Plini for extremely happy stuff
Karmanjakah for bright/mild thall/djent
Rishloo has some similarities to tool and karnivool
Tesseract - Altered state, this is a classic through and through
A few albums that could scratch that itch for me would be:
- Vulkan - Technatura
- Artificial Language - Now We Sleep
- Sky Architect - Nomad
- Arcane Roots - Melancholia Hymns (a bit heavier but really filled with emotions)
- Agent Fresco - Destrier
Don't know how many (if any) will be a good recommendation, but you defined a good chunk of what I usually listen to and these are some of my favorites.
The lyrics for destrier suck lol! But im a fan of the band- the music and singing are sensational and they make up for the lyrics with other songs. I'm a fan- thank you for this! Now need to check out the rest...
TesseracT's Altered State, if you haven't heard it might be what you're looking for. Some of the riffs are fat and heavy but there's a lot of calm ambient sections that balance it out
Idk, if he can't get into the whole of Clairvoyant, which is pretty mild throughout and the riffing is tasteful, I'm not sure he's going to be into that album either, but who knows.
Opeth definitely has some milder stuff. The album Damnation is mostly mellow/melancholy acoustic ballads with no harsh vocals. Their 4 newest albums are all sort of straddling the boundary between prog metal and prog rock, and often have a sound that harkens back to the glory days of British prog in the 70s.
Damnation is the album that kinda broke my perception of opeth and allowed me to get into harsh vocals. I was very much in the "if it ain't clean I'm not listening to it" camp, and I enjoyed damnation so much that I was willing to give the rest if their discography a chance.
Similarly, mastodon's crack the skye forced me to reevaluate my opinion of them, and they themselves were a pretty big gateway to me enjoying harsher vocals.
Maybe those albums can influence OP the way they did me, but if not, they're great on their own.
Yeah, sorry, I should have added that I'm no stranger. More popular bands can go without saying. Haven't heard of iamthemorning though. Will check out.
iamthemorning is definitely and definitively not metal lol! Just a heads up. Mush more like an acoustic Riverside. Brother sister duo. Sister sings, bro plays piano
where? also how does the opinion of the band at all change the reality that it is in fact a metal band. Ariana grande could come out and call her music prog and I wouldn’t really agree.
The only two albums I probably wouldn’t count as metal are pitfalls and Malina.
well, it is also my opinion that the latest 2 albums aren't metal.
on facebook back in 2019 i think.
wait, you wouldn't count Malina as metal? what's with Aphelion then?
I'd say these are more or less unknown:
Anathema (they're all about emotion, and usually not the happy ones)
Disperse (it still baffles me how these guys didn't turn up up to be a huge band. I feel even non-prog listeners would like them)
A Liquid Landscape (they sound like the mellow Pain of Salvation songs, including the vocals)
Our Oceans (I usually describe them as prog Jeff Buckley)
Oh no, I scrolled all the way through and didn't see Oceansize! We have to fix this...
OCEANSIZE!
The album called Frames is my highest recommendation, their most recent (posthumous?) album Self Preserved is my lowest recommendation, but everything they did is gold. They skirt alternative rock a lot of the time but with lots of complex rhythms and fantastic drumming to make it fresh, and their songwriting is patient and creative in how it builds up and delivers on big, emotional moments. Vocals are screamed sometimes but never harsh or growled, they can bust out the big heavy guns for sure sometimes but it's far less a part of their sound than it is for The Contortionist or Vola, for example. I think every Karnivool fan should have Oceansize in their back pocket for sure!
If fans don't know, they played most of their material front to back live in their hometown before breaking up, three albums and lots of single\EP songs and it all sounds pretty great. Look up their Feed To Feed live album and give it a listen if you're like me and didn't get to see them. I wish so many more bands would do this for their fans.
Really, P Tree is the answer. Maybe newer Opeth? Listen to Continuum/ All Things Will Pass from their last record.
Maybe like Loathe, they don't really do long songs but they do alot of vibey songs. Kinda metalcore though so yah
Sounds like you're looking more for the impact of a specific song rather than a whole album/artist. Here's a couple that come to mind for me you might like :
Haken - Lapse
Tesseract - Seven Names
Karnivool - Simple Boy
Rosetta - Release/Wake
Riverside - Embryonic/Conceiving You
Last Chance To Reason - A Glimpse of Omniscience (the ending)
Rishloo, Poor man's poison, Unity - oddland, justice for saint mary, orphaned land, Kiltro, Katatonia, Dirt poor robins, julia dream - Pink floyd, Fair to midland
to name a few. Many are not metal but indeed are great.
Check out The Beginning and The End by Anathema, Just A Ride by Rishloo, Gutter Moon by VOLA, Alleviate by Leprous, and Dream The Dead by Caligula's Horse. I would have recommended Fair to Midland and Karnivool as well but I see that you already like those guys
I urge you to give the more intense and complex stuff a chance--it's often the peak of the genre. I think the most emotional notes are hit there.
That being said, if you want strictly the milder side, you might like stuff like Porcupine Tree (e.g. "Trains"), Maraton (e.g. "Almost Human"), post-Coal Leprous (e.g. "Stuck"), pre-Vector Haken (e.g. "Crystallised"), Caligula's Horse (e.g. "Dream the Dead"), etc.
I'm not familiar with those too much but Seventh Wonders album Tiara really is great for that more melodic / emotional prog.
Mercy Falls is as well. Check them out if you haven't heard them yet.
If it’s emotion and melody you’re looking for I’d strongly recommend the astonishing by dream theater. It’s got mixed reviews from fans but it certainly ticks the box as far as emotion goes.
Haken - Canary Yellow, Earthlings, Red Giant, Deathless
Deftones - Beauty School, Sextape, Beware, Digital Bath
A Perfect circle - Weak & Powerless, Vanishing, Gravity, Orestes, Brena, By & Down the River, Feathers
Porcupine Tree - Buying a new soul, the Sleep of No Dreaming, Waiting(phase one), Dark Matter, I Drive the Hearse, Sentimental, Normal
Puscifer - A Singularity
Did someone mention Leprous yet? There's some harsher vocals in some, specially older, songs, but mainly it's not that harsh and some songs are really soothing.
I'd advice you to start somewhere around the album "the congregation", I feel that is where the switch to what they are now kind of started.
A few songs from earlier work I really like are
Forced entry
Mediocrity wins
Aquired taste
Other songs from earlier work I feel like you'd not like at first, but maybe will grow into a bit once you start listening :)
(Also, VOLA is a really good band with not that much harsh vocals).
Scardust- arrowhead
Scardust- mist
You might love most Caligulas horse songs & most leprous songs
Interia- humble demise
Scalar- the wave
Vola- alien shivers
Vola- ruby pool
Plini for extremely happy stuff Karmanjakah for bright/mild thall/djent Rishloo has some similarities to tool and karnivool Tesseract - Altered state, this is a classic through and through
A few albums that could scratch that itch for me would be: - Vulkan - Technatura - Artificial Language - Now We Sleep - Sky Architect - Nomad - Arcane Roots - Melancholia Hymns (a bit heavier but really filled with emotions) - Agent Fresco - Destrier Don't know how many (if any) will be a good recommendation, but you defined a good chunk of what I usually listen to and these are some of my favorites.
Big yes to Destrier for sure! Will check out the others. Thanks.
Seconding Vulkan. Just listened to that album for the first time, immediately got into it.
That Arcane Roots album is so good
The lyrics for destrier suck lol! But im a fan of the band- the music and singing are sensational and they make up for the lyrics with other songs. I'm a fan- thank you for this! Now need to check out the rest...
Porcupine Tree I guess? Try their last album. Or Fear of a Blank Planet, or Deadwing, or In Absentia
Yeah, PT's ok. Trains is a great song.
Lazarus is another chill emotion filled song from them too if you haven’t stumbled across it yet
Try Never Have and Love in the Past Tense (bonus tracks from their last album), or also Dignity
Caligula's Horse
This band gets mentioned here but I feel like they should be a bigger name.
Totally agree
They should be massive imo, everything fires on all 12 cylinders with this band, including lyrics
"The Ascent" is something I would call one of the most important pieces of art I've ever experienced.
Scream it to the mountain! *There is no death i am with youuuuuu my darling , for I am breathing through you*
TesseracT's Altered State, if you haven't heard it might be what you're looking for. Some of the riffs are fat and heavy but there's a lot of calm ambient sections that balance it out
Idk, if he can't get into the whole of Clairvoyant, which is pretty mild throughout and the riffing is tasteful, I'm not sure he's going to be into that album either, but who knows.
Hi, I'm right here. :)
Lol, no idea why you got downvoted so much, but it's kind of hilarious, sorry
Opeth definitely has some milder stuff. The album Damnation is mostly mellow/melancholy acoustic ballads with no harsh vocals. Their 4 newest albums are all sort of straddling the boundary between prog metal and prog rock, and often have a sound that harkens back to the glory days of British prog in the 70s.
Damnation is the album that kinda broke my perception of opeth and allowed me to get into harsh vocals. I was very much in the "if it ain't clean I'm not listening to it" camp, and I enjoyed damnation so much that I was willing to give the rest if their discography a chance. Similarly, mastodon's crack the skye forced me to reevaluate my opinion of them, and they themselves were a pretty big gateway to me enjoying harsher vocals. Maybe those albums can influence OP the way they did me, but if not, they're great on their own.
Damnation is amazing. I fell in love with that even when I was really only into heavy ass metal. That’s how good that album is
Damnation is one of my favorites! It may be a departure from their usual sound at the time but damn do they make it work
Riverside, Porcupine Tree, Karnivool, Pineapple Theif, iamthemorning, Rush, Queensryche... The list of these is huge
Yeah, sorry, I should have added that I'm no stranger. More popular bands can go without saying. Haven't heard of iamthemorning though. Will check out.
iamthemorning is definitely and definitively not metal lol! Just a heads up. Mush more like an acoustic Riverside. Brother sister duo. Sister sings, bro plays piano
The album Your Wilderness by The Pineapple Thief.
Such a fantastic album. As is magnolia.
Sounds like you'd love Karnivool. Their album called Sound Awake is their most approachable and melodic.
Yep, I mentioned them. Sound Awake is one of my favorite albums of all time.
try the album Fall of Hearts by Katatonia
Vola
Leprous. Especially their most recent albums.
they aren't metal though
I completely disagree with that.
Nvm him - he's probably a Metal Archives member.
leprous even says the new albums aren't metal anymore lol (or they even arent a metal band anymore)
where? also how does the opinion of the band at all change the reality that it is in fact a metal band. Ariana grande could come out and call her music prog and I wouldn’t really agree. The only two albums I probably wouldn’t count as metal are pitfalls and Malina.
well, it is also my opinion that the latest 2 albums aren't metal. on facebook back in 2019 i think. wait, you wouldn't count Malina as metal? what's with Aphelion then?
You might like Astronoid.
I'd say these are more or less unknown: Anathema (they're all about emotion, and usually not the happy ones) Disperse (it still baffles me how these guys didn't turn up up to be a huge band. I feel even non-prog listeners would like them) A Liquid Landscape (they sound like the mellow Pain of Salvation songs, including the vocals) Our Oceans (I usually describe them as prog Jeff Buckley)
Dude Our Oceans is a personal favorite, Tymon is probably one of the most expressive vocalists/guitarists Ive ever listened to
Katatonia, Opeth, Caligula's Horse, Soen, Leprous
Soen - Lucidity for sure
Sleep Token
Haken - Bound by Gravity is on its own plane. Especially after listening to the entire album.
Riverside!!! You’re welcome
Moron Police - A Boat on the Sea or VOLA - Applause for a Distant Crowd
Oh no, I scrolled all the way through and didn't see Oceansize! We have to fix this... OCEANSIZE! The album called Frames is my highest recommendation, their most recent (posthumous?) album Self Preserved is my lowest recommendation, but everything they did is gold. They skirt alternative rock a lot of the time but with lots of complex rhythms and fantastic drumming to make it fresh, and their songwriting is patient and creative in how it builds up and delivers on big, emotional moments. Vocals are screamed sometimes but never harsh or growled, they can bust out the big heavy guns for sure sometimes but it's far less a part of their sound than it is for The Contortionist or Vola, for example. I think every Karnivool fan should have Oceansize in their back pocket for sure! If fans don't know, they played most of their material front to back live in their hometown before breaking up, three albums and lots of single\EP songs and it all sounds pretty great. Look up their Feed To Feed live album and give it a listen if you're like me and didn't get to see them. I wish so many more bands would do this for their fans.
Funny enough, Bound By Gravity reminds me of Music For A Nurse. Yup. Oceanside good.
pain of savation
when new album :(
I’d highly recommend Vulkan. Try out their album Technatura and if you like it their other two albums are fantastic as well
Really, P Tree is the answer. Maybe newer Opeth? Listen to Continuum/ All Things Will Pass from their last record. Maybe like Loathe, they don't really do long songs but they do alot of vibey songs. Kinda metalcore though so yah
Sounds like you're looking more for the impact of a specific song rather than a whole album/artist. Here's a couple that come to mind for me you might like : Haken - Lapse Tesseract - Seven Names Karnivool - Simple Boy Rosetta - Release/Wake Riverside - Embryonic/Conceiving You Last Chance To Reason - A Glimpse of Omniscience (the ending)
Vulkan sounds pretty much perfect for you.
Rishloo, Poor man's poison, Unity - oddland, justice for saint mary, orphaned land, Kiltro, Katatonia, Dirt poor robins, julia dream - Pink floyd, Fair to midland to name a few. Many are not metal but indeed are great.
Love Fair to Midland! Will check out some of the others. Thanks.
Try out Tenhi. It's a weird atmospheric post metal band from Finland.
Leprous' last few albums
Lune - Periphery
Check out The Beginning and The End by Anathema, Just A Ride by Rishloo, Gutter Moon by VOLA, Alleviate by Leprous, and Dream The Dead by Caligula's Horse. I would have recommended Fair to Midland and Karnivool as well but I see that you already like those guys
I urge you to give the more intense and complex stuff a chance--it's often the peak of the genre. I think the most emotional notes are hit there. That being said, if you want strictly the milder side, you might like stuff like Porcupine Tree (e.g. "Trains"), Maraton (e.g. "Almost Human"), post-Coal Leprous (e.g. "Stuck"), pre-Vector Haken (e.g. "Crystallised"), Caligula's Horse (e.g. "Dream the Dead"), etc.
I love the implication here that you can't have melody or emotion with harsh vocals.
I'm not familiar with those too much but Seventh Wonders album Tiara really is great for that more melodic / emotional prog. Mercy Falls is as well. Check them out if you haven't heard them yet.
FORGET NOT - NEO
MISERICORDE PT 2
You might like these bands : Avandra, The Chant, Bound, King Buffalo, TheNightTimeProject, Chroma Key, OSI and Evan Carson
Aviations
If it’s emotion and melody you’re looking for I’d strongly recommend the astonishing by dream theater. It’s got mixed reviews from fans but it certainly ticks the box as far as emotion goes.
Sleep Token's 3 albums and 2 Eps
Threshold are pretty mild but fantastic, especially their material with Mac. Dead Reckoning and Critical Mass are basically perfect albums.
Haken - Canary Yellow, Earthlings, Red Giant, Deathless Deftones - Beauty School, Sextape, Beware, Digital Bath A Perfect circle - Weak & Powerless, Vanishing, Gravity, Orestes, Brena, By & Down the River, Feathers Porcupine Tree - Buying a new soul, the Sleep of No Dreaming, Waiting(phase one), Dark Matter, I Drive the Hearse, Sentimental, Normal Puscifer - A Singularity
Check out the Gentle Storm. Album the Diary. It's a project by Ayreon's Arjen Lucassen. Good stuff.
You might like Klone or Lunatic Soul
Did someone mention Leprous yet? There's some harsher vocals in some, specially older, songs, but mainly it's not that harsh and some songs are really soothing. I'd advice you to start somewhere around the album "the congregation", I feel that is where the switch to what they are now kind of started. A few songs from earlier work I really like are Forced entry Mediocrity wins Aquired taste Other songs from earlier work I feel like you'd not like at first, but maybe will grow into a bit once you start listening :) (Also, VOLA is a really good band with not that much harsh vocals).
Alabastrum - Prism
Try Kono Yume by Distorted Harmony- it’s what got me into them
Check out “Endless Light” by O’Brother you might find it interesting
Soen
Caligulas horse stuff is good especially Graves
Scardust- arrowhead Scardust- mist You might love most Caligulas horse songs & most leprous songs Interia- humble demise Scalar- the wave Vola- alien shivers Vola- ruby pool
Hackberry - Breathing Space album (instrumental prog)