Are you familiar with Oldfield's "Amarok" (only one track, and awesome)? Also, Green Carnation's "Light of Day, Day of Darkness", though I personally didn't like it, but I know many people do.

Well if you like Tull there's also A Passion Play which has the same format. Another really well known example of that type of album is Tales from Topographic Oceans by Yes, a double album with four tracks. Also, I would recommend Bubu's Anabelas and Alas' self-titled debut. Both excellent albums from excellent Argentinian bands. Alas sounds like a cross between ELP and jazz fusion, so if you're into that kind of stuff I would highly recommend it. Anabelas doesn't have one track side (it has three tracks, close enough), but it is a truly remarkable album, if somewhat unorthodox.

So, after listening to Jethro Tull's Aqualung in it's entirety, I can now safely say that I'm a fan of them. Any other Tull records you guys think I should spend my time (and money) on?

Tull doesn't have any bad albums, but you should probably start with the 70s stuff from Aqualung onwards.

Okay, so I've asked this question before in the Heavy/Power/Speed metal recommendation thread awhile back, but I figured I'd ask here as well. I enjoy power metal and proto-power metal -- some of which is actually termed "progressive" and some of which isn't but that contains progressive elements -- but I don't like the majority of what's termed "power metal", "progressive metal" or "progressive power metal". I like catchy melodies, complexity that maintains a traditional song structure, amazing soaring vocals, and a minimal use of keyboards. I really dislike the use of keyboards as a lead instrument in metal, a phenomenon far too popular among power metal and progressive power metal bands for my tastes. Anyway, bands/albums that I enjoy that may or may not be considered "progressive" or "power" metal but that contain all the elements I'm looking for: Crimson Glory, Queensryche's EP and "The Warning", Fates Warning's first three, Arch/Matheos' new album, Lethal's "Programmed", most Blind Guardian, mid-period Gamma Ray, Wuthering Heights, Pharaoh, Ion Vein, Crescent Shield, Metal Church, Adramelch, Antiquus' "Eleutheria", Iced Earth's second and third album, Solitude Aeturnus' first two albums, Slauter Xstroyes, Scanner, early Helloween, Judas Priest's second through forth albums, and Iron Maiden's first five albums with Dickinson (particularly progressive songs like "Rime of the Ancient Mariner")

I don't like Symphony X, Dream Theater, Kamelot, Stratovarius, Evergrey, Lanfear, Anubis Gate, Conception, etc, namely because they pour on the keyboards a bit too heavy. I don't like Nevermore because they're too groove oriented and not very melodic (in spite having the "power metal" label applied to them). I'm checking out Communic right now, and I'm not sure if I like them or not -- they're better than Nevermore, but remind me a bit too much of them. As you can see, I'm pretty picky about what I like and can probably even be accused of being musically narrow-minded. That said, I'd love it if you progressive metal fans could point me to any bands that fit my tastes that I may have missed.

I guess you could try 70s / very early 80s Rush if you haven't already. Not metal, but close enough. Everything from Signals onwards will definitely be too keyboard-heavy though. And yeah, it's a bit of an obvious rec, but since you didn't mention them... other than that I can't really think of anything you haven't mentioned already that would be melodic enough.

I know this may sound silly, but anything in the lines of Control Denied?
Meaning, clean vocals, extremely progressive rhythms, and a hint of power/death influence?

YmirsGap, try Vauxdvihl. They are maybe a little more "proggy" than some of your examples but you might still like them. To me they sound like "Awaken the Guardian - Perfect Symmetry" era Fates Warning meets Psychotic Waltz or something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uu3litydM8

Don't forget some of the band's earlier live material which showed LaBrie at his absolute best. Live at the Marque and the offical new york 1993 bootleg are essential.

LORD BANE - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVJ-EeryTK0
SCREAMER - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHQ9nzUwKYM
MERCURY RISING - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztd4hOZRlOc
DEADLY BLESSING - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=677rorZtnKQ
TALISPHERE - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ecQuvTjfs
WINTERS BANE - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGW9EoW4fBM
ALTERED STATE - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX6CScuBhbk
WHILE HEAVEN WEPT - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfUmhX7I ... re=related

YmirsGap, check out Seer's Tear's full-length. Excellent power/prog in the vein of Psychotic Waltz and Antiquus.

Thanks for the recommendations. This thread doesn't get updated as frequently, so it's been awhile since I've checked back. I'll check them out.

Also, my position on keyboards is actually softening a bit. I'm listening to Kamelot right now, and I can't deny that this is really well done and compelling, in spite the prominence of the keyboards. Also, Sonata Arctica, while more basic and not progressive at all, has songs that are just so unbearably catchy on their first three albums. Both of these bands are forcing me to reconsider my anti-keyboard dogma, almost against my will. I was previously completely reactionary on the subject.

Want well-done keyboards in metal? Listen to Virgin Steele.

Early Dream Theater also features pretty cool keyboards. Check out ''Innocence Faded'', ''Learning to Live'' and ''Scarred''.

I'm looking for progressive metal that isn't hard to get into, DOES NOT contain a shitload of instrumental pieces thrown in for sake of it. I also would prefer a basic verse/chorus formula. Also I'm not looking for harsh vocals.

Maybe later era Psychotic Waltz? Their last couple of albums are very "easy going" if that was ever a term to describe a record.

Hey look, I can go and whore CONSTANTINE again!

Vauxdvihl, Winter's Bane, Talisphere and Mercury Rising sound really promising. I've heard Screamer, but don't like the vocalist. Altered State only produced one demo, which suffers from miserable production. I've heard While Heaven Wept's one non-doom album, and it's good.

I've heard Psychotic Waltz before, but it has yet to fully hook for me -- although I like how they build complexity into a traditional song structure, it might be a bit too busy for me.

Wow, Constantine is pretty impressive. I'm definitely going to have to listen to the full album.

Virgin Steele has a lot of albums, and it looks like they've gone through a few phases. When did they put out their progressive/power stuff? "Marriage of Heaven and Hell"?

Shadowkeep is a good band that I recently discovered that plays this style, and seems to be widely ignored.

On the Euro-power front, I've recently gotten way more into Falconer than I previously was, and also recently discovered Lost Horizon (who people seem to love), Alkemyst (who nobody has ever heard of) and Wuthering Heights. There aren't a lot of original bands in that arena, with the exception of the keyboard-heavy Pagan's Mind type stuff which I don't like. Lost Horizon is a band that knows how to keep the keyboards understated for atmosphere. Amazing band -- it's a shame that they only have two albums.

Everything from Marriage 1 through Atreus 2 is pure class. The Marriage albums are more traditionally-styled, with a focus on deftly mixing bluesy, catchy trad metal with subtle orchestration and brilliant melodic bits. Invictus is probably their single most aggressive offering, falling much closer to power metal than the sort of souped-up trad metal they had been playing earlier. The Atreus albums basically take all the changes they made with Invictus and continue them, with an emphasis on ambitious, multi-part compositions and brilliant interludes - it's much more album-focused and doesn't work as well in isolation, but the package as a whole works incredibly well.

This is diving a lot more into psychedelic rock and instrumental stuff (and there's a good thread going in General), but if you guys have any recommendations for stuff like Ozric Tentacles and Quantam Fantay I'd definitely be interested in hearing them. I have to emphasis, I love how heavy these bands sound pretty often, and the sound is quite busy with a lot going on. Pretty fast too, this stuff seems like borderline jazzy metal at times which is awesome. The spacey / synth elements pull me in a lot too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQqRVxSpa6Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9BD3JS2DRI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbBBL7X2sKs

You might like Canvas Solaris.

I think I am liking this.

Just heard Riverside's ''Second Life Syndrome''. Track seems to be pretty cool and has a nice mellow atmosphere going on. What's this band's best album?

EDIT: Here's the track incase you're curious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5veGuULOso

Anno Domini High Definition is their most well-regarded album -- but Second Life Syndrome is excellent as well. I say pick those two up.

hey hey! i'm looking for a Prog metal band that DOESNT have high pitched vocals...vocal styles like Steven Wilson,or the Riverside singer(don't know his name) are kind of what i'm looking for,or even how Mikael Akerfeldt sounds like when he's not growling.

Not metal, but prog-ish rock.

Minus the Bear
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN_sB6uNkwE

Again, not metal but you may like the non-high singing.

Thrice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRryVe_-I3M

And maybe Karnivool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjvtx3HMUks

Sorry, couldn't rec a single actual metal band.

Later era Fates Warning starting with A Pleasant Shade of Grey.

Dark Suns

Thanks for these recommendations again! I've bought albums by every band of that list except Manitou.

Sanity Obscure (SG) has just released the album "Subterranean Constellation" for digital download on Bandcamp. If you like the music, you can purchase individual tracks ($1.20 USD) or the full album ($8.00) from the Bandcamp page here : http://sanityobscuresg.bandcamp.com/

This band and album is said to be for fans of Voivod, Nocturnus, Pestilence, Anacrusis, Atheist, Death and many more. If you like a blend of Technical Thrash Metal with experimental touches, moods of space and sheer intensity, you might like this release.

Guest musicians/appearances include Kevin Hufnagel (GORGUTS, DYSRHYTHMIA) and Bruce Lamont (YAKUZA). Mastered by Colin Marston (BEHOLD... THE ARCTOPUS, GORGUTS DYSRHYTHMIA).

Bandcamp : http://sanityobscuresg.bandcamp.com/
FB Link : https://www.facebook.com/SanityObscureSG

Only use the promo forum to promote your stuff.

I like that band a lot but their new album "Orange" is soooo whack.

I might have to give it another listen, but first time hearing it I thought it was god awful, and not even metal in any way.

Anyone know any good James Labrie worship? Basically I'm not looking for super high vocals, so anything resembling his Images and Words & Awake era would be perfect.
I don't like Symphony X and I'm not a big fan of the Fates Warning that I've heard so far (The Spectre Within & a few other songs around that era).

Have you checked out MullMuzzler? It's LaBrie's solo work from the late 90's, I think it might be exactly what you're looking for. Perhaps the second album more so (there are two).

Sadly, LaBrie is a pretty unique singer, so you won't find many people who sound like him, let alone those who are actually in a prog band

I've dabbled into a little bit of his solo work, naturally I like it a lot. I'll have to check it out again though, thanks for the push.
And really what I'm looking for is pitch and style, not so much resembling his voice (although that would be a plus). As long as the vocals don't shatter glass and they have a nice cohesive flow, I'm open to it.

So, like, prog metal bands with mid-range vocalists?

I nominate Seventh Wonder and Shadow Gallery.

Just checked them out some more and YES! Absolutely perfect, I actually can't believe I haven't heard of either of them sooner. Any more just like these and I'll be a happy camper

So you like Seventh Wonder, great band. May I also suggest Circus Maximus then? Basically any fan of DT can enjoy them, so long as you like the vocals

I've only heard The First Chapter, but I've kinda been put-off by the steadily declining reviews that I've seen (which I should know to take with a grain of salt). Regardless, I should give them a fair chance. Any thoughts on their newer releases?

I don't think The First Chapter is their best work. I enjoy it, but they've done better. If you're looking for a good hard-hitting prog metal album, go with Isolate. If you're looking for something more laid back with less super technical progressive noodling and even a more pop-ish influence, go for Nine, their new album.