It's probably been said before, so excuse me if I've resurrected the body of a beaten horse.

Something that's irked me for quite a while now has been the use of the word "Progressive". It isn't exactly the word that bothers me, instead it is the way that it's often use that gives me a sinking feeling.

Progressive - adj, making progress toward better conditions; employing or advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas, new or experimental methods.

Certainly, there have been many bands in metal that have earned the title of a truly progressive band. I don't want to mention names because I'd like to keep the discussion away from squabbling over band genres. But seriously, does anyone else feel we use the word progressive too often? It seems all a band needs to do these days to have 'Prog' put in front of their main genre is add some middle eastern element or set of obscure South American instruments played only by a single tribe in the deepest part of the amazon. It doesn't seem to matter if another band has already done it or not. Once a single band does something progressive, is every band that follows suit also progressive? Or just a bunch of copy cats.

Discuss, I guess. If you want.

Well "progressive" label suits to any band you dont know which other label you should put on it because if you dont know, it means it is something "different" and "new"

Sellout i guess. everyone just throws around that term a lot, though it is justified in some cases.

There's so many people who use the word "Br00tall" on every possible occasion. Especially deathcore-kiddo's. Necro isn't used so much anymore, where are all the "tr00 kvlt"-ers?

You're absolutely right...a metal band is not progressive if they suddenly say "alright guys, we want to try progressive metal now so lets put in a bunch of middle eastern influences and tribal stuff"...no, I don't think so...metal bands trying to be progressive is the exact genre of the word in which you typed in the first post...take Dream Theater for example...they kept making better progress in their music with every album...they kept employing and advocating more and more ideas and concepts with each album...the lyrics became more and more in depth and "progressive" with each album...and they experimented and tried new things all the time...Change Of Seasons...just in the title you have the word "change"...they are "changing"...trying to experiment by composing that grandiose song in the beginning which they started to do more and more...Falling Into Infinity was an experiment in trying a more down-to-earth commercial and laid back progressive rock sound...Scenes From A Memory was Dream Theater experimenting in the whole concept album thing...Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence was a really experimental album too...so there was all this constant progression throughout their career...there are a lot of progressive metal bands out there right now that just take the whole Dream Theater blueprint and run with it and put out tons of albums of the same thing and don't "progress" from that...that isn't progressive metal in the whole idea of the word...that's just taking what one band has progressed to and sounding just like it...to be a progressive metal band, I think that you must start from scratch...and who is to say that progressive metal is 1) ODD TIME SIGNATURES 2) WANKERY 3) GRANDIOSE CONCEPTS...how is that progressive? you aren't experimenting with the blueprint...you aren't trying to advocate new ideas with it...if you can take those three things and progress with it to make a totally different sound then what the Gods of progressive metal have done then you are truly a progressive metal band...

Rants are fun...

Oh yeah...would "epic" be an abused word? Wankery...doom...death...

Written by Got Mayhem? on 16.03.2010 at 03:02

It's probably been said before, so excuse me if I've resurrected the body of a beaten horse.

A zombie horse would totally rule...

What pisses me off more than certain words are phrases like "their early albums", insane new genre names and overly describing things in terms of genre. If a album sounds like a Slayer record, say that it's like Slayer and not "early bay area thrash"

Written by Guest on 16.03.2010 at 18:50

You're absolutely right...a metal band is not progressive if they suddenly say "alright guys, we want to try progressive metal now so lets put in a bunch of middle eastern influences and tribal stuff"...no, I don't think so...metal bands trying to be progressive is the exact genre of the word in which you typed in the first post...take Dream Theater for example...they kept making better progress in their music with every album...they kept employing and advocating more and more ideas and concepts with each album...the lyrics became more and more in depth and "progressive" with each album...and they experimented and tried new things all the time...Change Of Seasons...just in the title you have the word "change"...they are "changing"...trying to experiment by composing that grandiose song in the beginning which they started to do more and more...Falling Into Infinity was an experiment in trying a more down-to-earth commercial and laid back progressive rock sound...Scenes From A Memory was Dream Theater experimenting in the whole concept album thing...Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence was a really experimental album too...so there was all this constant progression throughout their career...there are a lot of progressive metal bands out there right now that just take the whole Dream Theater blueprint and run with it and put out tons of albums of the same thing and don't "progress" from that...that isn't progressive metal in the whole idea of the word...that's just taking what one band has progressed to and sounding just like it...to be a progressive metal band, I think that you must start from scratch...and who is to say that progressive metal is 1) ODD TIME SIGNATURES 2) WANKERY 3) GRANDIOSE CONCEPTS...how is that progressive? you aren't experimenting with the blueprint...you aren't trying to advocate new ideas with it...if you can take those three things and progress with it to make a totally different sound then what the Gods of progressive metal have done then you are truly a progressive metal band...

Rants are fun...

Oh yeah...would "epic" be an abused word? Wankery...doom...death...

Yea rants are fun! Epic is probably abused a bit too much as well. Got an organ/synth in your mix? Is it loud? Could someone make a music video for the movie 300 with it playing in the backround? You must be epic. You could also make the case that alot of Death metal bands have lost sense of that the genre was originally about...DEATH metal. Sickening, repulsive Metal, about death.

I would say "krieg". Anyone who uses this word is an idiot. Complete moron.

I've always hated the word, "technical". Many of the bands that are described to be technical death metal either sound like melodic or progressive death metal. Bands like Immolation and Dying Fetus is what a technical death metal band would be to me, but since I'm not a musician, I'm not sure if I'm right. This is something I've thought about for a long time

Written by OneFootInHell on 16.03.2010 at 18:21

where are all the "tr00 kvlt"-ers?

we are still here, i assure you

Written by Introspekrieg on 17.03.2010 at 03:40

I would say "krieg". Anyone who uses this word is an idiot. Complete moron.

Written by Introspekrieg on 17.03.2010 at 03:40

I would say "krieg". Anyone who uses this word is an idiot. Complete moron.

Metalstorm ist Krieg!!!

I can't stand people over using the word "Brutal". I swear the next person who tells my Job For A Cowboy is brutal will get thier face ripped off by seven meathooks strapped to the back of a towtruck driven by a parapalegic Neo-Nazi who is blasting Disgorge out of the stereo system he wired using virgin human entrails as wires. WHO'S BRUTAL NOW, BIIITCHESSS!!!

Written by SerratedSyringe on 18.03.2010 at 04:09

I swear the next person who tells my Job For A Cowboy is brutal will get thier face ripped off by seven meathooks strapped to the back of a towtruck driven by a parapalegic Neo-Nazi who is blasting Disgorge out of the stereo system he wired using virgin human entrails as wires.

br00tal

I read something, where this guy said there is "prog" and there is "progressive"...2 very different things....and i agree.

bands in the genre "progressive metal" are "prog metal" (ie dream theater) because they are striving for something new or experimental

but a true progressive band doesnt have to be in any genre (ie when eluveitie took gothenburg metal and added a bunch of folk instruments, that was progressive)

but the most progressive genre, these days, is avantgarde metal!

crazy!!

"ORIGINAL"

Too many people (whether in reviews or whatever) praise albums for their originality when in most cases theres 100 bands who they sound like.

I know, prog is so formulaic now, every prog band that comes out now days seems to either be a dream theater or pain of salvation imitation

Agree with "original" - hell, i was recently given criticism for only scoring a band an "8" for originality...

Written by BitterCOld on 23.03.2010 at 05:25

Agree with "original" - hell, i was recently given criticism for only scoring a band an "8" for originality...

Spot on....it seems that its every reviewer on this site's duty to give something an originality score of 9 or more otherwise they get raped for saying anything else. In fact many reviewers actually do the opposite and rate albums as totally original when in most cases its not.

Some of them wouldnt know what original was if it stood on them and took a piss.

Written by Guest on 23.03.2010 at 22:24

Written by BitterCOld on 23.03.2010 at 05:25

Agree with "original" - hell, i was recently given criticism for only scoring a band an "8" for originality...

Spot on....it seems that its every reviewer on this site's duty to give something an originality score of 9 or more otherwise they get raped for saying anything else. In fact many reviewers actually do the opposite and rate albums as totally original when in most cases its not.

Some of them wouldnt know what original was if it stood on them and took a piss.

Uh oh, I just did a DSO review for Fas and gave it a 10...
But I'll stand by that until something other than another DSO album comes close to that insane opus.

Fake
Thats all I ever hear whenever I mention a band that isnt comlety tr00 or kvit. Its gets annoying after awhile

Words like dark, grim, and evil are overused in a ton of black metal reviews. I see these bands get constantly described as that, yet a lot of their music does not feel that dark, grim, or whatever. Its just lackluster mediocre music.

Epic, tr00 and br00tal. They seem to be used in every single album review these days. I mean, i heard korn's new album is going to be epic, brutal and true. WTF!!!!

Written by JÄY on 19.03.2010 at 17:54

I read something, where this guy said there is "prog" and there is "progressive"...2 very different things....and i agree.

bands in the genre "progressive metal" are "prog metal" (ie dream theater) because they are striving for something new or experimental

but a true progressive band doesnt have to be in any genre (ie when eluveitie took gothenburg metal and added a bunch of folk instruments, that was progressive)

but the most progressive genre, these days, is avantgarde metal!

crazy!!

Totally agree. However, in the second case (where bands just do something progressive) I wouldn't use that as a label and just call the band "progressive" period. It's a term you can apply to any other genre, like "progressive black metal," "progressive doom," etc.

To say that only bands who sound like Dream Theater, Vanden Plas, or Threshold-type bands can be called progressive is incredibly limiting. That's just one sound, and plenty of bands who sound like that are NOT doing anything progressive. There are progressive things happening every day in metal and it's nice to be able to recognize bands who really influence their genres in new ways.

If we're talking about other words overused in metal, I'm voting for "evermore" or "forevermore." Maybe I just listen to too much power metal but, there it is

Well "br00tal" annoys the shit outta me. Each youtube video featuring Job For A Cowboy, Suicide Silence or Bring Me The Horizon features a comments section overloaded with Br00tall comments. Every "Br00tall-sayer" should be inflicted with the exact same punishment Serrated Syringe already thought of. Frank Mullen is the only person who can say it "I got thish wreely bwrootal song fo' you guysh", he rules.

Agree with any mentions of the following: "Sellout", "Mature", "Atmospheric", "epic" and "dark"

All of those are used and abused far too much. Enough to have diluted all of their respective meanings anyway.

At least describing things (especially guitar riffs, for some reason) as "sick" has apparently stopped in the last couple of years, I used to find that obnoxious. To be fair, brutal/"br00tal" seems have gone or be going that way as well, the word is used ironically 9 times out of 10 nowadays.

I never heard "mature metal"

I would say some bands have abused of curse-words in the last decade, I mean it's sometimes cool to use these words for impact but overusing them is showing a lack of lyrical inspiration. Also the powermetal bands like Rhapsody Of Fire who overuse the word "Mighty" or "Eternal". Also bands that use latin sentences in every song to sound satanic like Belphegor, I mean it can be cool sometimes, but in every song it statrts to sound poser.

another contender.

DIE & GOD.

From all the dying, I don't see how people live to actually play and listen to the music.
From all the curses against god, I strengthen the notion of the first point.