Riverside

Squonk

Excellent Polish Prog Rock band in the vein of Porcupine Tree, shades of Floyd, bits of Metal and a vocalist that is not irritating

Listening to Second Life Syndrome.

A must for all Prog Rockers

Tonedef

They are fantastic. I particularly enjoy them because they have a bit of the old Amiga/Assembler demo scene feel to their sound, particularly their song intros (anybody remember Scream Tracker?)

Malkav

I dig em, I have about 4 albums and their DVD ?

The guitarist plays a Mayones ? Regius model if I'm not mistaken ?

Malkav

Website: http://www.mayones.com/

Pictures:

Above is the Regius I was refering to.

Above is the Setius, another popular model of theirs.

This one is called the Legend 8)

Squonk

Great looking Guitars Chad ?

Strange thing is that I am listening to the First Album right now, Yes I am getting strange glances from the people in the office!

It's called "out of myself", Excellent stuff.

I think it's a step up from Porcupine Tree, more true to the Progressive Rock Genre

Malkav

Squonk wrote: I think it's a step up from Porcupine Tree, more true to the Progressive Rock Genre

This I can't agree with you on, Prog Rock and Prog Metal are my favourite genres because there's just no limit on what is and isn't allowed. Porcupine Tree is every bit as prog as Riverside, or at least in my opinion they are because they sound nothing alike. Most prog bands don't, it was a musical mindset started by King Crimson so long ago, one of breaking rules and boundaries while still trying to create music that was melodic, intelligent and beautiful ?

I consider prog to be the coolest genre to play as well cause there just aren't any rules ? My band has a track with Meshuggah style rhythms, leading into an arabian sounding marching thing with mongolian throat singers and somewhere near the end of the song there's a whole orchestra outro thing with a guitar solo ? It's just great to be playing a style where anything goes if it sounds good ? Prog = Epic Win!

Some other cool prog bands (metal & rock)

Dream Theater (cause they pretty much always have to be on there)
Circus Maximus
Pagan's Mind
Pain Of Salvation
Animals As Leaders
Planet X

Also check out Opeth, their heavy stuff is a bit so so but they have a chilled album called Damnation that I highly recommend. Not so much prog but kinda psychadelic ?

Squonk

Chad Adam Browne wrote: This I can't agree with you on, Prog Rock and Prog Metal are my favourite genres because there's just no limit on what is and isn't allowed. Porcupine Tree is every bit as prog as Riverside, or at least in my opinion they are because they sound nothing alike. Most prog bands don't, it was a musical mindset started by King Crimson so long ago, one of breaking rules and boundaries while still trying to create music that was melodic, intelligent and beautiful ?

I agree Chad

I think what I was trying to say about Porcupine Tree (dont get me wrong I think they are a great band) is that they are definately in this genre but with me being an old prog rocker, I was brought up on King Crimson, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Yes, Greenslade, van der Graaf Generator etc

I was possibly measuring PT with the wrong stick ? After hearing Riverside, I think they are possibly more progressive and truer to the Prog Rock genre that I am used to! Riverside have that creative edge that possibly extends to the dark side a bit more than PT, if that's possible. I dont find much classical influence in PT!

I have heard good things about Animals as Leaders, must give them a bash

Strange enough on the Opeth Album I have, 'Deliverance', they do a 'Genesis' cover "For absent friends" that is quite an interesting interpretation of the original. And when I say 'Genesis', I dont mean the 'Earth, Wind and Fire' clone band that Phil Collins destroyed in the 80's ?

Good Stuff

Malkav

That Opeth album you have is the other side to Damnation, they were released as a double disc set ? I highly recommend trying to get your hands on Damnation, there's no screaming and it's all mega chilled - a great vibe the whole way ?

Animals As Leaders is really cool, though they may be a bit heavy for your liking. Definitly envelope pushing music though ?

Planet X I also can't recommend highly enough, though they are bordered more along the twisted dissonant side of prog, the music is incredible. If you can find their album "Quantum" then get it, it's got Allan Holdsworth and Brett Garsed on it, top notch players ?

As cliched as it is I truly love the arche-type Prog bands, namely Dream Theater and King Crimson. After all these years they still have their absolutely gob smacking moments ? King Crimson especially amazed me, many of the older bands struggle to say relevant and generally don't catch up to modern production, but thankfully with Mr. Fripp at the helm King Crimson have managed to churn out albums that are still absolutely cutting edge. Their 2003 release "The Power To Believe" is still one of my absolute top albums of all time ?