Progressive Metal
Is just that, progressive rock and metal blended into one super genre of sorts, the loud agressive intensity of Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest is blended with the complexity and precise composition of Yes, Genesis and ELP. Rush are sometimes credited for the innovation of the genre, for the use of progressive elements but with a heavier sound than that of their peers. However others point to King Crimson, Robert Fripp himself described the sound of crimson as "Metal with a brain" and songs like 21st Century Schizoid Man, The Great Deceiver and One More Red Nightmare clearly have a proto metal sound. In reality, progressive metal didn't become a genre of it's own until the mid-1980s. The important bands in this movement included Queensryche, Fates Warning and Dream Theater. While other progressive metal bands like Tool have little in common with typical prog metal bands, they still qualify. Progressive metal could be broken down into several sub-genres in it's own right, primarly because bands that are considered prog metal like Tool, Dream Theater, Kings X and Opeth are completely different from each other stylisticly and sonicly. Other artists like Mars Volta, Buckethead and Primus could possibly fall into this genre as well, though it may be too subjective to be certain.
Examples: Dream Theater, Tool, Opeth, Symphony X, Fates Warning, Pain Of Salvation, Queensryche, Kings X, Liquid Tension Experiment, Nightwish, Rhadsody, Shadow Gallary, Meshuggah.
RIO/Avant Prog
RIO (Rock-In-Opposition) is a very unique and diverse genre (Or Anti Genre, as it is sometimes known) which began in the 60s and it is inspired by the avant garde classical stuctures of composers like Igor Stravinsky. The leader of this musical movement was non other than the mother himself, Frank Zappa. Common characteristics in RIO are dissonant chords, odd time meters, polyrhythms, abstract melodies and often oblique lyrics. Avant prog, is rooted in two different prog movements, one is in the rock-in-opposition movement and the other is the canterbury scene...Because of this, avant prog is a much looser term, not a actual movement but a style that clearly draws inspiration from the 2 aforementioned musical movements. While RIO and canterbury have geographical and temporal limits, avant prog artists come from all over the world.
Examples: Frank Zappa, The Mothers Of Invention, Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band, Mr Bungle, Primus, Phish, Buckethead, Yeti, Henry Cow, Fantomas, The Residents.
Space Rock
Sometimes called pyschedelic prog, since it basiclly fuses elements of both genres, the complexity of progressive rock and the surrealism and the other worldly state of consciousness of pyschedelic rock. The term "space rock" was first used to describe the bizarre sound of Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, common characteristics include unusual production techniques, sound effects, electronic instrumentation and science fiction related themes. Space rock bands can both compromise and improvise, and often do both...Space rock still lives on in the oddball soundscapes of Porcupine Tree and Ozric Tentacles.
Examples: Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Jade Warrior, Eloy, Galaxy, Nektar, Porcupine Tree, Ozric Tentacles.
Symphonic Prog
Many of the most successful and important prog bands belong in this category, symphonic prog first emerged in the late 60s with the arival of bands like The Moody Blues and Procol Harum breaking all the rules when it came to traditional rock music, symphonic prog follows most of the conventions of prog as described shortly after the introduction, including uncoventional instrumentation, long compositions with multiple parts, extended solos, drastic time and tempo changes, odd vocal harmonies, multi instrumentation, a variation of moods and tones and classical music influence's and structures. The top bands in symphonic prog are King Crimson, Yes, ELP, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Camel, Van Der Graaf Generator and Renaissance. While these bands dont sound very much alike, they all follow the main principles of symphonic prog. The hammond organ and moog synthesizer were popularized by these bands.
Examples: King Crimson, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Camel, Renaissance, Van Der Graaf Generator, Focus, Barclay James Harvest, Greenslade, Mike Oldfield, Happy The Man, Triumvirat, Marsupilami, Spocks Beard, Flower Kings.
Zeuhl
The name "Zeuhl" comes from the Kobaïan language, a fictional language which was invented by Christian Vander, the drummer and founder of Magma, a progressive rock band from France. The meaning of the word is "Celestial". Zeuhl is the self appointed genre of magma. Magma were a bunch of oddballs who came up with a concept that has been called both brillant and pretentious, inventing their own mythology, claiming to be aliens from the planet Kobaja and giving each member their own name in Kobaïan, all their albums are cronicles of this mythology, and the lyrics are all in Kobaïan. Though magma never had much success, they had a huge cult following, with many bands taking influence from their unique style and even using the Kobaïan language, yes believe it or not, what began as a strange concept has since become a musical genre in it's own right. While critics refused to take Zeuhl seriously as a genre, many bands demanded attention with their music. Zuehl is a mix of pretty much everything, avant garde, jazz, classical music, folk music, pyschedelic rock as well as neoclassicism, romanticism, imressionism and modernism. Brass instrumentation, recuring melody lines and chanted vocals are common in Zeuhl. The Zeuhl movement began in Magmas native France, though bands from Japan eventualy got involved as well.
Examples: Magma, Dun, Happy Family, Ruins, Kultivator, Eskaton, Far Corner, Weidorje.
Proto Prog
Bands who were involved in the development of progressive rock but dont really belong in any of the aforementioned categories.
Examples: The Moody Blues, Deep Purple, Vanilla Fudge, The Nice, Procol Harum, The Arthur Brown Band, The Beatles.