Progressive metal (sometimes known as prog metal or prog-metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s. Progressive metal blended elements of heavy metal and progressive rock music, taking the loud "aggression", amplified electric guitar-driven sound of the former, with the more experimental, complex and "pseudo-classical" compositions of the latter. Progressive metal often utilises the conceptual themes associated with progressive rock. Throughout the years, progressive metal has borrowed influences from several other genres, including classical and jazz fusion music.
Whilst the genre emerged towards the late-1980s, it was not until the 1990s that progressive metal achieved commercial success. Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, Tool, and Fates Warning are a few examples of progressive metal bands who achieved commercial success; additionally, heavy metal bands such as Metallica incorporated elements of progressive music in their work. Progressive metal's popularity started to decline towards the end of the 1990s, but it remains a largely underground genre with a committed fan base.
Read more about Progressive Metal: History, Diversity, Differences With Experimental Metal
Famous quotes containing the words progressive and/or metal:
“A radical is one of whom people say “He goes too far.” A conservative, on the other hand, is one who “doesn’t go far enough.” Then there is the reactionary, “one who doesn’t go at all.” All these terms are more or less objectionable, wherefore we have coined the term “progressive.” I should say that a progressive is one who insists upon recognizing new facts as they present themselves—one who adjusts legislation to these new facts.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“We are supposed to be the children of Seth; but Seth is too much of an effete nonentity to deserve ancestral regard. No, we are the sons of Cain, and with violence can be associated the attacks on sound, stone, wood and metal that produced civilisation.”
—Anthony Burgess (b. 1917)