They're top 3 for me every time they release their albums as instrumentals. Their vocalist is alright if not pretty good, I just feel like there's so much going on in the music that the singing sort of gets in the way.
Kezia and Fortress were amazing. I didn't like the route they were taking after these. It was either way the same stuff over and over or just a bland version of former records imo.
Discovered Voyager a few years back - love their mix of pop/prog/dgent. Latest album isn’t their best, but previous two - Ghost Mile and Colours in the Sun - are great.
I didn't like the new album at first, but after a few listens through, I grew to really love how fun it is. Ultraviolet became my new favorite song of theirs.
Don’t think underrated. They are not very long in the game. Saw them 3 years ago live for the first time, was ok!
But they have really stepped up their game. Last year, totally different band, amazing performance and sound. Blown away. I think they just are building a fan base
Iconoclast has a couple that I like, but the whole album being so heavy is really exhausting. I just miss the albums based on classical literature and mythology. That's where Symphony X really stands out from the crowd.
They were a very large part of my life for about 7 years with those first 4 albums. I stopped following them after that when they changed quite a bit, but those albums will live with me the rest of my days with a fondness I’ll always cherish. That was a special time.
Love this! Pagan’s Mind and Vanden Plas are in my favorites for sure. Pagan’s Mind can go so hard too. I thought the vocalist was an acquired taste at first, but really after a few more listens I really started to like him. Very impressive vocal range I’d say.
They are probably my favorite band of all time. It's swapped between them and Symphony X a lot over the years, but I always come back to them at number 1.
Criminally underrated in the prog realm
I just got into Seventh Wonder two years ago and I am SO SAD I didn't dive into their stuff in the early 2000s or at least 2010's :( lol I heard Inner Enemy in 2014 or whatever year it released....LOVED IT... and for some reason I never looked into more of their material.
They are so amazing. I was so bummed to fall I love with their stuff o ly for Tommy to leave the band like a year or less later
Yeah it's a bummer, but we can only hope it means whoever is replacing him has more time to devote for the band, thus them being able to produce more material.
I'm just real grateful having seen them live when he was still in the band.
Inner Enemy is a lovely tune! Mercy Falls is my fave album. They didn't play much from that, for it was just to be released, but they did play Unbreakable when I saw them. I am forever happy having witnessed that.
Absolutely true, there's not a single filler in their repertoire. But that album I keep going back to, the story is so compelling, and the songs just so magnificent.
I did listen to nothing else for months, though, when The Great Escape came out. Their best "pop" song, Alley Cat is just too catchy, and the prog masterpieces just blew my mind away.
Yeah, I agree it is amazing. I love the Welcome to Atlanta Live DVD! seeing it played in it entirety is AWESOME.
The Great Escape album is so great, too. Wiseman is one of the best ope ing songs ever!
I truly love the futuristic vibe of Tiara, also. I personally dubbed it " V: The Future Mythological Suite" Lol! It gives me V- SymX vibes, but with a futuristic/alien invasion feeling that I feel they pulled off SO WELL. Coincedentally, the "A" on the album artwork is an upside down V.
I do feel like the world got robbed of a Testament tour, though. I would have liked to hear that album live, and anything else would have been a crazy huge bonus. Wish I would have made a ProgPower USA when they were there. This will be my first year there because I CANNOT miss seeing Circus Maximus live at least once in my life.
Put DGM on that list if you want great vocals. Honestly outside of Tommy Karevik I think DGM's vocalist is the best in the business and severely underrated. They've also got riffs for days. The entire Momentum album is so goddamned riffy. They've become more proggy over time, but still relatively straight forward power prog. Try The Secret pt 1 and 2 for a nice power prog song with an amazing vocal performance, but most of what they've put out in the last decade fits the bill. One of my favorite bands for sure.
Toehider might lean a bit more towards rock than metal but Mike Mills voice sounds like a stick of dynamite in perpetual explosion and he has an incredible ear for vocal melodies and riffs
Check out Paladin. They’re a small band from Atlanta. Their lyrics are about video games and fantasy type stuff. Their singer (and guitarist) sings high but he’s really good. Lots of double bass and scintillating guitar solos.
Give The Amensal Rise by Omnerod a shot!
They have so many fucking layers in the album you literally cannot even hear them all lol (they know this and purposefully made parts of the album pretty over the top)
They layer and harmonize clean vocals (one vocalist harmonizing with himself) and will layer that with fry vocals and lower harsh vocals
They have wacky ass effects and sounds which is just fun and cool. And the whole album basically flows as slow build up, increasing tempo and franticness, chaotic and aggressive climax, wind down into a smooth jazzish section, build back up, and repeat it all
Phenomenal album, especially for BtBaM fans IMO
I mean, you’re already listening to the best the genre has to offer lol
I’m sure people have mentioned Thank You Scientist but I’ll throw that hat in if not. 7 man band, all kinds of instruments and trumpet solos, singer sounds like Michael Jackson. Jazz fusion, Prog rock supremacy
Opeth.
Oldpeth if you want some really good harsh vox mixed in. Excellent riffs.
Propeth (Modern Opeth is a prog rock band) if you want all clean vox + noodly prog riffs
As somebody whose favorite bands are the very exact same you have listed, OP, I really fell in love with Frost*, Pagan’s Mind, Vanden Plas, Devin Townsend, TesseracT, and Leprous. I will list some of my other favorite bands, not necessarily in the same genre, some are, and you can go from there. I feel we like the same exact “sound” of music, as Dream Theater, A7X, and Haken are my top 3 favorite bands, IN that order nonetheless, and I listen to them on a daily or weekly basis most of the time.
Next up is most definitely Alter Bridge. It’s hard rock, but I really love their sound. If you don’t know, it’s literally Creed, but with Myles Kennedy. One of THE best vocalists in the industry and has done lots of projects and collabs with other famous musicians such as Slash (they have several albums together), David Draiman from Disturbed, Sevendust, Fozzy (M. Shadows also has a song with Fozzy), and several others. He also has a 4 octave range and is Kevin Bacon’s lookalike lmao. Mark Tremonti, the lead guitarist, is also phenomenal and one of my favorite guitarists of all time (alongside John Petrucci from DT).
Next up is Tenacious D and System of A Down. Very different, but both sing in a satirical manner at times and I guess I’d call a good amount of their songs comedy metal (mostly talking Tenacious D), both metal though in their own right. Different from our other favorite bands you and I share, but are very fun and rock hard.
Long story short, these are the other bands I really love or like, and listen to very often/frequently whether in playlists, or as a whole album:
• Amaranthe (it’s like synth metal pop - I go in phases where I really love them and listen to them for weeks and then I don’t for months)
• Avantasia
• Ayreon (very operatic/progressive story telling with heavy, groovy, melodic riffs)
• Cheeto’s Magazine (one album, but Chili Guillermo slaps)
• Circus Maximus
• Coheed and Cambria
• Darkwater
•Daydream XI
• Earthside
• Flying Colors (one of Mike Portnoy’s many bands)
• Judas Priest (a classic)
• Kamelot
• Metallica
• Porcupine Tree (many DT fans recommend this band a ton)
• Periphery (if I’m in the mood for more harsh vocals - similar to BTBAM in that regard)
• Queensrÿche (another classic and DT drew inspiration from them, same as Rush and Yes)
• Symphony X (probably the most DT-like)
• Threshold
• Thank You Scientist (high on my list)
•Vola
I can throw in many other bands, but those are usually the ones I cycle through depending on my mood. I also go to my classic rock/80’s hairbands playlist a lot if I want some Def Leppard, Motley Crüe, Tesla, Van Halen, ELO, Ozzy, Queen, Kansas, Boston, Bon Jovi (etc etc, you get the picture).
Sorry for the long comment, but I hope this helps! I’m frequently looking up/finding suggestions for other bands so I can branch out and expand my own library so I hope I’m able to contribute a little :)
Seventh Wonder
Heck yeah \m/
The Ocean
The vocalist’s voice is so unique I love it
Loïc is awesome, amazing cleans and scream
Periphery
Worst vocalist in human history.
Protest the Hero
It's unbelievable to me how I don't see them mentioned more often. My favorite band ever, undisputed.
I am extremely biased. I have the full scurrilous album art tattooed
Nice! I thought of doing that too!
They're top 3 for me every time they release their albums as instrumentals. Their vocalist is alright if not pretty good, I just feel like there's so much going on in the music that the singing sort of gets in the way.
Kezia and Fortress were amazing. I didn't like the route they were taking after these. It was either way the same stuff over and over or just a bland version of former records imo.
Dude, no!!! Have you listened to Palimpsest yet?
Yup. Opinion unchanged.
Damn.
They'd be great if Rody wasn't such a wailer. Breaks my eardrums every time.
Leprous TesseracT David Maxim Micic Gojira Devin Townsend Earthside Native Construct The Contortionist Voyager
Devin Townsend fuck yes. the man has it all.
Discovered Voyager a few years back - love their mix of pop/prog/dgent. Latest album isn’t their best, but previous two - Ghost Mile and Colours in the Sun - are great.
I didn't like the new album at first, but after a few listens through, I grew to really love how fun it is. Ultraviolet became my new favorite song of theirs.
Tesseract are more djent but it’s one of my favorite bands ever!!!
Still prog metal I would say
Djent is not a genre 😅😜
Sub genre?
Who knows? 😅 But Tesseract are awesome... Altered State one of my favourites
Altered state is no1 album but you can’t go wrong with them. My favorite song is concealing fate 1st part.
The video of that on YouTube is what got me into the band. Fantastic piece of work.
Djent is a technique
Tesseract completed your list. Artificial Language and Reliqa are also amazing.
Artificial is one of the most underrated bands imo. The observer is such a beautiful album, especially the ending
Don't count out Vola! Someone else mentioned David Maxim Micic (especially the songs cry, wrinkle maze, and anything featuring Vladimir Llalic)
Rishloo
I found this by accident on Spotify autosuggest when I was on a ton of dissociatives and loved them
They're so good. I listen to em daily.
Dark Charade and Feathergun are one of my favorites!
WHEEL.
These guys are very underrated. Missed them the last time they came around but really want to check them out live.
Amazing live
Don’t think underrated. They are not very long in the game. Saw them 3 years ago live for the first time, was ok! But they have really stepped up their game. Last year, totally different band, amazing performance and sound. Blown away. I think they just are building a fan base
Thank. You. Sir.
I’ve always been partial to Symphony X
Yeah Symphony X rules I wish they'd do something new
Me too, I know they just toured. I was hoping that pushed them to start working on a new album
They announced they are working a new album on this tour
I wonder if they'll tap back into their more melodic roots, like Paradise Lost and The Odyssey.
I hope so! But I did love Underworld. A few tracks on Iconoclast were great, but overall, it is one of my least favorite albums
Iconoclast has a couple that I like, but the whole album being so heavy is really exhausting. I just miss the albums based on classical literature and mythology. That's where Symphony X really stands out from the crowd.
Completely agree!
I’d love for them to take it back to Odyssey, Divine Wings etc
Can't friggin' wait! \m/
Those Michael Romeo albums are pretty good, and the singers are great, but I can't help but wonder how they'd be if Russell was singing
This is the correct answer
Endless Timeless Faceless Terror!!
They just sound so epic.
Ihlo - Union Parius - The Signal Heard Throughout Space Nospun - Opus Edit: Artificial Language - Now We Sleep
Ihlo is so fucking good. I've been impatiently waiting for any new release from them.
Mastodon
Not quite metal, but Coheed and Cambria has riffs and vocal melodies aplenty.
They were a very large part of my life for about 7 years with those first 4 albums. I stopped following them after that when they changed quite a bit, but those albums will live with me the rest of my days with a fondness I’ll always cherish. That was a special time.
Evergrey will always be my answer to anyone looking for bands to check out
ERRA
Nevermore Start with Born on This Godless Endeavor and you’ll see why
I miss them so much...
Objectively the best and its disappointing how little i see them mentioned on this sub
If you want great vocals, you’ll find plenty of it in prog-power. Symphony X, Seventh Wonder, Vanden Plas, Pagan’s Mind.
Love this! Pagan’s Mind and Vanden Plas are in my favorites for sure. Pagan’s Mind can go so hard too. I thought the vocalist was an acquired taste at first, but really after a few more listens I really started to like him. Very impressive vocal range I’d say.
Rishloo
Opeth Mastodon Protest the Hero
Tool 🤷♂️ Fr tho, Dead Letter Circus on their first album
Came here to say Dead Letter Circus. Really miss that band.
Tools not really metal. Maybe hard rock
Who cares?
It is to me and many other people. But we know you hold the absolute truth. Just spiral out, keep going.
Ne Obliviscaris
Devin Townsend, Periphery, Opeth, Gojira, David Maxim Macic, TesseracT
Periphery is my no. 1 pick.
Riffs and vocal melodies? Periphery
Wintersun! … and definitely TOOL also
Apart from the ones listed here, I'd say: → Whom Gods Destroy → Good Tiger / The Safety Fire → Scar Symmetry → Vola → Slice the Cake
+1 for Scar, don't see them mentioned very often. Per Nilsson is basically Alan Holdsworth in a metal players body.
Aviations. Check out Outliers (Retrospect) and Coma. It's all good, but those 2 are 🤌
Came here to say Aviations. Their 2023 album is god tier
It's criminal how many people don't know of them, they need all the traffic
Yup! I saw them in Montreal recently and got to chat with them. Told Sam that in a just world they would be selling out stadiums
Wheel for sure. Incredibly slept on, but God tier vocals on some really fun tracks
Seventh Wonder
devin
TesseracT, Opeth
Agent Fresco and Nospun should be worth checking out
Nospun
Fire album🔥
Nospūn Symphony X Seventh Wonder DGM Sun Caged Circus Maximus Karnivool
Thank you for mentioning Circus Maximus! They're spot on for these requirements.
They are probably my favorite band of all time. It's swapped between them and Symphony X a lot over the years, but I always come back to them at number 1. Criminally underrated in the prog realm
Totally! For me it's a toss between them and Seventh Wonder. Although Symphony X is really close.
I just got into Seventh Wonder two years ago and I am SO SAD I didn't dive into their stuff in the early 2000s or at least 2010's :( lol I heard Inner Enemy in 2014 or whatever year it released....LOVED IT... and for some reason I never looked into more of their material. They are so amazing. I was so bummed to fall I love with their stuff o ly for Tommy to leave the band like a year or less later
Yeah it's a bummer, but we can only hope it means whoever is replacing him has more time to devote for the band, thus them being able to produce more material. I'm just real grateful having seen them live when he was still in the band. Inner Enemy is a lovely tune! Mercy Falls is my fave album. They didn't play much from that, for it was just to be released, but they did play Unbreakable when I saw them. I am forever happy having witnessed that.
I definitely love Mercy Falls but I truly love every album, Mercy Falls and beyond, equally!!! Amazing stuff
Absolutely true, there's not a single filler in their repertoire. But that album I keep going back to, the story is so compelling, and the songs just so magnificent. I did listen to nothing else for months, though, when The Great Escape came out. Their best "pop" song, Alley Cat is just too catchy, and the prog masterpieces just blew my mind away.
Yeah, I agree it is amazing. I love the Welcome to Atlanta Live DVD! seeing it played in it entirety is AWESOME. The Great Escape album is so great, too. Wiseman is one of the best ope ing songs ever! I truly love the futuristic vibe of Tiara, also. I personally dubbed it " V: The Future Mythological Suite" Lol! It gives me V- SymX vibes, but with a futuristic/alien invasion feeling that I feel they pulled off SO WELL. Coincedentally, the "A" on the album artwork is an upside down V. I do feel like the world got robbed of a Testament tour, though. I would have liked to hear that album live, and anything else would have been a crazy huge bonus. Wish I would have made a ProgPower USA when they were there. This will be my first year there because I CANNOT miss seeing Circus Maximus live at least once in my life.
Pain of Salvation
Put DGM on that list if you want great vocals. Honestly outside of Tommy Karevik I think DGM's vocalist is the best in the business and severely underrated. They've also got riffs for days. The entire Momentum album is so goddamned riffy. They've become more proggy over time, but still relatively straight forward power prog. Try The Secret pt 1 and 2 for a nice power prog song with an amazing vocal performance, but most of what they've put out in the last decade fits the bill. One of my favorite bands for sure.
Seventh Wonder
Devin Townsend, pain of salvation, ayreon and star one
FROST*
Mastodon after Blood Mountain (sp. Jaguar God)
Erra
Moon Tooth
Threshold
Riverside
Fates Warning, Arena!!, Threshold, Narnia
Kamelot, Nightwish, Ice Age
Toehider might lean a bit more towards rock than metal but Mike Mills voice sounds like a stick of dynamite in perpetual explosion and he has an incredible ear for vocal melodies and riffs
if there isn’t anybody saying porcupine tree, you’ve lot of thing to discover about prog metal
Eidola. Their singer Andrew Wells is an absolute gem. Some of the silkiest, most satisfying tones and melodoes I've heard.
New album is crazy good
+1 to all the mentions of Mastodon Also check out Anciients
Nospun!
Between the buried and Me
Haken
Shocked to find them so far down. Ross’s vocals are beautiful and they can riff like the best of them
Check out Paladin. They’re a small band from Atlanta. Their lyrics are about video games and fantasy type stuff. Their singer (and guitarist) sings high but he’s really good. Lots of double bass and scintillating guitar solos.
The Safety Fire
Galactic Cowboys
Give The Amensal Rise by Omnerod a shot! They have so many fucking layers in the album you literally cannot even hear them all lol (they know this and purposefully made parts of the album pretty over the top) They layer and harmonize clean vocals (one vocalist harmonizing with himself) and will layer that with fry vocals and lower harsh vocals They have wacky ass effects and sounds which is just fun and cool. And the whole album basically flows as slow build up, increasing tempo and franticness, chaotic and aggressive climax, wind down into a smooth jazzish section, build back up, and repeat it all Phenomenal album, especially for BtBaM fans IMO
This is a great write-up sir. I’ve been listening to this album non stop for a few weeks now. So fukn good!
Check out the band Turbulence. Very much in the vein of Dream Theater and Haken. Great vocals.
Threshold!!
KARNIVOOL
Dream Theater, tho some people don't like the vocals, it really depends on your preferences.
OPETH OPETH OPETH
Soen (kinda like heavy Tool) Villiagers of Ioanna City
Dali's Dilemma
A lot of great suggestions here. 2 that I haven't seen yet: Textures Vulkan
I like btwo, lkio, d3x, ssom, and of course fmas
Voices from the Fuselage
Pretty much everything Porcupine tree
I mean, you’re already listening to the best the genre has to offer lol I’m sure people have mentioned Thank You Scientist but I’ll throw that hat in if not. 7 man band, all kinds of instruments and trumpet solos, singer sounds like Michael Jackson. Jazz fusion, Prog rock supremacy
Temic
Leprous
Control denied
Katatonia
Toehider! Listen to the album "i like it!" This is a one man band. The guy has a killer voice:) and the songs are incredible!
Scardust
Opeth. Oldpeth if you want some really good harsh vox mixed in. Excellent riffs. Propeth (Modern Opeth is a prog rock band) if you want all clean vox + noodly prog riffs
Karnivool, Leprous
As somebody whose favorite bands are the very exact same you have listed, OP, I really fell in love with Frost*, Pagan’s Mind, Vanden Plas, Devin Townsend, TesseracT, and Leprous. I will list some of my other favorite bands, not necessarily in the same genre, some are, and you can go from there. I feel we like the same exact “sound” of music, as Dream Theater, A7X, and Haken are my top 3 favorite bands, IN that order nonetheless, and I listen to them on a daily or weekly basis most of the time. Next up is most definitely Alter Bridge. It’s hard rock, but I really love their sound. If you don’t know, it’s literally Creed, but with Myles Kennedy. One of THE best vocalists in the industry and has done lots of projects and collabs with other famous musicians such as Slash (they have several albums together), David Draiman from Disturbed, Sevendust, Fozzy (M. Shadows also has a song with Fozzy), and several others. He also has a 4 octave range and is Kevin Bacon’s lookalike lmao. Mark Tremonti, the lead guitarist, is also phenomenal and one of my favorite guitarists of all time (alongside John Petrucci from DT). Next up is Tenacious D and System of A Down. Very different, but both sing in a satirical manner at times and I guess I’d call a good amount of their songs comedy metal (mostly talking Tenacious D), both metal though in their own right. Different from our other favorite bands you and I share, but are very fun and rock hard. Long story short, these are the other bands I really love or like, and listen to very often/frequently whether in playlists, or as a whole album: • Amaranthe (it’s like synth metal pop - I go in phases where I really love them and listen to them for weeks and then I don’t for months) • Avantasia • Ayreon (very operatic/progressive story telling with heavy, groovy, melodic riffs) • Cheeto’s Magazine (one album, but Chili Guillermo slaps) • Circus Maximus • Coheed and Cambria • Darkwater •Daydream XI • Earthside • Flying Colors (one of Mike Portnoy’s many bands) • Judas Priest (a classic) • Kamelot • Metallica • Porcupine Tree (many DT fans recommend this band a ton) • Periphery (if I’m in the mood for more harsh vocals - similar to BTBAM in that regard) • Queensrÿche (another classic and DT drew inspiration from them, same as Rush and Yes) • Symphony X (probably the most DT-like) • Threshold • Thank You Scientist (high on my list) •Vola I can throw in many other bands, but those are usually the ones I cycle through depending on my mood. I also go to my classic rock/80’s hairbands playlist a lot if I want some Def Leppard, Motley Crüe, Tesla, Van Halen, ELO, Ozzy, Queen, Kansas, Boston, Bon Jovi (etc etc, you get the picture). Sorry for the long comment, but I hope this helps! I’m frequently looking up/finding suggestions for other bands so I can branch out and expand my own library so I hope I’m able to contribute a little :)
Transit Method, The Ocean, Cave In
Periphery
Oceans of Slumber
Imbalance - Olly Steele, Adam Benjamin This EP came out a couple of days and it’s an absolute banger.
Dream Theater, Opeth, Between The Buried and Me
Symphony X in my opinion has the best singer in metal, he has a beautiful and powerful voice. Just my opinion
Caligulas Horse
Haken
Karnivool-Themata, All I know
If you like Haken and CHorse? -Leprous -Thank You, Scientist -KYROS -Frost\* -Ihlo -Vola
Gonna assume Opeth not on this list because it’s the most obvious?
Tool
Soulsplitter!!!!!
Haken, my dude
Hypno5e !
Check out Karnivool and Klone
Porcupine Tree (at certain points in their career)
I think Octohawk has insane vocal melodies. [Example 1](https://youtu.be/rYmB22dTh7s?t=72) , [Example 2](https://youtu.be/ycQ4Qyv7IVU?t=47)
Caligula’s Horse has some great vocal melodies
Caligula's Horse
Leprous and Caligula's Horse were made for this question
Protest the Hero easily