name	Progressive metal
bgcolor	#BB0022
color	white
stylistic origins	Progressive rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion, psychedelic rock
cultural origins	Mid 1980s, United States, United Kingdom, Canada
instruments	Electric guitar, bass guitar, percussion, vocals, keyboards
popularity	Moderate since creation, slowly rising since the mid 1990s in the United States and Europe
derivatives	Djent
fusiongenres	Technical death metal, mathcore
other topics	Timeline of heavy metal, mathcore }}

Progressive metal (sometimes known as prog metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal, which blends the powerful, guitar-driven sound of metal with the complex compositional structures, odd time signatures, diverse philosophical lyrics and intricate instrumental playing of progressive rock. Many progressive metal bands are also influenced by jazz fusion and classical music. Like progressive rock songs, progressive metal songs are typically much longer than standard metal songs, and are often thematically linked in concept albums.

History

The mixing of the progressive rock and heavy metal styles can be traced back to the late 1960s and early 1970s. One of England's heaviest progressive rock bands, High Tide, fused the elements of "metal progenitors such as Cream, Blue Cheer, and the Jeff Beck Group" into their sound. Other bands such as King Crimson and Rush were also incorporating metal into their music, as well as Uriah Heep, whose "by-the-books progressive heavy metal made the British band one of the most popular hard rock groups of the early '70s". Rush songs such as "Bastille Day", "Anthem", "By-Tor and Snow Dog", "2112", "The Fountain of Lamneth" and "Something for Nothing" have been cited as some of the earliest examples of progressive metal. Another early practitioner of progressive rock and heavy metal were Lucifer's Friend. Night Sun was also an early band who mixed heavy metal with progressive rock tones, though only releasing one album. However, progressive metal did not develop into a genre of its own until the mid-1980s. Bands such as Psychotic Waltz, Fates Warning, Queensrÿche, and Dream Theater took elements of progressive rock groups (primarily the instrumentation and compositional structure of songs) and merged them with heavy metal styles associated with bands like Judas Priest and Black Sabbath (the former of which had some progressive influences on their early albums). The result could be described as a progressive rock mentality with heavy metal sounds.

These three early flagship bands for progressive metal (Fates Warning, Queensrÿche, and Dream Theater) each had somewhat different sounds. Queensrÿche had the most melodic sound of the three and achieved, with ''Operation Mindcrime'' and ''Empire'' the genre's most immediate commercial successes, which peaked with the crossover single "Silent Lucidity" reaching number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. Dream Theater drew more heavily upon traditional progressive rock and also built much of their earlier career on the band members' virtuoso instrumental skills, despite also achieving an early - and unexpected - MTV hit with the eight-minute "Pull Me Under" from 1992's ''Images and Words''. Fates Warning were the most aggressive and heavy and arguably had the most in common with the thrash and extreme metal scenes of the time, which led them to be the least accessible of the three bands.

Though progressive metal was, and has remained, primarily an album-oriented genre, this mainstream exposure increased the genre's profile, and opened doors for other bands. Over the 1990s, bands such as Pain of Salvation, Vanden Plas, Threshold, Symphony X, Tool, Andromeda, Porcupine Tree and Arjen Anthony Lucassen's Ayreon project all succeeded in developing their own audiences and signature sounds. In the decade which followed, artists who began their careers outside of the progressive milieu, such as Sweden's Tiamat (originally a death/doom metal act), Green Carnation and Opeth (both formed in the death metal mould), developed a progressive sound and became identified with the progressive metal genre.

Pain of Salvation drew heavily on more obscure 1970s prog acts. Ayreon stayed with the traditional Prog Metal themes, but mixed them with many other influences, prominently rock opera and ambient. Symphony X married progressive elements to power metal and classical music. Tool created a progressive sound using alternative metal elements and odd rhythms. Steve Vai's former singer and heavy metal band Strapping Young Lad's singer and guitarist Devin Townsend combined elements of post metal and ambient with traditional progressive metal on his first two solo albums ''Ocean Machine: Biomech'' and ''Infinity''. Mastodon also combined progressive metal with sludge elements. Opeth, Skyfire, and Between the Buried and Me combined (in very different ways) their prog influence with death metal. Bands such as 30 Seconds to Mars created a more traditional progressive sound that incorporated elements of space rock.

Diversity

Progressive metal can be broken down into countless sub-genres corresponding to certain other styles of music that have influenced progressive metal groups. For example, two bands that are commonly identified as progressive metal, King's X and Opeth, are at opposite ends of the sonic spectrum to one another. King's X are greatly influenced by softer mainstream rock and, in fact, contributed to the growth of grunge, influencing bands like Pearl Jam, whose bassist Jeff Ament once said, "King's X ''invented'' grunge.". Opeth's growling vocals and heavy guitars (liberally intermixed with gothic metal-evocative acoustic passages and clean melodic vocals) often see them cited as progressive death metal, yet their vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt refers to Yes and Camel as major influences in the style of their music.

Classical and symphonic music have also had a significant impact on sections of the progressive metal genre, with artists like Devin Townsend, Symphony X, Sleepy Hollow and Shadow Gallery fusing traditional progressive metal with a complexity and grandeur usually found in classical compositions. Similarly, bands such as Dream Theater, Planet X and Liquid Tension Experiment have a jazz influence, with extended solo sections that often feature "trading solos". Cynic, Atheist, Opeth, Pestilence, Between the Buried and Me and Meshuggah all blended jazz/fusion with death metal, but in dramatically different ways. Devin Townsend draws on more Ambient influences in the atmosphere of his music. Progressive metal is also often linked with power metal, hence the ProgPower music festival, with bands such as Fates Warning and Conception originating as power metal bands that incorporated progressive elements which came to overshadow their power metal roots.

Progressive metal has also overlapped thrash metal - most famously perhaps with Dark Angel's swansong album ''Time Does Not Heal'', which was famous for its sticker that said "9 songs, 67 minutes, 246 riffs." The band Watchtower, who released their first album in 1985, blended the modern thrash metal sound with heavy progressive influences, and even Megadeth were often and still are often associated with progressive metal, as Dave Mustaine even once claimed that the band was billed as "jazz metal" in the early '80s. The band Racer X would also fall within this genre of technical proficiency featuring Paul Gilbert, a guitar instructor at the Musicians Institute in LA, a tendency evidenced on songs such as "B.R.O." from 1999's ''Technical Difficulties''. The band Voivod also combined elements of thrash metal and progressive metal, specifically on the releases Killing Technology and Dimension Hatross, in 1987 and 1988 respectively.

Recently, with a new wave of popularity in shred guitar, the hitherto-unfashionable genre of "technical metal" has become increasingly prevalent and popular in the metal scene. This has led to a resurgence of popularity for more traditional progressive metal bands like Dream Theater and Symphony X, and also has led to the inclusion within the progressive metal scene bands that do not necessarily play in its traditional style such as thrash/power metallers Nevermore, technical death metal act Necrophagist. These bands are, rightly or wrongly, often labeled progressive metal, as they do play relatively complex and technical metal music which does not readily cleave to any other metal subgenre.

Differences with avant-garde metal

Although progressive metal and avant-garde metal both favor experimentation and non-standard ideas, there are rather large differences between the two genres. The experimentation of progressive metal has a strong emphasis on technicality and theoretical complexity (influenced by jazz music). This is done by playing complex rhythms and implementing unusual time signatures and song structures - all with the use of traditional instruments. For avant-garde metal, most of the experimentation is in the use of unusual sounds and instruments - being more unorthodox and questioning of musical conventions.

See also

List of progressive metal artists

Timeline of progressive rock and progressive metal

Progressive rock

Jazz fusion

Avant-garde metal

Djent

Notes

References

Category:Progressive metal Category:Heavy metal subgenres Category:Progressive rock

ar:بروجريسف ميتال be-x-old:Прагрэсіў-мэтал bs:Progresivni metal bg:Прогресив метъл ca:Metal progressiu cs:Progresivní metal da:Progressiv metal de:Progressive Metal es:Metal progresivo eo:Progresiva metalroko fa:پراگرسیو متال fr:Metal progressif gl:Metal progresivo ko:프로그레시브 메탈 hr:Progresivni metal id:Progressive metal it:Progressive metal he:פרוגרסיב מטאל ka:პროგრესული მეტალი lv:Progresīvais metāls lt:Progresyvusis metalas hu:Progresszív metal mk:Прогресивен метал nl:Progressieve metal ja:プログレッシブ・メタル no:Progressiv metal uz:Progressive metal pl:Metal progresywny pt:Metal progressivo ro:Metal progresiv ru:Прогрессивный метал sq:Progressive metal simple:Progressive metal sk:Progresívny metal sr:Прогресивни метал sh:Progresivni metal fi:Progressiivinen metalli sv:Progressive metal ta:முன்னேறும் உலோக இசை tr:Progresif metal uk:Прогресивний метал zh:前衛金屬

Name	Tank
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Durrell Babbs
Born	January 01, 1976Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US
Origin	Washington, DC, US
Genre	R&B;, pop, hip hop, dance, crunk&B;, reggae
Occupation(s)	Singer, dancer, actor, model, musician
Instruments	Vocals, keyboard, piano, drums
Years active	1996–present
Label	Blackground (2000-2009), Atlantic (2010-Present)
Associated acts	TGT, Tyrese, Ginuwine, The Underdogs, Aaliyah, Omarion
Website	www.TheRealTank.com }}

Tank (born Durrell Babbs on January 1, 1976 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American R&B; singer, songwriter and producer.

Career

Tank was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and moved with his family as a child to the Washington, D.C. suburb of Clinton, Maryland. He was a multi-sport athlete at Crossland High School and was offered the opportunity to play college football. However Tank decided to focus on music and his talent eventually led him to an opportunity to sing background vocals for Ginuwine during one of Ginuwine's tours. In 2001, following Ginuwine's successful tour Tank released his debut album ''Force of Nature'' which spawned the ''R&B; Top Ten''-single "Maybe I Deserve".

In 2002, Tank released his second album ''One Man'' and a single of the same name.

Tank released his third solo album entitled "Sex, Love & Pain" on May 15, 2007. The lead single was intended to be "I Luv Dem Girls", but for unknown reasons the song was given to Marques Houston who renamed it "Strip Club" (intending to place it on his third solo album "Veteran"). However, "Strip Club" did not make "Veteran," and "Sex, Love & Pain"'s last track is the Timbaland remix to "I Luv Dem Girls". The first single from Tank's third album was "Please Don't Go". Later in the year Tank, Ginuwine and Tyrese Gibson formed a group called TGT. Their first single was a remix of "Please Don't Go" with an international tour entitled "The Shirts Off Tour" and search for a fourth member to follow. Tank released his fourth studio album, ''Now or Never'', on December 14, 2010. Tank collaborated with other artists on this project like Chris Brown, Drake, Letoya Luckett and many other artists.

Tank's song writing and production credits include working with Dave Hollister, Marques Houston, Omarion, Jamie Foxx, Donell Jones and Monica amongst others. As an associate of production team The Underdogs, also Harvey Mason and with his team, Song Dynasty. He has worked with many different artists over the years and was also a contributor to the score of the film adaptation of the musical ''Dreamgirls'', in which he also had a cameo. He was also featured in the movie "The Preacher's Kid."

Personal life

Tank is the father to four children listed here in birth order: Jordan & Ryen Babbs, Zoey Babbs and Durrell Babbs Jr..

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Chart positions		!align="center" rowspan="2" width="150"
		!width="60"	!width="60"
	align="left" valign="top"

¹Copies shipneeds

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions			Album
! width="40"	! width="40"	! width="40"
align="left"
	align="left"
	align="left"
align="left"
	align="left"

Awards

Grammy Award Nominations

*2008, Best R&B; Male Vocal Performance: "Please Don't Go"

*2008, Best R&B; Album: ''Sex, Love & Pain''

*2010, Best R&B; Song: "Under"

*2011, Best R&B; Performance by a Duo or Group: "Take My Time" with Chris Brown

References

External links

Official website

French Group dedicated to Tank on SoulRnB.com (Photos, Videos, Discussions, Etc.)

Category:African American singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American male singers Category:Living people Category:People from Milwaukee, Wisconsin Category:People from Washington, D.C. Category:1976 births

es:Tank (cantante norteamericano) fr:Tank (chanteur) it:Tank (cantante statunitense) pl:Tank (wokalista)