Progressive Metal

Opeth is a metal band from Stockholm, Sweden, whose musical roots lie in death metal, but which has increasingly developed in the direction of progressive rock and progressive metal over time.

The band's name comes from the novel The Sunbird by Wilbur Smith, in which the fictional city of Opet is described as the "city of the moon." The band simply added an "h" to the name to slightly alter it.

Before Opeth was formed, singer and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt and drummer Anders Nordin played in the…

Meshuggah (from the Hebrew מְשׁוּגָּע meschuga, meaning "crazy") is a metal band from Umeå, Sweden, whose music is difficult to categorize. It combines elements of various metal styles such as thrash and death metal with distinct jazz influences, especially in the solo passages. Meshuggah is characterized by complex rhythms, odd time signatures, and abrupt tempo changes, which is why they are often classified as progressive metal—although the band itself describes its style as…

Symphony X is a progressive metal band from New Jersey, founded in 1994 by guitarist Michael Romeo. After Romeo, formerly a member of the band Gemini, recorded his guitar demo tape The Dark Chapter, it quickly attracted attention in the metal scene. Shortly thereafter, he formed the band Symphony X with bassist Thomas Miller, drummer Jason Rullo, singer Rod Tyler, and keyboardist Michael Pinnella.

That same year, they began recording their self-titled debut album, Symphony X, which was initially…

Dream Theater is a progressive metal band from New York, USA. The band is one of the most important representatives of progressive metal and is considered one of the most commercially successful bands in this genre. They were one of the first bands to combine contemporary heavy metal with 1970s progressive rock. Although their first official album received consistently good reviews, sales figures fell short of the band's and record company's expectations. The band's real breakthrough came in…

Queensrÿche is an American progressive metal band that was founded in 1981 in Bellevue near Seattle, Washington, by guitarists Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton, initially under the name "The Mob" – at the beginning without a permanent singer.

The band was one of the first to use the stylistic metal umlaut above a letter – in their case, above the "y." Singer Geoff Tate joked about this in 2000: "We spent eleven years explaining to people how to pronounce the name correctly."

A distinctive feature…

Fates Warning is an American metal band from Connecticut and is considered one of the pioneers of progressive metal. The band was founded in 1983, and their debut album Night on Bröcken was released in 1984 and was still heavily influenced by classic heavy metal à la Iron Maiden. Although this first album was considered rather insignificant, the band cemented its reputation as a pioneer of progressive metal with its subsequent releases.

The albums The Spectre Within (1985), Awaken the Guardian…