[don king]

^^ yeah, I just played that CD today, and it's pretty damn good.

As you know I've been listening to a ton of doom lately. I go through phases where I listen not exclusively to one genre, but primarily. I find it really cool because it's almost like a diet that cleanses your mind and opens you up to hear things differently, especially stuff you've heard before and maybe heard too much.

The reason I am making this post is because I am listening to Opeth's "Heritage". Holy sh1t, I liked it from the beginning, and it grew on me with each listening, but if you haven't heard it for a while, give it a spin. Astonishing. This is the kind of music I was referencing when I said it took me a few listens to know if I really liked something. It just gets better and better with each listening, especially if you give it a break.

Hey, did you get a chance to listen to much of King Crimson? I'm curious to know your opinion, good or bad, especially stuff like Lizard that may be a little weird for you, but reminds me of Heritage. I think if you played them back to back you'd hear a lot of something similar, but completely different. If you ever feel like doing that play Heritage first because you're way more familiar with it. Of course, it could just be my imagination. I don't mean they are the same ... just that there's some intangible bond.

[Shamrocked]

Yeah it was fun to revisit King Crimson too. It's a band I never really dug into very deeply, which is odd because they influenced so many bands that I love to some extent. Lizard is a killer tune. I love big, epic, prog tunes that are really eclectic and ambitious in scope. I particularly like that tune when it gets all jazzy with piano and horns. I can see some common threads between Lizard and Heritage, particularly the song, Cirkus. King Crimson is a band that wears me down a bit, but in small doses they're cool to dig into. Strangely enough listening to the tune Lady of the Dancing Water made me dig out Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare, because the eerie intro reminded me of Steven.

[Shamrocked]

Oh, it looks like there's a new Steven Wilson album (The raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)) out today. The little bit I sampled on iTunes was pretty cool.