Album Rating: 4.0

No idea, but it's a common mistake, it seems, cuz 3 people voted for that tag.

Album Rating: 4.5

finally managed to find the Japanese b-side track, it's fucking awesome



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hacrqn-EG-8

my dad knows the drummer of this band lol

they are a pretty cool band anyhow. i should listen to them more.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

kamelot are often tagged as progressive. no idea why. maybe any band with an 8-minute epic is called prog nowadays.

Album Rating: 3.5

They surely were progressive metal at some point. If extraordinary harmonies and time signature changes make music progressive, then Kamelot definitely are. Keep in mind that Crimson Glory are also called a progressive metal band and so are Queensryche. If those are classified as such, I see no reasons why Kamelot shouldn't be - except maybe for the last two albums.

(Then again, I've come to kinda hate the use of the term progressive metal. I once planned to make a list to show how ridiculous that designation is. As if Sound of Perseverance, Images and Words and Operation: Mindcrime were all part of the same genre, it's just dumb.)



But progressive rock is a whole different genre. The only progressive rock song they've ever done is Lunar Sanctum.

Album Rating: 2.5

Kamelot definitely have a progressive edge but they don't always show it and sometimes they seem to be losing it (like in this lazy -in that aspect at least- album). They surely aren't consistent in this aspect.



RikRoach man I see your point even though for me Queensryche is definitely a progressive band for music, for thoughts and for influence (and the new incarnation of the band has definitely progressive metal elements again). Anyway you can't compare a pioneering band to albums that came a decade after. Queensryche's The Warning had a huge influence (even Kamelot took influence speaking of that band) on prog metal and it came out 8 years before Images and Words.



Personally I like to think this way: Queensryche brought some progressive elements into their heavy metal, while later a band like Dream Theater brought metal into progressive rock, writing complex and over the top compositions that Queensryche generally doesn't have. Today they are lumped into the same tag, but it can't be helped. They had different roles in the development of the genre.

Album Rating: 3.5

Yeah I get that part. Queensryche is one of my favorite bands - well, they would be, if they broke up in 1995 or so. It's just the same as Black Sabbath being called heavy metal. Roads to Madness is definitely one of the first true progressive metal songs though, and a golden hour of the genre.

But my point is - it doesn't end there. The term is used for Sonata Arctica, Death, Stratovarius, Opeth, Kamelot, Katatonia, Dir En Grey, ... it's like everything that can't be striktly categorized is just called progressive metal for the lack of a better word. I guess that's the reason why my chart shows 39% progressive metal. I feel like the definition of progressive metal is "metal that doesn't totally rip off an older band and has some kind of complexity to it - except for that metal that rips off older progressive metal bands, that's also progressive metal".

Album Rating: 4.0

A lot of people tend to also mix up progressive with experimental (not talking about Kamelot here, of course).

Btw, nice mention of "Lunar Sanctum", such an underrated track.

Album Rating: 2.5

@RikRoach: I see the point and I can actually agree with it in some cases. The problem is that the progressive tag can easily become a subjective tag, especially when bands throw some twists in their songwriting. Sonata Arctica, for example, has been throwing tempo changes and differentiated instrumental sections inside their songs since their inception, and they also have a few 7 to 11 minutes long epics. That's when things become tricky for the judges.

Album Rating: 3.5

Lunar Sanctum is a great track, even if it feels kinda out of place on Fourth Legacy. It's got a special vibe that reminds me of Conception. I'd go so far to say it's their most exceptional song.



Sonata Arctica have created one album that I'd call progressive metal - Unia, that is. It's definitely my favorite by them. If MDIBADOFFAN isn't progressive, then what is?



But there really should be a different term for extreme metal that's complex and experimental, so that bands like Gorguts, Opeth and Death are no longer cassified into the same genre as Dream Theater, Queensryche and Crimson Glory.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

C'mon guys, progressive is used for complexity, time signatures and duration length, but is also about experimentation and changing some rules of each genre. Personally, I would put Opeth, Queensryche and Ulver under the progressive tag for some of their albums. What I don't think is that a band is uniquelly progressive.

Album Rating: 4.0

@Rik I feel it's the perfect closer, really. That album is quite varied, anyway.

Album Rating: 3.5

The term "progressive" should be handled just like attributes like "melodic" or "dark". Not every metal with melodies is automatically "melodic metal". Not every metal that can be considered "dark" is automatically "dark metal/black metal". Yet, every band that's "progressive" is pegged as "progressive metal". It makes no sense.

Album Rating: 4.5

managed to find At First Light, I think I like the other one a bit more but both are good.

Album Rating: 2.5

"C'mon guys, progressive is used for complexity, time signatures and duration length, but is also about experimentation and changing some rules of each genre. Personally, I would put Opeth, Queensryche and Ulver under the progressive tag for some of their albums. What I don't think is that a band is uniquelly progressive."



Yes, it's true that genres should be thought album-wise and not considering bands as a whole. See Black Sabbath, for example.



"Not every metal that can be considered "dark" is automatically "dark metal/black metal". Yet, every band that's "progressive" is pegged as "progressive metal"."



I agree that 'progressive' should be used as an adjective for a genre, but still the combination of bands with very different sounds can't be helped since multiple genres can follow a progressive route. We're fighting a neverending battle here (even though there is some kind of masochistic entertainment, hahaha!).

By the way I won't go deep into discussing Sonata Arctica in a Kamelot thread, I'll just say that for me Unia is definitely not the only progressive album by the band.

Album Rating: 3.5

yeah, Sonata Arctica have some really progressive stuff like Deathaura and so on, but Unia is the only album that's really more progressive metal than power metal. Then again, some albums like Stones Grow Her Name are hardly progressive. I guess that sets them apart from Kamelot - those have been borderline prog power most of the time.

Album Rating: 3.5

So yeah this is p good. I'm pretty new to the genre but it's quite interesting. What's the best album by these guys ?

The Black Halo. I actually haven't listened to anything post-Khan. Because I managed to see this band with Roy Khan way back when hah.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

that would be Epica/The Black Halo duo. It's the story of Faust (renamed Ariel), with God and Devil (Mephisto) gambling for his soul. Read the wikipedia article of the albums while you listen to it, it gives pretty good explenation for each song's lyrics.

Album Rating: 3.5

Damn, concept albums. Sounds intriguing. Will check soon.