Progressive Rock and Metal are my favorite genres right now, and have been for a while now.I'm talking about stuff like Dream theater, Opeth, Rush, Muse, and Pain of Salvation, to name a couple of bands. I was wondering if anyone else here listens to any progressive bands.

i don't know much about prog rock; i do occasionally listen to muse, rush, and dream theater, but they're not among my favorite/regular listening rotation, although the fall of troy is (mathcore band with prog rock influences), and prototype (thrash/prog metal).

i could probs talk about metal though, i tend to gravitate towards metalcore and metalcore-influenced bands, and i have a taste for a good amount of (technical) death metal, but i like to think i have acceptable knowledge of thrash history, and such.

Does Styx count as Prog Rock?

@ScaldingHotSoup: Yes, they do, I think. I've never listened to them though, what is their best album?

@Souseiseki: I barely listen to any metalcore anymore (aside from Unearth. Just got their album III:Through the eyes of Fire, it's amazing), and I don't listen to much death or mathcore at all.
I tried listening to The Number Twelve Looks Like You's Mongrel to review it for Pokestadium, but the vocals annoyed the crap out of me. Fall of Troy is great though. The closest stuff to Death Metal that I listen to is Gothenburg (Jester Race - Clayman Era In Flames and Dark tranquility). I listen to Kronos too, which I know is Death, but I don't know what subgenre. I don't know crap about death/black metal; Power and Prog are my areas of expertise.

May I recomend Opeth and Protest the Hero, if you don't listen to either of them already (more specifically, the albums Blackwater Park and Fortress, respectively). Opeth is my favorite band (constantly switching in my top three with Dream Theater and 3 currently). I guess I could describe it as Progressive Death Metal, but it's really Prog metal with death growls added in for vocals. Just...hmm, if you aren't going to get a whole album, get "Bleak" or "Ghosts of Perdition" for a good example of their sound. Protest the Hero has math rock influences as well as some prog, and really is the most genre defying band that I know. If you only get one song, get "bloodmeat".

Styx's best-selling and (in my opinion) best album in general is The Grand Illusion - It was their first album to go Platinum, and has 8 amazing songs on it.

If you want a smorgasboard of their best songs, get their first Greatest Hits CD - it's just amazing.

haha, mongrel is a very crowd-friendly album when it comes to vocals, i'm surprised you didn't like it.
they've lightened up a lot since put on your rosey red glasses, and definitely improved in their instrumental work; not sure if i've mentioned this, but "paper weight pigs" and "grandfather" are their best displays of instrumentation since "the devil's dick disaster" and "operating on a re-run episode". i believe paper weight pigs and grandfather are worth keeping the album for, even if you don't like the vocals; they're just incredibly pretty songs. paper weight pigs is all about the classical guitar solo (turning off the distortion for the first time i can remember) and grandfather screams buckethead influence. someone apparently was listening to some thanatopsis.

i own blackwater park by opeth. in short, i'm not a fan. vocals remind me of the gh2 cover version of laid to rest, instrumentals are like a watered-down dream theater, and i've been of a strong opinion that dream theater has an unnecessarily light sound and usually leaves much to be desired. dream theater's vocalist is really annoying, though. opeth is at least better in that department, although not by much.

protest, on the other hand, i do like. i own fortress; i've found it hard to click with them as much as i did the fall of troy (a very comparable band in my opinion) or the human abstract (top match on last.fm)...again, not heavy enough for my tastes, but they're keepers, without a doubt. like between the buried and me, they show a high degree of musicianship, but i only wish they'd do something more exciting once in a while.

Eh, I love Opeth and Dream Theater's vocalists, but I'm an Opeth/Dream theater Fanboy. I understand what you're saying though. I can't compare to the GH2 cover, my game doesn't work properly and randomly lags for like 10 seconds all the time and throws my timing off and screws up the synchronization.

I actually don't particularly care for Between the Buried and Me. I have Colors and Alaska, and while both are good albums and are fairly technical, they just don't click with me as much as other bands. They are awesome live though (saw them at Prog Nation).