wow.. so many artists to go through.. i'll just cover a few.
my first mention would probably be Gordian Knot - just an incredible meld of prog, fusion, metal, jazz, world, and classical orchestration.. all beautifully composed and brought together by the one and only Sean Malone, bassist/stickman extraordinaire.
Estradasphere takes a spot with their completely absurd take on what happens when you mix jazz, bebop, various 50's music, disco, sci fi sounds, klezmer, circus music, and death metal. it's just the most ridiculous form of prog that i've ever heard (with the exception of a few).
Upsilon Acrux takes the weirdest of King Crimson, multiplies it by 100, and then removes any sense of apparent melody. the resulting experience is something very odd, difficult, and rewarding.
Kayo Dot expands on their old incarnation, Maudlin of the Well, by sounding barely anything like them at all. a project that was supposed to remain in progressive metal territory has turned into something far more expansive - part chamber jazz, part ambience, part dissonant classical, and small part metal.. and even this small part is reminiscent of something like Isis. all in all, another major success on a long list of successes for John Zorn's
Tzadik label.
Pain of Salvation is home to, IMO, the greatest vocalist/lyricist/songwriter in all of modern rock and metal. reading about the sheer amount of source material that Daniel Gildenlow uses to construct his massive concept albums is staggering.. and the extremely powerful, dynamic, and sometimes over the top vocal delivery is just intense. oh yeah, and the band is also pretty great.. playing their own unique brand of progressive metal, with stylistic deviations that jump around on tangents from one album to the next.
Behold... the Arctopus'
Nano-Nucleonic Cyborg Summoning may consist of only three tracks totalling around 17 minutes, but my lord do these musical nerd-athletes pack a lot of music into those 17 minutes. it is without a doubt, one of the crowning achievements of absurdly technical, totally eargasmic, impossibly dense, instrumental neo-avantprog metal.. with the Warr Guitar as a lead instrument, no less! it's headspinningly beautiful stuff, perfect for anybody that's into the absolute extremes of technical complexity. also suitable for those that believe sub-triple digit bpm drumming in straightforward 4/4 is completely unacceptable. the Arctopus will soon take over the Earth, mark my words!
Hiromi is an odd sort of virtuosic piano trio that i'm really into. Anthony Jackson on bass and Dave DiCenso on drums... awesome
Devin Townsend, Arjen Lucassen, Ron Jarzombek, Vitalij Kuprij, Tony MacAlpine, and Thomas Lang (the drummer, not the pop singer!) are a few solo artists that never fail to catch my attention.
Porcupine Tree, as mentioned above, is a shining light in today's rather bland world of progressive rock.
Meshuggah is an insanely mechanical band that lives and breathes polymetrics. unreal talent that has only gotten better with time.
Secret Chiefs 3 is Mr. Bungle without Mike Patton, though the music is wildly different. it's a pretty goofy outfit, but always a great listen.. one of my present day favorites.
..and speaking of which, there's Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant.. the
other side of Mr. Bungle's bassist. pretty good stuff.
The Mercury Program puts out a very nice brand of post-rockish music that is full of elusive subtleties, intricacies, and variations that always have you finding new things in songs.
Infidel?/Castro! probably wouldn't be music in the eyes of many, but it's interesting nonetheless. the two guys that make up the group create cinema-scopic soundscapes that are brimming with everything from metal, ambience, indecipherable noise, and various experimental things that will either make you smile gleefully or piss you off severely.
Murcof is one of my current favorites in the world of electronic music. his blend of organic, analogue orchestration and digital texturing is masterful and painfully detailed in every aspect.
The Flower Kings are great for those looking for a slightly more modernized take on classic progressive rock.
Arsis consists of two guys that create music that is hand-crafted for people that think late-period In Flames sucks, Dark Tranquillity is too straightforward, At the Gates is way too slow, and Death is one of the greatest things to ever grace the world of metal. in short - totally kickass metal. i foresee great things for these guys in the future.
Finntroll is a group that always manages to bring a smile to my face.. it's sort of like a big party with ogres, vikings, and fairies. good times!
Ephel Duath is a band that i'm really into right now. they're an Italian group that plays what could probably be called jazz metal.. only most of the members had never played metal prior to the band, hah. the drummer is an instructor of polyrhythms, and the rest have their backgrounds in jazz.. so it actually
does sound like jazz metal.
Bumblefoot, aka Ron Thal, is probably the coolest guitar player in existence today (with the exception of Ron Jarzombek, of course!).. so check him out!
this is getting sort of long, so here are a few more names to look into - Andromeda, The Tangent, Vanden Plas, Spastic Ink, Kino, Dredg, The Apex Theory, Ruins, Tool, Frantic Bleep, Freak Kitchen, Spiral Architect, Pagan's Mind, and the Vienna Art Orchestra.
phew..
EDIT: oh, and Riverside! they're like Porcupine Tree, only better.
