Finally got around to listen to the one and only Guilt Machine album: On This Perfect Day - it gave off a very noir/melancholic vibe. Overall, it's not bad at all, as you'd expect from most if not all of Arjen Lucassen's pet projects, but it's no Star One, let alone Ayreon.

Guilt Machine - Leland Street
Guilt Machine - Over
Guilt Machine - Perfection?

I do not understand what constitues 'metal' in music so would Rush count?

I can listen to practically any progressive metal or progressive rock and enjoy something about it as I generally listen to any new music with a mindset of seeking out something I like about it or something interesting about it.

My favourite prog metal bands are Dream Theater and Symphony X - as stereotypical or predictable as that might seem in such a thread, but I suppose that's to be expected when bands are as popular as these two are. I was first introduced to the genre through Dream Theater, namely The Mirror/Lie specifically, then the rest of the album and my interest and love in the genre grew from there over time. A few years later a friend discovered Symphony X and introduced them to me and I was hooked from the start as well.

I love pretty much everything each band has put out over the years, but I like some stuff more than other stuff. Certain albums in their entirety and certain songs thus naturally get more air time with me than others, but its all good to me. Being a musician myself I also look to the music and musicians of these bands for inspiration and dissect the music to derive ideas or understand what their approach was for a given song, passage, melody, riff or other element.

I'm currently both learning, dissecting and doing a musical analysis of Dream Theater's The Dance of Eternity, which is one of my favourite instrumentals of all time. As a side project of that, and just to have a sense of humour and some fun I am planning on doing a project which I am calling "The Dance of Regularity" which will be my own interpretation and arrangement of The Dance of Eternity transformed from start to finish into 4/4 time with no time signature changes. Lots of fun. :)

I like a lot of the stuff others have posted as well and look forward to sampling some of the music people have mentioned that I haven't heard yet also.

There are probably hundreds of more accurate descriptions of what defines "metal" out there, but to sum it up from my point of view: overamped/distorted and aggressive guitar sounds.

Rush have had a progressive period in the late 70s, sure, but I'd say they've been mostly hard rock-ish ever since.

Bloody hell how has no one mentioned Queensrÿche and their legendary Operation Mindcrime concept album, it was so popular when it came out they released a video of the songs being played as a film telling the albums story, a heroin addicted hit man falling in love with a nun. All of the videos to the songs are on youtube and easy to find.

I got to ask, since I'm new to all this and what not. But what exactly is progressive metal?

Since I'm hardly an expert in musical genres, I'll just link this rather good (albeit incomplete) definition. You also have a wide variety of examples in this thread.

One of my all-time favorites in this category is Mandylion by The Gathering, it's a nice mix between different metal genres:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPjuuLKsGbM

That entire album brings back fond memories. It was the first time I heard Anneke van Giersbergen's singing, but now I can easily recognize her voice anywhere - she's collaborated with Ayreon for some songs and when I first heard those, without having any prior knowledge of who is singing what, I instantly flashed back to her "Mandylion" days with "The Gathering".

Along with Liv Kristine and very few others, I regard her as one of the top female singers in the metal genre.

Anneke's singing is instantly recognizable I agree, her voice has the special power to upgrade everything.

Here's a good summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_metal

I never really heard Fates Warning before that I'm aware of, so I decided to pull up some of their albums on YouTube. Is it just me or does the singer sound a lot like Charlie Dominici (or vice versa)?

The Mars Volta and Dream Theater FTW

If you like melodic death metal Opeth is a given. Their three more or less death metal progressive albums are My Arms, Your Hearse, Still Life and what they call their Magnum Opus Blackwater Park.

They've gone even more progressive and even shifted genre to...something after that but those albums are what progressive metalheads should have a listen to.

Edit: Ok those links are fucked up. Always check your post when posted! It's to do woth me linking to youtube playlists I suspect. I'll try to get them working.

Edit 2: It's the album "My Arms, Your Hearse" I can't find a working youtube link to. It's the most death metal and least progressive one of them so I guess that makes it a little less bad in this thread. That album is wonderful for those that love 90ts melodic death metal though.

Edit 3. Screw it. Can't find a working link to "My Arms, Your Hearse" so I'll just give you the song Demon of the Fall from that album. Opeth used to end their concerts with that song for years. Dunno if they still keep that up. One of my favourite songs of all time.

I don't think anyone's mentioned the Von Hertzen Brothers. Though I can't really say I enjoy all of their songs, they do have some nice ones. Here are a few:

Von Hertzen Brothers - Trouble
Von Hertzen Brothers - Let Thy Will Be Done
Von Hertzen Brothers - Freedom Fighter

Edit: Well, actually PainOfSalvation did mention them, but now you got some new songs, so don't complain :).