Music Snob's Prog Metal Band Tier List

Haken is S tier for me
I love the vocal style so much. They have some of my favorite songs to sing

Damn it's really too bad he made this video before PetroDragonic Apocalypse released. King Gizzard is shaping up to be a GOATed band in the metal scene.

Symphony x have the best vocals and guitar, some of the best compositions in prog

Riverside are a Polish band. More prog rock than prog metal if you ask me. Sort of like Porcupine Tree.

I wonder if you only listened to Fates Warning albums before No Exit...even the use of that old school font points to an entirely different era. Listen to Perfect Symmetry, Parallels or Inside Out if you haven't. Respect your opinion either way!

Ive never understood the admiration people have for Opeth and Dream Theatre. They've never really hit for more. Just dont have the cinematic appeal that Leprous has. Way under played Neobliviscaris. Easy A tier, i personally love the production on Exull. Bass is tragically buried in alot of other bands. Not Ne. Other than an awesome string section its hard to pin down where they'll go next. Even though i wouldn't clasify Coheed as prog metal. They are prog and immediately on mention my brain went back to IV. Welcome home will stay with me for life that entire album. French Kiss

I would argue that Iron Maiden should be on this list and either in A or B tier as a prog metal band or in S-tier as a band in general. Sure, while they are about as mainstream as you get in metal and are often classified as either classic heavy metal or new British wave, they have definitely checked off a lot of the typical hallmarks for a prog metal band. Their 1986 album, Caught Somewhere Time, used a lot of synthesizers combined with guitars to create this very unique futuristic sound and the title track of their following 1988 concept album, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, (along with the 1984 song Rime of the Ancient Mariner) definitely showed them beginning to experiment with longer more structurally complex songs. I think this is especially true for their most recent albums like Final Frontier, Book of Souls, and Senjutsu, where most of the songs are these darker-sounding deeper tracks that are longer than 7 minutes with a lot fewer of the shorter straight-forward upbeat songs than they used to have in the 80's, showing the evolution of their sound. Also having three guitarists in addition to a bassist, something very rare for most metal bands, has to count for something.

I think Mike doesn't have a clear idea of "production". Though I agree with him in many videos, as soon as he justifies his dislikes in "production" i always end up scratching my head. He's wrong most of the time.

Particulary with Fates Warning and Symphony X, this dude sometimes is lost.

Wow. Prog metal is a mess :). I'm a big fan of Tool and Gojira and obviously Dream Theater's "Images and words" is a great album, but beside these + a few other songs from other bands on the list, i can't listen to any of the other bands. Is "progressive" in this case just another word for leaving the usual mold? The "unsorted box" of metal? When it comes to other sub genres, there's usually similarities and just small difference that you like or dislike, but these bands are just a mess of widely different kind of music and genres.

I'm curious; where'd you put The Contortionist in this?

Porcupine Tree not on this list?! Disgraceful

Musically Symphony X is better than Dream Theater and that is the most important factor in music

Good list, pretty much agree except Id put Coheed in S out of nothing but complete bias and growing up reading Amory Wars and shit lol

I think one band you missed was Death. I know they are more considered the pioneers of death metal but I think Chuck Schuldiner considered the band to be more Prog. But maybe that’s what makes them progressive in the first place.

Dunno if those criticisms against Queensryche are really all that fair - they've influenced prog-metal arguably more than anyone else except for maybe Dream Theater. Tate inspired countless singers who came after, and in his prime he was arguably the best on the planet. Rage For Order has songs on it that are still really far ahead of their time (like Neue Regel) and I think Empire is one of the best pop / metal / AOR crossover albums ever. Operation: Mindcrime is also still topping all-time best lists as far as metal albums go. The fact you'd rank Periphery over them is....not gonna lie...pretty lame move there brotha.

Symphony X is definitely A tier, maybe even S tier.

First of, just gonna say right of the bat that music is subjective, and this is obviously your view, tho i'am a bit sad to see haken that low. They are one of most creative group out there and have released some incredible music over the years, the mountain is one of my all time favorite album, and all of the other album are incredible too. No matter how you look at it, they are top notch in every aspect ( rythmically, harmonically, composition wise, their singer is incredible, .. ).

Symphony X is to me, the embodiment of progressive metal, there isn't a single album i dislike, and they achieved what very few band are capable of : being relevant for decades. I think that very few band have the ability to express that much musical intent, michael romeo is one of my favorite composer. Some may disagree, others don't, but in the end when i listen to their music, they take my on a journey, their music is one of the few that brings me such emotions. The way they construct song is mind blowing, their lyricist is incredible, and michael is one of the finest there is, brutal yet refined... I'am still listening to them after all those years.

Dream theater is a great band, but in the end, they are more album i don't like, rather than the opposite, some songs are really iconic tho. But i can count on one hand the number of album i really like. James labrie makes me want to hang myself every time i hear him. Sorry james.

Honorable mention for the ones you forgot :

> Kadinja, one of the finest and most avant-garde prog band, wether it's quentin, pierre, or morgan : all of them are incredible musician and they make something that's unique.
> Karnivool ( not all their repertoire is prog, but a lot of songs are, and they're fantastic )
> Thank you scientist : A weird blend of many genre, well distiled into what i'd call a masterpiece. Terraformer is one of my favourite album, and one of the few in wich you'll ear sax, violin, and many unusual instrument for the genre. They may not have been there as long as other band, but longevity isn't a factor to judge if a music is good or not.
> Planet X, their groove are intoxicating, and moonbabies is one of my all time fav.
> Parallaxe : French progressive band, they did two album and stoped cuz the guitarist had some health problem, their album "Soundtrack" is one of the most amazing thing you'll find out there, very unknown tho, but they're worth every godamn second.
> At last, this isn't a "band", but stephen taranto's album ( Permanence ) probably is one of the best prog album i've heard in the last 10 years. Truly a gem not to pass by, shit has been on repeat for me for the last 4 years. The only downside i could give the album is that it's too short.

Probably forgot a bunch but anyway, the post already is hella long. Hope you discover something you might enjoy.

Threshold?

Interesting takes, Mike.

DT Symphony X and Haken are the ones I've listened to the most out of these. So far!

I like that your take on symphony x production is the opposite of mine, I prefer their older 90s sound.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA here is your comment, and again
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

The ocean collective

Haken in B should be considered a crime against humanity. They gotta be at least an A.

Mike, where would you place Tyr from the Faroe Islands, Death from FL, or Atheist from FL?

Yes and yes about mastodon and leprous

Why are we so aligned?! 😂 Agree with u 100% on Teseract, I really want to like them but I just can't quite get there, I'm a big Haken fan, the latest album left me a bit meh...Affinity & The Mountain are prob my faves, love them but sometime throughout their catalogue it seems Jennings voice is a little over compressed/processed? I'm no technician, but it sometimes pulls me out fo the music. Riverside is my #2 band! I adore Mariusz' voice & songwriting, love their themes & social commentary...stunning btw - they're from Poland! Love Periphery! POS - I love the rawness, Leprous is my fave band & same with you about Aphelion, took a while to grow on me.

Haken really grew on me. I think Dream Theater has lost its progressiveness. I rarely feel amazed by Petruccis/Rudess playing anymore. Hakens compositions don't always work but they're really trying to create something new and they often manage to do that. Jazz, a capella, even modern pop sounds - this is the band I'm listening to nowadays.

Celestial Elixir, Crystallized, 1985, Cockroach King,...

Surprised Threshold and Crimson Glory wasn't included

I feel sorry for you and your brain that thinks Labrie sings more memorable lines than Russell fucking allen.

Isis? Karnivool? Rishloo?

I was actually stunned when you listed TOOL as only 'A' tier, but then you immediately clarified that by noting that they're barely metal. Prog, definitely, but after thinking about it for a moment, yeah, I can see, by that standard, why only 'A'. :)

Fates Warning is definitely a progressive band. Awaken the Guardian (1986), I can safely say, is their first prog album. They played different styles of the prog genre over time and the differences are noticeable. It's S tier or the least A for me. It seems to me that you don't know most of FW music which makes me take this ranking less seriously.
And Symphony X is better than Dream Theater, on vocals definitely, and I like their neo-classical progressive style better. SX is A tier. That being said, I still respect Dream Theater and enjoy many of their songs. It has lots of unnecessary lengthy guitar-keyboard wankery though. I'd put DT in lower end of A tier.
Shadow Gallery, Threshold, King's X, Alter Bridge, Angra, Seventh Wonder, Atheist, Redemption, Nevermore, Evergrey, Zero Hour, Edge of Sanity, ... all absent from this list. It's a poor chart I have to say.

Notable exclusions
Caligulas horse
Karnivool
Porcupine tree
Jinja
12 foot ninja
Control denied ( chucks last project before he passed)

I am not here to spread any hate whatsoever. I just HAVE to ask. Does anyone know if there is an elitist sub-section of Porcupine Tree fans? I have an anecdotal story of a kid that was auditioning for our group and he was the most unjustifiably pretentious douche to everything except "new prog" and bailed on the whole audition when we had the audacity to jam a Led Zeppelin song, even though our actual genre would probably be closer to Porcupine Tree than Led Zeppelin lol. Could have been a one off douche, but BTK's fandom tier lists kind of opened my eyes a bit.

Very interesting List Mike. Where would you put Treshold, Pagan's Mind, Communic and Andromeda in?

But where is Nevermore!?

I get what you're saying about Ayreon and other Arjen's projects, but none the less I love his work and passion. For me, The Theory of Everything & The Human Equation are masterpieces.

I say this in every one of Mike's tier list videos. I wish he went through the picks in the order they're presented and not by tier; it completely takes away from the intrigue. "Oh, is DT gonna be S tier? he said they're not prog enough anymore," or things like that. Idk, just a suggestion. You're the only of the hundreds of tier list makers I follow that does this way

"I'm putting them in S tier, I don't love this band."

Even though I get mad to Mike because of his ruthlessness towards some of my favorite bands, I really like him because of his objectivity and the coherent reasons that he gives about why he doesn't like the band or album, etc. that makes me think like "Hmmm, I never thought this way."

I love how you just threw Cynic in F. No foreplay just fuck Cynic lmfao

I think it's cute he left my band off this tier list. The other bands wouldn't stand a chance with us being there :p

That's always the thing - if you take the fascination with production out of the picture, the picture becomes entirely different lol

Bob Dylan being a Dream Theater clone sounds about right.

Mike i just bought two haken albums, thanks for sharing your opinions on this band to get me curious. I love what I'm hearing from their discography.

I think, due to their influence alone, Meshuggah should be S tier. I can't think of a more influencial metal band since...maybe Metallica. They get copied EVERYWHERE, even in some Hip Hop and Pop

I was ready to go to blows when you put BtBaM only at B Tier, but I can't really be mad about the band just not jelling with you based on personal taste. That said, I don't really agree with you assertion that a lot of it is "random", that definitely isn't the case.

I'm a massive haken fan but I see what you mean with ross, Aquarius has a way rawer sound from him but since then he's a bit too polished for the music itself

Personally I would swapped Opeth and Dream Theater, but that’s just me. I love both, but I get tired of DT after a while

Caligula's Horse would have been interesting. VOLA is also an interesting take on a rather accessible prog.