Progressive
Noah’s Barks pages relating to progressive music genres. Combine with other tags for specific genres, e.g. “progressive+rock.”
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Jeff Lynne’s ELO – “Alone in the Universe” (2015)
Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) were a band primarily popular in the ’70s due to their unique combination of elaborate, classical instrument arrangements over combinations of light pop rock and progressive mini-suites. There’s no band quite like Electric Light Orchestra in the perpetual boiling pot of ’70s music, a band both conservative and kitsch. They were… (read more)
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Coroner – “Grin”
Coroner have no album as atmospheric and progressive as ‘Grin.’ However, it sounds somewhat like a transition to a masterpiece that was never made. (read more)
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Devin Townsend Project – “Epicloud” (2012)
Oh, boy. I have a new album to direct people to when showing them the worst the cliches of progressive metal. Epicloud features vocoder vocals, “epic” operatic backing vocals, constant switching between clean vocals and screams, loud as fuck, formulaic guitar playing pursuing volume and pleasant textures, occasional “soft” acoustic segments that are, for some… (read more)
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Refused – “The Shape of Punk to Come”
"The Shape of Punk to Come" has the band Refused delivering a manifesto to the punk movement, daring them to be ambitious and unpredictable. (read more)
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Stevie Wonder – “Music of My Mind” (1972)
Stevie Wonder isn’t quite there yet. Music of My Mind is his first album as a soul artist, and as you might expect, he hasn’t gotten used to it. His vocal performance isn’t as transcendent as it would become and doesn’t flow well with a lot of the backing instrumentation. Keyboard melodies haven’t become dominant… (read more)
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Van der Graaf Generator – “Pawn Hearts” (1971)
Coming from the odd place of having listened to Peter Hammill‘s solo work first, I continually found myself feeling Pawn Hearts lacked the immediate, intense insanity of the wild The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage. I feel much of Pawn Hearts meanders in a way typical of progressive rock that I don’t personally care for. It’s… (read more)
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Opeth – “Ghost Reveries” (2005)
Ghost Reveries is the same Opeth style, but finally with the new ideas and inspiration the band desperately needed after running dry with Deliverance. A great example of what I’m talking about is the Eastern-influenced psychedelia of “Atonement” (there’s a bit of it in the slower guitar solo in “Reverie / Harlequin Forest” as well). Also,… (read more)
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Klaus Schulze – “X” (1978)
The classical string arrangements of “X” add a warmness and humanity that Klaus Schulze’s cold, bleak, now-vintage synthesizers couldn’t have hoped to achieve before. It’s just a shame they aren’t featured more often. Also: two hours? An ambient album is meant to be taken in one sitting, and the lack of gaps between tracks here… (read more)
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letlive. – “Fake History” (2010)
Post-hardcore is pretty much a dead genre now, but there are some bands that keep the torch burning. One of those bands is Glassjaw, who have been playing since around the genre’s conception and still occasionally release new material. Another one of those bands is a much more recently formed one named letlive., a band… (read more)
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Trans-Siberian Orchestra – “Night Castle” (2009)
Night Castle lost a lot of points just for being two fucking hours long. Every song follows the exact same format. Every lyric is predictable, and trying to cover up the amateurish lyrics with the most melodramatic vocals and instrumentation is transparently, offputtingly pretentious. It’s almost impossible for me to tell most of these songs apart,… (read more)