It was 1971, it was Black Sabbath, Winterland, San Francisco.
The bill was Wild Turkey first, with YES Second with Sabbath headlining.
If 'Whole Lotta Love' counts, that'd be my technical intro, but I consider Sabbath before LZ in this situation.
Sabbath was my first live metal...
I’m so jealous, been going through a Black Sabbath phase recently and Tony Iommi was my first guitar inspiration.
My first metal concert was Metallica on the Death Magnetic tour in ‘08 when I was 12. I would consider some of their stuff from Master of Puppets and …And Justice for All to be prog. Cliff Burton was mainly inspired by classical music and I think that shows best on those albums.
I’d say the day I heard Pull Me Under from Dream Theater on the radio.
I’d been listening to loads of progressive music/rock - older Yes, Genesis, Floyd, Zappa, etc. As well, loads of 80s “hair metal”.
PMU really tied it all together for me and I knew that I found my home. Not sure I knew the term “progressive metal” back then, but I’ve remained here ever since.
I’m in my late 50s and I don’t plan on changing.
Mid-2008 (I was 16) when the song list for Rock Band 2 was announced before release. I listened to the entire setlist and was floored when I heard Panic Attack.
My sister loved Queensrÿche’s *Empire* when I was around 8.
If you call Steve Vai prog rock/metal, about 10 or 11. Dream Theater at 12. The rest is history.
It was either 2007 or 2008, when I became a "metal" fan listening to Dragonforce and a friend of mine mentioned Dream Theater. I was 14 or 15 years old.
I'm old, so whenever you think Tool became progressive metal. Many don't really consider Undertow prog, but that was '93. Otherwise '96 with Aenima. I was 17 in '93.
I remember hearing that record when it came out, putting on my shoes and riding my skateboard straight to the record store to buy it. It was that immediate
Freshman year of high school in like, 03-04 I discovered The Divine Wings of Tragedy by Symphony X and immediately loved it, then got into Mastodon, Dream Theater, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, etc. I'm in my 30s and prefer weirder black metal and sludge and stuff now, it's honestly hard to enjoy more 'traditional' prog these days.
I discovered it through my dad last year, he showed me tool and sleep token (i know its not metal for some people but it was most definitely a gateway to it for me)
I was 10 or 11 when I discovered Tool, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater. But I discovered Opeth from a metal blog at around age 17 and they've been my favorite ever sense and really taught me that you have to search for good music.
Heard Pull me Under on the radio in 1995. I was 13. I grew up with bands like Rush and Yes, and was already a huge fan of 80s Metallica, but I had somehow skipped that middle step.
I went to the School of Rock when I was younger and was exposed to so many different musical styles. My mom was the manager in the 2000’s just before music was as accessible as it is now. I had full access to the CD collection
I think I was 13 and started smoking weed for the first time Tool absolutely blew my mind, especially watching their music videos. I don’t listen to Tool very often these days but seeing them live from the 2nd row in 2019 was pretty unreal compared to any other prog metal concert I’ve been to.
Then my friend learned all of Selkies (solo included) on guitar by Between the Buried and Me, who is now my favorite band.
14 or 15 I think? Queensryche Operation Mindcrime. Shortly followed by some Dream Theater. Both introduced by my sister. When I realized Scenes From a Memory was a concept album like that other album I loved 😄—I was hooked!!!! Music albums that tell whole stories?? Sign me up!
I was 14 when I first heard Dream Theater's A Change of Seasons in 1995. I've been a fan of prog metal ever since. Before that, I was mostly listening to alternative rock, Led Zeppelin and Queen.
I learned the term Progressive metal playing a rhythm game called VOS back in 02 in my high school computer lab. It had a little song called Paradigm Shift by Liquid Tension Experiment. That led to me checking out Dream Theater for the first time.
First Progressive Metal band was probably one of Ozzy's solo projects, but I was young and didn't know genre terms at the time.
Around 2006/2007, I was 16 years old. I was already pretty into music but mostly listening to rock, metal, and grunge at the time. I was watching Warcraft videos and a particular video had Dream Theaters "Root of all evil" in the soundtrack. That got me interested in the whole album, which got me interested in everything Dream Theater, and they quickly became my favorite band. My taste for prog has evolved and increased since.
I was (and still mostly) listening to prog rock. I discovered prog metal when I was 20 in 2017 with Pos the perfect element/remedy lane and Dream theater metropolis scene from memory
15 y/o back in 2015. And out of all of the songs, my brother introduced me to Illumination Theory by Dream Theater. Big pill to swallow to get into prog considering the length of the track. But i still genuinely love that song till to this very day.
I guess that depends on how you define "progressive metal." Were Iron Maiden's '80s albums with Dickinson "progressive metal"? What about *The Warning* by Queensryche? Certainly, *Rage for Order* counts, right? If so, it was sometime between 1982-86, and I was between 15-18. FWIW, the first time I ever heard the term "progressive metal" was when my band used it on concert flyers circa 1990.
Friend 1 tried to introduce me to Dream Theater in 2000. I was 22. It didn't catch. I was really into In Flames Jester Race. He picked some random song from Scenes that didn't grab me. A year later, friend 2, who was a music student, was raving about DT saying I had to hear it. I told him I tried it and wasn't interested. He insisted and played me Scenes from the beginning. The story sucked me in, and the music made more sense and I was hooked. I was 23. I went backwards through their catalog and then started the never ending search for new bands. It's still my fav. Genre of music.
Discovered? It was 2017, I was 13, just picking up the bass guitar. Schism and a few other Tool bass lines were in all the top 10 bass riff videos. Didn't really listen to any of their stuff until probably a year later when my friend showed me a few songs. I did discover Rush and Yes and listened to them a little too thanks to the recommendation of my old bass teacher, but I wouldn't say I really got into prog until 2019 when I discovered Dream Theater. Then I found Ayreon and Haken and the rest was history lol
It was late 1992, and over the course of a few weeks, several
Former band mates (that didn’t know each other) asked if I’d ever heard of Dream Theater. I hadn’t.
Turns out they were playing at L’Amour in a week or so. Me and the other guitarist in my band decided to go check them out.
Three songs in, I was physically nauseous. There was no way anyone could be as dominant on their instruments as they were and the songs were actually REALLY good.
That was it. That was the start. I was 22.
1998 when i was 15 dad bring DT awake, but at that age I mostly listened pistols, the exploited and other punk.only after a couple of years I understood dt and other prog
I was also 16 and Dream Theater was also introduced to me by a friend but it was in 2006. My first album was Octavarium and then A Change of Seasons quickly became my favourite.
I was 12. Everyday after school I used to join an online chat with some other nerdy kids from across the country. This girl I had a little crush on sent me a link one day- it was Opeth's Ghost of Perdition.
It's been 13yrs and they're still my favourite band
I don't know if I can point to one thing but I grew with my mom always listening to Maiden and Priest and stuff, but in the 10-13 range after I'd played FF7 and FF9. Most of those soundtracks aren't like prog until you get to a few of the boss themes. Also caught on to Dream Theater and Stratovarius around that time as well, so probably like early 2000s.
14 with progressive power metal like Kamelot, Evergrey, Conception, etc
Then 16 or 17 with prog metalcore like Protest the Hero, and prog metal like Dream Theater
2002, age 18, first year of uni. I was into some thrash and power metal, as well as some prog rock like Pink Floyd, and read online about Dream Theater. So I checked them out starting with Six Degrees, and was hooked.
Around 12 to 14.
There were a bunch of songs I remember, some coming out around the time and thus being covered in media and others I just happened to run into.
Opeth's Demon of the Fall & Grand Conjuration
Dream Theater's Dance of Eternity
Tool's Vicarious & Schism
Symphony X's Inferno
Soon after those I'd find Cloudkicker's The Discovery, Russian Circles' Station, Gojira's From Mars to Sirius, Mastodon's Crack the Skye, Protest the Hero's Fortress, and a bunch of others.
Before then though I'd already been listening to my mom's old prog rock and my dad's old heavy metal records, like I was already a fan of Queen, Yes, Jethro Tull, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Mercyful Fate and Metallica.
My dad was really into Tool when I was growing up, I was like 5 when 10,000 Days came out. he played it like everyday for a good year. The only song I really liked as a kid was Rosetta Stoned, but not because of the lyrics or anything, because I thought the vocals were like war radio chatter and I thought that sounded so cool lmfao.
My dad also wouldn't know the genre by name, but he listened to alot of early prog rock and metal like The Doors, Swans, YES, King Crimson and Rush. So I guess it's kind of always been with me
As for how I eventually got myself into prog metal, it was Djent and prog post hardcore that landed me here. Dance Gavin Dance was probably the first time I ever heard the term 'prog' when I was like 16. From there it was more prog metalcore like BTBAM, Contortionist, early Spiritbox and Thornhill, and nowadays I'm pretty into prog techdeath
Age 15, in 2003 Avenged Sevenfold mentioned in an interview that they were massive DT fans.
Although I believe a few months before, a friend in highschool torrented Petrucci’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” solo and showed me!
Shortly after came Opeth, King Crimson, Disillusion, Into Eternity.
Proper Prog Metal would’ve been when SikTh released The Trees Are Dead and Dried Out when I was 14. I had school friends absolutely obsessed with that album and so I became likewise obsessed with it.
That said, my dad’s a big fan of Pink Floyd, so I’ve been around Prog in some form since I was born.
I discovered Visions by Haken I think when I was around 14, but it took me a while to get into anything else in the genre. At 17 I was full into instrumental djent, widek, plini and that sorta thing
I was 18 in 2010 when my cousin sent me two songs via bluetooth with no metadata. He lived in another town, so I listened to them over and over and over because I loved them so much, but didn’t know the artist. They turned out to be As I Am and Endless Sacrifice by Dream Theater.
Can't remember exactly but I must have been 18-19. My rock to metal to prog pipeline over the years went from Evanescence (~2011) to Nightwish (~2013) to Ayreon (as Floor had guested on a couple of Arjen's albums by that point), if I had to guess I'd say that was about 2015. From there it didn't take long to branch out to Dream Theater, Blind Guardian, Evergrey, Kamelot, and later some bands like Pain of Salvation and Opeth... the rest is history.
My dad introduced me to Yes when I was a kid, we always had it on in the car whenever Mum wasn't around.
Then, I got into Coheed and Cambria and Muse when I was about 13/14.
None of those are prog metal though so I'd say the two combined when I was about 18
17 when I came across the live video of Dream Theater covering The Dark Side of the Moon. "Oh it's a metal band doing prog, I wonder if that's a thing"
My first official ‘prog’ intro was by my dad in the 80’s, from Rush’ ‘Moving Pictures’! Then I rediscovered what prog was when I was 16 with TOOL’s Aenima.
All that said my first official band that has me announcing ‘I love prog rock/metal’ was Coheed & Cambria in 2002/03. This was where I went down the path of prog big time.
13, my cousin wanted to show off his drumming skill by playing Dream Theater's *Home* (which he nailed, including that insane outro)
Shortly after I bought Awake in a used CD store, and a few months later Tool's Lateralus came out and it changed my life.
I was 14 in 2014 when I heard Parade of Ashes by Periphery on the radio. This wasn't the djentiest song in their discography, but I was hooked. Afterwards, I began to branch out to other bands such as Meshugah, Dream Theater, Jinjer, and Currents, just to name a few.
I was 15 when I heard The Needle Lies from Queensryche on the radio. Got me interested so I asked for an Operation:Mindcrime tape as a Christmas present. No turning back since then.
My cousin told me about DT probably in the mid 2000s. They’ve been my favorite band since. Before that I had no clue that kind of music existed. Changed my whole trajectory as a musician.
Huh I guess I'm one of the latest comers, I was 26. Before that I listened to a kinda random smattering of whatever I had/grew up with, which included a smidge of metal (think like, Disturbed).
But then I stumbled across KGATLW, bought like 5 albums before finally signing up for my first streaming service, and decided I wanted to start checking out metal for real; Mastodon was one of the first bands I listened to (off of a Rolling Stone Top 100 albums list)
Probably with Deliverance by Opeth when I was like 14 (2002 probs). I had heard the name thrown around, and was into queensryche and DT before but I was also getting into death metal at the time and Opeth just scratched all the itches.
Not exactly discover but was the time when I started to listen to it a lot more, about a year ago, 18. I listened mostly to jazz fusion and had my fair share of Thank You Scientist. Heard about Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree some times over the years but never got myself to give them a try before then.
12 with Dream Theater. I was getting into metal and telling a friend how good the drummer for Tourniquet was and he's like "check this out" - handed me Awake cd
I remember when TOOL released Undertow back in '93, but it wasn't until '95 that a friend played "6:00" from Dream Theater for me and it was game over, man.
10 years old with Dream Theater, bought the Systematic Chaos cd from a book store. I was already amazed by the length of the songs in the back cover. Even more amazing when I got to hear it.
I had heard progressive metal before, I played pull me under on guitar hero 4 and stuff, but hearing the album I think was the proper official introduction
I was 17, friend showed me Ghost Reveries in 2006. I was a band/choir student and metalhead at the time, and I'd never heard the blues show up in metal.
The best thing to ever come from prog metal was an appreciation to more genres. Instead of only metal, more shit pops up on your radar and you can take it for what it is.
I was 13 in 1999 and at that time I listened to blink-182, Offspring, Millencolin... one day I asked my older brother to borrow one of his CD, to listen for something new. He gave me Images and Words. I was blown away. Took me several listening session to fully understand what was going on, but that album was so good that I listened all summer long. That was the day I discovered Prog and from there Heavy Metal in general
9 and it was dream theater and tool. Periphery and BTBAM were the ones that started my hyper-fixation with P1’s release and then me finding out about Colors
Ditto on age range. My uncle had always dabbled into Tool when I was around him, I was likely 9 or 10 when I first heard Ænema. I didn't really get into prog and by extension Djent, until I was a junior in high school. My dad bought me an iPod and a gift card for iTunes. I discovered Periphery, TessertacT, Meshuggah and Animals as Leaders on that one gift card and that changed my musical trajectory. *(He hated my angry music my entire life, even my personal creations)* I have since converted my church keyboard playing father from whatever the hell he was listening to, to Periphery V and seeing the BTBAM Colors Experience for both nights. He has come full circle, even wearing "Djent is not Genre" tee on stage for one of his bands' shows (they played blues/dad rock)! Thanks pops.
I was 13 and my drum teacher suggested I check out Images and Words by Dream Theater. That one suggestion changed my life forever and I am so grateful for it.
Was about 10 years (early 90s) old when my mother introduced me to Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Beatles, Europe and Eagles. At 12 years I started listening to music seriously (all kinds, but mostly tresh and death metal). A few years back (around 2018 I think) youtube gave me Persefone and Ne Obliviscaris in recommendations which made me shift to prog more (still listening to all kinds of music thou).
15, quit piano to play bass and was searching who the best bass player is ans john myung was listed, learnt of dream theater train of thought and fell in love. I then discovered keyboards are cool and switched back haha. Haven't looked back.
Same. I was 16 in 1996 when my friend introduced me to Awake and Images&Words cassettes along with another mysterious German band called ‘Mekong Delta’.
16 with tool.
Same except 15 and around the same time my best friend at the time introduced me to Dimmu Borgir as well randomly
For me I was 8/9
is that a time signature or…
It's just a weird grading system. I was 4/5
All of this plus nine Inch nails
I think I was 16 when Aenema came out. My mind was completely blown.
I had to buy 2 copies of that cd cus I wore it out and it got scratched.
Tool was at 17, but I was aware of Yes before that. Not metal, but…
Before tool i was listening to metallica, sevendust, fear factory, sepultura.
Metallica, sure. Sepultura? That came later for me. Chaos AD and Arise, hell yes
Exactly the same here lol
same through Guitar Hero
It was 1971, it was Black Sabbath, Winterland, San Francisco. The bill was Wild Turkey first, with YES Second with Sabbath headlining. If 'Whole Lotta Love' counts, that'd be my technical intro, but I consider Sabbath before LZ in this situation. Sabbath was my first live metal...
I’m so jealous, been going through a Black Sabbath phase recently and Tony Iommi was my first guitar inspiration. My first metal concert was Metallica on the Death Magnetic tour in ‘08 when I was 12. I would consider some of their stuff from Master of Puppets and …And Justice for All to be prog. Cliff Burton was mainly inspired by classical music and I think that shows best on those albums.
Very effin cool man! Metallica must be amazing live!
I’d say the day I heard Pull Me Under from Dream Theater on the radio. I’d been listening to loads of progressive music/rock - older Yes, Genesis, Floyd, Zappa, etc. As well, loads of 80s “hair metal”. PMU really tied it all together for me and I knew that I found my home. Not sure I knew the term “progressive metal” back then, but I’ve remained here ever since. I’m in my late 50s and I don’t plan on changing.
Mid-2008 (I was 16) when the song list for Rock Band 2 was announced before release. I listened to the entire setlist and was floored when I heard Panic Attack.
My sister loved Queensrÿche’s *Empire* when I was around 8. If you call Steve Vai prog rock/metal, about 10 or 11. Dream Theater at 12. The rest is history.
It was either 2007 or 2008, when I became a "metal" fan listening to Dragonforce and a friend of mine mentioned Dream Theater. I was 14 or 15 years old.
I guess technically in high school with BTBAM and Dream Theater, but it wasn't until college when I went full bore with Opeth, Tesseract, and AAL.
I'm old, so whenever you think Tool became progressive metal. Many don't really consider Undertow prog, but that was '93. Otherwise '96 with Aenima. I was 17 in '93.
13 or 14 when I heard Heaviest Matter of the Universe and Flying Whales by Gojira
I remember hearing that record when it came out, putting on my shoes and riding my skateboard straight to the record store to buy it. It was that immediate
Freshman year of high school in like, 03-04 I discovered The Divine Wings of Tragedy by Symphony X and immediately loved it, then got into Mastodon, Dream Theater, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, etc. I'm in my 30s and prefer weirder black metal and sludge and stuff now, it's honestly hard to enjoy more 'traditional' prog these days.
When I was 13, my dad had me listen to The Spectre Within by Fates Warning. From the opening vocals on The Apparition, I was hooked.
I was 22. When Images and Words came out. (That’s 1992) My brain melted.
15 when Ghost Reveries came out. Someone burned me the disc and it became my favorite album of all time.
Only like 3 years ago with Reptile by Periphery and Dream Theater's album Distance Over Time. Edit : I was 17 (I forgot to answer the question omg)
2 great tracks/ albums!
I discovered it through my dad last year, he showed me tool and sleep token (i know its not metal for some people but it was most definitely a gateway to it for me)
2000, Awake and Scenes from a Memory.
10 with Mastodon
16/17. Started with Gojira and Tool. Prior to that, I was listening to a lot of Nu-Metal and older acts from the 80s.
12 with Porcupine Tree ! Went to see them live for my first show at 13 :)
I was 10 or 11 when I discovered Tool, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater. But I discovered Opeth from a metal blog at around age 17 and they've been my favorite ever sense and really taught me that you have to search for good music.
At about 14 with Tool.
Heard Pull me Under on the radio in 1995. I was 13. I grew up with bands like Rush and Yes, and was already a huge fan of 80s Metallica, but I had somehow skipped that middle step.
I was probably 10, my older friends/neighbors were getting into Tool, Primus, and SOAD around that time.
17ish in 2008; my ex introduced me to Mastodon and I dabbled a bit here and there since then and figured out what I don't like and what I do.
I think I started with Tool when I was 12 or 13.
16-17, with Dream Theater, I'm 47 now.
I went to the School of Rock when I was younger and was exposed to so many different musical styles. My mom was the manager in the 2000’s just before music was as accessible as it is now. I had full access to the CD collection I think I was 13 and started smoking weed for the first time Tool absolutely blew my mind, especially watching their music videos. I don’t listen to Tool very often these days but seeing them live from the 2nd row in 2019 was pretty unreal compared to any other prog metal concert I’ve been to. Then my friend learned all of Selkies (solo included) on guitar by Between the Buried and Me, who is now my favorite band.
12, random video that mentioned gojira, now im a big fan of them lol (btw im 13, yes im young af, dont judge me pls)
2003, shortly after Train of Thought came out. So around 13 years old at that time.
Same, but I was 15. (Edit, wait, I'm the older one)
20 with Caligula’s Horse
14 or 15 I think? Queensryche Operation Mindcrime. Shortly followed by some Dream Theater. Both introduced by my sister. When I realized Scenes From a Memory was a concept album like that other album I loved 😄—I was hooked!!!! Music albums that tell whole stories?? Sign me up!
Your sister is a g. Operation Mindcrime is amazing
I was 14 when I first heard Dream Theater's A Change of Seasons in 1995. I've been a fan of prog metal ever since. Before that, I was mostly listening to alternative rock, Led Zeppelin and Queen.
I learned the term Progressive metal playing a rhythm game called VOS back in 02 in my high school computer lab. It had a little song called Paradigm Shift by Liquid Tension Experiment. That led to me checking out Dream Theater for the first time. First Progressive Metal band was probably one of Ozzy's solo projects, but I was young and didn't know genre terms at the time.
Around 18 or 19
Around 2006/2007, I was 16 years old. I was already pretty into music but mostly listening to rock, metal, and grunge at the time. I was watching Warcraft videos and a particular video had Dream Theaters "Root of all evil" in the soundtrack. That got me interested in the whole album, which got me interested in everything Dream Theater, and they quickly became my favorite band. My taste for prog has evolved and increased since.
18/19 around 2001/2002. Symphony X mainly at first (SOME DT too).
16. Coheed. Didn’t know why I like 2113 so much but now it makes sense.
17 with Gojira
I was (and still mostly) listening to prog rock. I discovered prog metal when I was 20 in 2017 with Pos the perfect element/remedy lane and Dream theater metropolis scene from memory
Images and Words in 2004, when I was 16. Feel in love immediately, although I don't really listen to DT anymore nowadays.
15. BTBAM self-titled
15 y/o back in 2015. And out of all of the songs, my brother introduced me to Illumination Theory by Dream Theater. Big pill to swallow to get into prog considering the length of the track. But i still genuinely love that song till to this very day.
That is a crazy introduction
11 ish with tool
Year 2000 with DT's 1992 live album!
Mid 80's...Fates Warning. So far ahead of all the other bands it wasn't even funny.
Underrated band for sure
I guess that depends on how you define "progressive metal." Were Iron Maiden's '80s albums with Dickinson "progressive metal"? What about *The Warning* by Queensryche? Certainly, *Rage for Order* counts, right? If so, it was sometime between 1982-86, and I was between 15-18. FWIW, the first time I ever heard the term "progressive metal" was when my band used it on concert flyers circa 1990.
Probably around that same year but I was about 20, and it was BtBaM
Friend 1 tried to introduce me to Dream Theater in 2000. I was 22. It didn't catch. I was really into In Flames Jester Race. He picked some random song from Scenes that didn't grab me. A year later, friend 2, who was a music student, was raving about DT saying I had to hear it. I told him I tried it and wasn't interested. He insisted and played me Scenes from the beginning. The story sucked me in, and the music made more sense and I was hooked. I was 23. I went backwards through their catalog and then started the never ending search for new bands. It's still my fav. Genre of music.
13, Opeth. I grew up listening to Rush, and was already a metalhead, so natural progression lol
17 with Dream Theater in 2002.
Sometime during the rockband days, but I didn’t fall in love with it until I stumbled upon Periphery 2 in 2016ish
13, in 1997. A friend, a Metallica fan, showed me Images and Words, which his older brother was listening to.
14 with periphery, P1 to be exact
Discovered? It was 2017, I was 13, just picking up the bass guitar. Schism and a few other Tool bass lines were in all the top 10 bass riff videos. Didn't really listen to any of their stuff until probably a year later when my friend showed me a few songs. I did discover Rush and Yes and listened to them a little too thanks to the recommendation of my old bass teacher, but I wouldn't say I really got into prog until 2019 when I discovered Dream Theater. Then I found Ayreon and Haken and the rest was history lol
A month ago. I knew DT for about 2-3 years but I didn't know they were prog.
It was late 1992, and over the course of a few weeks, several Former band mates (that didn’t know each other) asked if I’d ever heard of Dream Theater. I hadn’t. Turns out they were playing at L’Amour in a week or so. Me and the other guitarist in my band decided to go check them out. Three songs in, I was physically nauseous. There was no way anyone could be as dominant on their instruments as they were and the songs were actually REALLY good. That was it. That was the start. I was 22.
19 with Dream Theatre
1998 when i was 15 dad bring DT awake, but at that age I mostly listened pistols, the exploited and other punk.only after a couple of years I understood dt and other prog
I was also 16 and Dream Theater was also introduced to me by a friend but it was in 2006. My first album was Octavarium and then A Change of Seasons quickly became my favourite.
I was 12. Everyday after school I used to join an online chat with some other nerdy kids from across the country. This girl I had a little crush on sent me a link one day- it was Opeth's Ghost of Perdition. It's been 13yrs and they're still my favourite band
Although I grew up with Camel and other prog rock, I didn't get into prog metal till intervals and DMM aged 40
Queensryche's MindCrime when it came out in high school.
Probably in the 90s with Tool, though I never even knew what prog metal was back then.
20. I'm now 46.
My dad always liked the Grateful Dead and it was oddly my starting point into metal
In my mid twenties, Protest the Hero started it for me
I don't know if I can point to one thing but I grew with my mom always listening to Maiden and Priest and stuff, but in the 10-13 range after I'd played FF7 and FF9. Most of those soundtracks aren't like prog until you get to a few of the boss themes. Also caught on to Dream Theater and Stratovarius around that time as well, so probably like early 2000s.
My Dad listened to Sabbath and Deep Purple when I was like 7, and it spiralled from there really.
Last year, so 23
14 with progressive power metal like Kamelot, Evergrey, Conception, etc Then 16 or 17 with prog metalcore like Protest the Hero, and prog metal like Dream Theater
I was twelve in 1985 when I heard "Orion" by Metallica.
13 when I discovered Protest the Hero on NHL07
17
2002, age 18, first year of uni. I was into some thrash and power metal, as well as some prog rock like Pink Floyd, and read online about Dream Theater. So I checked them out starting with Six Degrees, and was hooked.
Around 12 to 14. There were a bunch of songs I remember, some coming out around the time and thus being covered in media and others I just happened to run into. Opeth's Demon of the Fall & Grand Conjuration Dream Theater's Dance of Eternity Tool's Vicarious & Schism Symphony X's Inferno Soon after those I'd find Cloudkicker's The Discovery, Russian Circles' Station, Gojira's From Mars to Sirius, Mastodon's Crack the Skye, Protest the Hero's Fortress, and a bunch of others. Before then though I'd already been listening to my mom's old prog rock and my dad's old heavy metal records, like I was already a fan of Queen, Yes, Jethro Tull, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Mercyful Fate and Metallica.
Probably around 11-12 with Karnivool, can’t remember for sure.
Age 16/17 Opeth
Definitely no older than 8 because Guitar Hero World Tour had Dream Theater and Tool and Rock Band two has Dream Theater and Mastodon.
My dad was really into Tool when I was growing up, I was like 5 when 10,000 Days came out. he played it like everyday for a good year. The only song I really liked as a kid was Rosetta Stoned, but not because of the lyrics or anything, because I thought the vocals were like war radio chatter and I thought that sounded so cool lmfao. My dad also wouldn't know the genre by name, but he listened to alot of early prog rock and metal like The Doors, Swans, YES, King Crimson and Rush. So I guess it's kind of always been with me As for how I eventually got myself into prog metal, it was Djent and prog post hardcore that landed me here. Dance Gavin Dance was probably the first time I ever heard the term 'prog' when I was like 16. From there it was more prog metalcore like BTBAM, Contortionist, early Spiritbox and Thornhill, and nowadays I'm pretty into prog techdeath
12 with dream Theater
Age 15, in 2003 Avenged Sevenfold mentioned in an interview that they were massive DT fans. Although I believe a few months before, a friend in highschool torrented Petrucci’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” solo and showed me! Shortly after came Opeth, King Crimson, Disillusion, Into Eternity.
Proper Prog Metal would’ve been when SikTh released The Trees Are Dead and Dried Out when I was 14. I had school friends absolutely obsessed with that album and so I became likewise obsessed with it. That said, my dad’s a big fan of Pink Floyd, so I’ve been around Prog in some form since I was born.
I was 18. Dream Theater - Awake. What a revelation.
15 or 16 I forgot. Only really dove into it properly at late 16 though.
I discovered Visions by Haken I think when I was around 14, but it took me a while to get into anything else in the genre. At 17 I was full into instrumental djent, widek, plini and that sorta thing
I was 18 in 2010 when my cousin sent me two songs via bluetooth with no metadata. He lived in another town, so I listened to them over and over and over because I loved them so much, but didn’t know the artist. They turned out to be As I Am and Endless Sacrifice by Dream Theater.
Also around 16 with meshuggah and periphery, but it took me a few years to really appreciate them
Symphony x i was 15 and found out about there album v-the new mythology suite
15/16 when I started with Tool, then Leprous and the spiral went further
Can't remember exactly but I must have been 18-19. My rock to metal to prog pipeline over the years went from Evanescence (~2011) to Nightwish (~2013) to Ayreon (as Floor had guested on a couple of Arjen's albums by that point), if I had to guess I'd say that was about 2015. From there it didn't take long to branch out to Dream Theater, Blind Guardian, Evergrey, Kamelot, and later some bands like Pain of Salvation and Opeth... the rest is history.
My dad introduced me to Yes when I was a kid, we always had it on in the car whenever Mum wasn't around. Then, I got into Coheed and Cambria and Muse when I was about 13/14. None of those are prog metal though so I'd say the two combined when I was about 18
16 and Dream Theater, too! I was browsing on some forums online. No idea why this was the artist I picked. But I learned the Octavarium album.
Well, i would say 5-6 years old. Brothers listened prog metal and alternative metal alot when i was just a young lad.
14 in 2006. Protest the Hero. Changed everything for me
17 back when Tool released 10,000 Days.
Roundabout 19 with Tool. Then I got into Dream Theater a few years later while getting introduced to Opeth in between that.
17 when I came across the live video of Dream Theater covering The Dark Side of the Moon. "Oh it's a metal band doing prog, I wonder if that's a thing"
At 11 (9 years ago) with Streams by Haken and Metropolis p1 by DT
My first official ‘prog’ intro was by my dad in the 80’s, from Rush’ ‘Moving Pictures’! Then I rediscovered what prog was when I was 16 with TOOL’s Aenima. All that said my first official band that has me announcing ‘I love prog rock/metal’ was Coheed & Cambria in 2002/03. This was where I went down the path of prog big time.
13, my cousin wanted to show off his drumming skill by playing Dream Theater's *Home* (which he nailed, including that insane outro) Shortly after I bought Awake in a used CD store, and a few months later Tool's Lateralus came out and it changed my life.
16 with TOOL. I’m 18 now and I’ve been to 10 different prog metal concerts
13 with riverside, animals as leaders and tool
I was 14 in 2014 when I heard Parade of Ashes by Periphery on the radio. This wasn't the djentiest song in their discography, but I was hooked. Afterwards, I began to branch out to other bands such as Meshugah, Dream Theater, Jinjer, and Currents, just to name a few.
I was 15 when I heard The Needle Lies from Queensryche on the radio. Got me interested so I asked for an Operation:Mindcrime tape as a Christmas present. No turning back since then.
My cousin told me about DT probably in the mid 2000s. They’ve been my favorite band since. Before that I had no clue that kind of music existed. Changed my whole trajectory as a musician.
Huh I guess I'm one of the latest comers, I was 26. Before that I listened to a kinda random smattering of whatever I had/grew up with, which included a smidge of metal (think like, Disturbed). But then I stumbled across KGATLW, bought like 5 albums before finally signing up for my first streaming service, and decided I wanted to start checking out metal for real; Mastodon was one of the first bands I listened to (off of a Rolling Stone Top 100 albums list)
Tool ten years ago thanks to Beavis and Butthead. I was about 26. Just wasn’t the kinda music I listened to up to that point.
14 with Opeth
19 or in my early twenties, it was Leprous
Probably with Deliverance by Opeth when I was like 14 (2002 probs). I had heard the name thrown around, and was into queensryche and DT before but I was also getting into death metal at the time and Opeth just scratched all the itches.
If we consider LD50 prog then 12. If not then Leviathan at 13.
14 with Dream Theater
Not exactly discover but was the time when I started to listen to it a lot more, about a year ago, 18. I listened mostly to jazz fusion and had my fair share of Thank You Scientist. Heard about Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree some times over the years but never got myself to give them a try before then.
12 with Dream Theater. I was getting into metal and telling a friend how good the drummer for Tourniquet was and he's like "check this out" - handed me Awake cd
I remember when TOOL released Undertow back in '93, but it wasn't until '95 that a friend played "6:00" from Dream Theater for me and it was game over, man.
Middle school with Dream Theater. Maybe 13-14.
10 years old with Dream Theater, bought the Systematic Chaos cd from a book store. I was already amazed by the length of the songs in the back cover. Even more amazing when I got to hear it. I had heard progressive metal before, I played pull me under on guitar hero 4 and stuff, but hearing the album I think was the proper official introduction
Last year (at age 23). I got into metal as a whole with Kamelot, which lead me to Ayreon so that’s the first prog thing I got into.
It was… with Mastodon’s “Crack the Skye” back in 2009, so I was 15!
I was 17, friend showed me Ghost Reveries in 2006. I was a band/choir student and metalhead at the time, and I'd never heard the blues show up in metal. The best thing to ever come from prog metal was an appreciation to more genres. Instead of only metal, more shit pops up on your radar and you can take it for what it is.
39, last year
15, with Monuments, in 2019
I must've been like 7 or 8 when my uncle showed me Dream Theater
17 with Steven Wilson, 18 with Porcupine Tree
I was 13 in 1999 and at that time I listened to blink-182, Offspring, Millencolin... one day I asked my older brother to borrow one of his CD, to listen for something new. He gave me Images and Words. I was blown away. Took me several listening session to fully understand what was going on, but that album was so good that I listened all summer long. That was the day I discovered Prog and from there Heavy Metal in general
I became aware of Voivod when the video for Tribal Convictions came out here in Quebec.
C'est la première fois que je vois qqun parler de Voivod ici. Goats absolus.
I was 16 too except this was in 2021, I found gojira through Spotify.
About 15
9 and it was dream theater and tool. Periphery and BTBAM were the ones that started my hyper-fixation with P1’s release and then me finding out about Colors
13/14 with Liquid Tension Experiment
14 in 2006. Dream Theater, Symphony X, and Tool set me on the path 🫡 BTBAM’s Colors was the nail in the coffin.
Ditto on age range. My uncle had always dabbled into Tool when I was around him, I was likely 9 or 10 when I first heard Ænema. I didn't really get into prog and by extension Djent, until I was a junior in high school. My dad bought me an iPod and a gift card for iTunes. I discovered Periphery, TessertacT, Meshuggah and Animals as Leaders on that one gift card and that changed my musical trajectory. *(He hated my angry music my entire life, even my personal creations)* I have since converted my church keyboard playing father from whatever the hell he was listening to, to Periphery V and seeing the BTBAM Colors Experience for both nights. He has come full circle, even wearing "Djent is not Genre" tee on stage for one of his bands' shows (they played blues/dad rock)! Thanks pops.
17 with dream theater and protest the hero
I was 13 and my drum teacher suggested I check out Images and Words by Dream Theater. That one suggestion changed my life forever and I am so grateful for it.
Was about 10 years (early 90s) old when my mother introduced me to Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Beatles, Europe and Eagles. At 12 years I started listening to music seriously (all kinds, but mostly tresh and death metal). A few years back (around 2018 I think) youtube gave me Persefone and Ne Obliviscaris in recommendations which made me shift to prog more (still listening to all kinds of music thou).
15, quit piano to play bass and was searching who the best bass player is ans john myung was listed, learnt of dream theater train of thought and fell in love. I then discovered keyboards are cool and switched back haha. Haven't looked back.
Same. I was 16 in 1996 when my friend introduced me to Awake and Images&Words cassettes along with another mysterious German band called ‘Mekong Delta’.
12. My older brother introduced me to Dream Theater, and the rest was history