[quote=Jardine]Thanks to Dream Theater, my number 1 band, i'm seeing a lot of prog metal coming onto the scene lately.
There are a few problems I've tried to figure out when listening to new bands in the genre. 1. Prog Metal Sucks: Therefore most of these bands are on the level where their music should be and Dream Theater are just freaking amazing. 2. Prog Metal Rocks: Dream Theater defined the genre with amazing songs and incredible musicianship, other bands can't pull it off.
I just wanted to chime in on this sentiment. First, let me say that I'm a big fan of prog and of Dream Theater in specific, but I must add that there are numerous bands out there with massive talent and, quite honestly better songwriting on a consistent basis. Dali's Dilemma comes to mind immediately - although they were a one album band; great musicianship and songs that appeal to musicians and non-musician listeners. I feel that DT lost alot when they parted ways with Kevin Moore - Jordan is in all probability a better player, but Moore was a great player and a gifted song-writer...there is an important difference between able to write and being able to play. The band NITRO is a great example of fantastic musicians with terrible songs.
As a fellow lover of prog, please check out these albums:
Shadow Gallery - Carved in Stone
Ice Age - The Great Divide
Dali's Dilemma - Manifesto for Futurism
Enchant - Wounded
Fates Warning - Parallels and Inside Out
Angra - Temple of Shadows
You may find that
some of the material is not strictly prog, but all these bands are heavily influenced by progressive music. Kevin Moore actually joined Fates Warning after he left DT. I think that you'll find some excellent musicianship on each and every one of these. I am also a fan of one particular Dream Theater "clone" band. They are certainly
HEAVILY influenced by DT, but they execute extremely well:
Dreamscape - Revoiced or 5th Season are both good choices.
Sorry for getting off-topic.
To address the OP:
There is a wonderful and terrible double-edged sword evident in music today. The positive is the ability for musicians to get their music out there and to have it heard by many who would have been inaccessible the internet. These artists don't have to compromise their vision based on the wants or needs of a record label executive. Artists can now create what they envision without restriction, HOWEVER...
The internet is flooded with struggling artists and "wanna-bes"; this can be a difficult mire to plod through. It is harder for new artists of quality to distance themselves from the pack. Further, file sharing and stealing has made it VERY difficult for an artist to turn a profit, much less become wealthy.
The making of a quality record is an incredibly expensive and lengthy process (writing, refining, recording, mixing, mastering, artwork / photography, replicating, etc.) and many artists are not even seeing the "break even" point for their endeavors, which makes it extra-hard for them to put out more material. Labels are not signing many bands to "record deals" these days. The artists do all the work and pay for the development of a finished product in hopes of getting a "distribution deal" where they (the artist) will likely see less than 30% of the money from any sales and this money ends up being spent on their instruments, gear, promo materials, studio fees, etc.
This is very different from the 60's, 70's, 80's and early 90's, in which the labels, radio stations and music stores controlled what we were exposed to in terms of music. The labels controlled the market and their "big acts" got rich - but, trust me, the labels got richer! Case in point: WARRANT. Warrant's first album sold in huge numbers, but the band didn't see anything but a pittance of that money, which was essentially a signing fee - they were just happy to be signed and the label worked them damn near to death promoting that album. Warrant DID see money from their next album, Cherry Pie, but not as much as you might imagine. Now, there were bands like Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Iron Maiden, Kiss and Motley Crue that had numerous big albums and made some real big money. But, and it's a huge but, there will never be another Motley Crue - selling a hundred thousand copies of ANY album these days is beyond rare and very few bands can afford to go on arena tours; in the 80's it happened frequently...many bands hit a million copies and toured for over a year.
Too much access? Too many bands / artists? File-sharing? Labels that don't promote new artists and rely on their proven veterans and catalogs? The problem is likely a combination of all these things and many others.
The possible exceptions to the above appear to be in the genres of pop music and country music. New artists continue to pop up and prosper, but again, its the labels that make the real money.
I feel like I wrote a novel there.
Mac
