[invasuant]

i think tool is a great band, but i find them a little too mechanical and not as musical as some others. tool freaks should check out pain of salvation and opeth. for metal heads who want something more on the aor side, there is a lot out there: threshold, lacuna coil, stream of passion, arena, kamelot, angra, shaman. not all ascention oriented, but all intelligent and talented.
those with a taste for symphonic prog a la yes & genesis need to hear the flower kings and spock's beard/neal morse. morse professes to be born-again christian, and his music is just extraordinary.

[EmpaccalGah]

i can't resist this thread. i always explore around for new stuff, and my most recent discoveries are muse and florence and the machine. i agree that tool, porcupine tree, opeth are a good listen too, but to raise my vibration, there is only one who can pull me out from the deepest abyss. jon anderson (the soul of yes) has the power above all other artists (for me anyhow) to lift me up, any time, any where. "toltec" is as relevant now (if not more so) as when it was written, and i'm still listening to "tormato" quite alot lately. highly recommended songs for these times: give love each day (magnification), dreamtime (the ladder), holy lamb (big generator). nuff said

with love, golden otter

[ballerturfali]

great thread!

i've always been drawn to progessive rock and can both agree to and recommend rush, tool, yes/jon anderson/tangerine dream, porcupine tree etc...all fantastic and touch upon very deep themes of our reality. saw tool a couple years back and was blown away by the experience. horrifying and uplifting and just plain kick @ss all at once.

a band i've loved for 15 years now is phish. i think they have a stigma attached to them as just a hippy/drug band, and their lyrics can be a bit like word-salad (at least some of the early stuff--though they really do touch upon deeper themes of our true reality--they know what's up), but the compositions, the music itself, is divine imo. their approach to and multiple styles of improvisation is unmatched by any other band i know of. to get themselves (their egos) out of the way so the music can "play them", and oh boy does it, is something to hear indeed. there is nothing like being deep in the midst of a wide open phish jam--truly, cosmically, transcendent.

for anyone interested, here is a couple of my favorite songs and jams from phish

"waves"
pt 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=428ovhwpwue
there is a part 2

"2001" (also sprach zarathustra)
pt 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibncnmozqbs
there is a part 2

enjoy!

[deethythitoth]

wow so great to see so many fantastic band being sighted,
i have to agree with "jefferyet" again, in that pain of salvation are fantastic, they gave me a truley memorable live experience when the toured australia with "dream theater" who are if anything becoming a little main stream now, but still a fantastic band.

[Twendypreency]

@sixshoot

"give love each day (magnification), dreamtime (the ladder)"
i agree these are both fantastic tracks, the equal of classics like close to the edge!
at the risk of repeating...if you like yes well, man you need to check out both the flower kings and neal morse, you don't know what you're missing.
i am so glad you found ayreon, too. (imo electric castle and human equation are the best releases)

[Frdsdx26]

when i heard this song i noticed the lyrics had a lot of interesting things in them. the song is "kings and queens" by 30 seconds to mars, watch the video on youtube, it's great.

some lyrics:

"we were the kings and queens of promise,
we were the victims of ourselves.
maybe the the children of a lesser god
between heaven and hell."

"the age of man is over
the darkness comes and all
these lessons that we've learned here
have only just begun"

i don't know if they meant what i heard in their lyrics but it's really interesting to hear it nonetheless.

[DebtDetox]

hey jeffreyet! man those yes songs are fantastic, i must plead guilty to only owning 1 yes vinyl "fragile" i did have "90125" on cd, but i think i gave it to a friend... clearly i will have to obtain more!

i'm listening to "the flowewr kings" now and they sound absolutley amazing, have to get some of their stuff too.

the drummer in my now ex band plays me lots of "neal morse" and "transatlantic" but i don't think i have sat down for that 77 minute epic yet, will have to give it a go.

in regards to "ayreon" i have been listening through a few albums but not up to there yet, my drummer friend also recomended "01011001" as it features many of my favourite musicians such as "daniel gildenlow" (pain of salvation) "hansi kursch" (blind guardian, demons and wizards) and the legendry "ty tabor" i recomend you check out his work with "dream theater" bassist "johny myung" called "platypus" awsome stuff man.

[sciectotacype17]

hi jefferyet, thank you for the suggestions, i'm gonna go check out those bands now, i need some new music! i cannot leave before mentioning to anyone not familiar with yes to give tales from topographic oceans a listen, a timeless masterpiece! btw, close to the edge is my all-time fave. i suppose this is relevant to david in that he is a fan of tangerine dream (i'm guessing, based on his myspace), who featured jon on the legend soundtrack k, i'm gonna go get current now lol

[Peapeuddedbaw]

hi sixshot & otter,

sorry i got you guys conflated a few lines up... glad to find like-minded explorers in prog.
its a tight little world in that genre, with all the recombinant permutations - jelly jam/platypus, karmakanic*, kaipa*, salem hill, liquid tension experiment*, the tangent, explorer's club, etc. all swapping members. and not to leave anything out: proto-kaw, paul gilbert and steve morse*.
and an unbelievably rich slew of unknowns:
ring of myth
redemption
celestial ouevre(?sp)
pallas*
cannata
everon
talisma
wolverine
magic pie
heaven's cry*
hamadryad
dimension x
mystery
sun caged
unitopia
vanden plas
sorry about the "list mania", just so much out there that is worthy...
yes' "tales..." (and "relayer" i would add) are indeed lesser-known and often slagged masterpieces, i have long enjoyed both.

*= highly recommended

[Cibirrigmavog]

speaking of david w....
did anyone else notice his striking resemblance to younger eddie jobson?
(late 70's uk violin/keyboards)

[Freedjome]

lol, oh yeah huh. haha! what a blast from the past! i remember seeing them back in the day. you're right, david kinda does look like him.

[larentont]

hello all,
please forgive me for what may appear to be a pretentious first post, but i am driven relentlessly to connect/spread good news among those interested in music.

perhaps many of you are aware that yes' jon anderson has been writing & singing mysterious, love-light-awakening tinged lyics for forty years. and kansas' kerry livgren is america's answer to that european genre, with songs like "the wall" "the pinnacle" and "on the other side" in addition to the better known hits.

in the past 10 years there has been remarkable advancement in this genre. i will cite three examples out of many:
1. transatlantic
inspired by neal morse, this super-group in 2009 released "the whirlwind". it is a 78 minute long masterpiece, sketching out the theme of fear in the world swirling to a frightening, all-enveloping crescendo, 'blowing away' the illuminati, and suddenly subsiding in a divine awakening of humanity.

2. ayreon
this ongoing project by arjen lucassen is a 'space opera' building steadily on the theme that the human race on earth has been seeded and guided but a benevolent alien race, for mutual benefit, and is now entering a phase of accelerated evolution. there have been 5 (or more?) releases, each one a more wonderful jaw-dropping effort. the best musicians and vocalists in the prog rock world take turns participating as operatic players, and its considered a great honor to be called by arjen.

3. iq
this obscure british band is most notable for their albums "dark matter", which contains a long track frankly describing the '"harvest of souls", and "the seventh house" which seems to center on oneness vis-a-vis reincarnation and kharma.

what can you add to the list?

[Drugsonl]

not sure if the below examples would be considered prog rock but im sure some could...

tool - lateralus
general theme of humanity being divided (see 'schism') and bound toward reconciliation, with strong reference to wanderers ('parabol/parabola') and ascension on the 'spiral of our divinity and still be a human' ('lateralus').

tool - 10,000 days
similar themes and concepts.

a lot of their stuff i've found to fit in perfectly with the philosophy on this site and elsewhere.
in fact, visiting this site helped to clarify and elucidate the themes and concepts in some of their songs. definitely one to watch...

also, 'uprising' by muse. come onnnnnnn!

[DoniandaCoado]

incidentally i listened to 'cream ibiza progressive summer 2009' cd2 whilst reading the loo and they went together fantastically. it is electronic music and do not let 'ibiza' in the title put you off as it is very uplifting. it contains tracks like 'son of 2091' and 'spacerock' although it is more just the atmosphere it created for me.

[IamRobot]

yes rocks i am in dallas and looking for musicians to put a tribute together. need bass drums keys and vocals i can cover the guitar parts myself and i also want to do original stuff and maybe some other bands like dream theater, symphony x, rush, al di meola, andy timmons, gary moore, led zep deep purple, kansas, genesis, jason becker, eric johnson, joe satriani etc... i love prog but i need to rock out and play heavy sometimes and the blues are in my blood down here in texas.

[xFZ3k8Mw]

wow how cool to find a topic on this, what an interesting idea.

i have found many prog bands to have lyrics which are not only very comforting and relaxing but even somtimes pointing towards topics like ascention.

to "myconsumerclub" very interesting that you mention "rush" i have found some of their tracks to be so insightfull towards these topics i point in particular to the "power windows" album with songs like "mystic rhythms" as well as 'grand designs' and "manhattan project". "time stand still" from the "hold your fire" album is also incredibly uplifting. also you have the legendary lyrics from the 1977 album "a fairwell to kings" the first line from the song "closer to the heart" is:
"and the men who hold high places, must be the ones who start, to mould a new reality, closer to the heart"
rush rocks!!

to "fortyball" yes they are great examples, i also recomend you listen to the album "aenima" and the track "no quarter" from "salival"

and to "jefferyet" thank you so much! i had never hear "ayreon" before but after obtaining some of their music... all i can say is wow! these guys are incredible!!! if you are searching for "ascention music" or just great tunes i highly recomend them!

in addition to all this i am also a big heavy metal fan. this genre of music can help you deal with negative emotions you are feeling. if you check out some black metal bands such as "emperor" some of their earlier work (in particular older lyrics written by first bass player "mortiis") the directly mention traveling through stargates among many other interesting things along these lines. i recomend the album "in the nightside eclipse"
be carefull when researching black metal though, many oppinions and even actions may strongly offend, especially if you are a christian.

i also recomend "porcupine tree" and "opeth" not so much for the lyrical content, however i find when listening to these bands i feel closer to the universe.

their is a great power in music people, and just like with the main stream media, they are covering up the truth! the truth of good music! it does exist it is just hidden from us, like the truth we are all seeking.....

thankyou for reading, hope i havent offended anyone....
love allways ~ down under will awaken

[jeraveike]

i think that tool is one of the best progressive rock bands out there! not only do their songs encompass themes about spirituality and duality, but the structure of the songs themselves evoke spirituality...

take their song lateralus;

count the syllables in each line:

as below, so above and beyond, i imagine
drawn beyond the lines of reason
push the envelope
watch it bend

only tool is cool enough to write lyrics with syllables that mimic the fibonacci sequence (the golden ratio)

[hablyShappY]

this should be called ascension music! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1yni...c173002ed87a30

[PebydataFeents]

this is also very uplifting, try to ignore the beats if you are not used to them. they are like alcohol in wine and chili in curry - eventually it is not the same without it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwmkbeqhsnc

[Soypopetype]

pink floyd, back in the day, 40 years ago and experimenting with sound in old pompeii.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9uvqt3yn_q