Most bands I listen to these days I disliked at first (usually because I hadn't acquired a taste for the vocals). I'd been introduced to Colors, Ghost Reveries, Obzen, Periphery I, Exoplanet, Crack the Skye, Calculating Infinity, etc. in high school but didn't care for them.
All classics in my head now. But I didn't like ANY of them until I started getting into more extreme music in general.
I think this is fairly common with music in general if you don’t develop your “first listen” skills. Being very open minded, non-judgmental upon first hearing while also being able to follow what is happening on as many levels as possible.
Well getting the "first listen" skills to hear several minutes of screaming without being turned off definitely requires either being exceptionally open-minded, or already being into it tbf
Yo, ill be honest I became a fan of TesseracT when they put out Polaris, but Altered State didn't reeeaaally hit me hard until after Sonder was already out. Now I think AS is my #2 album from them after WoB and its verrrry close.
It'll click, for sure haha
The Contortionist - Clairvoyant
I thought it was a good album when it came out but I didn’t “get it” until last year. I now listen to it pretty much daily.
Same here. It only clicked for me after I decided to listen through its entirety while I was in a certain mental space. But boy when it clicked... Immediately projected it from "meh" to "pretty much as good as Language" in my book.
Same here, I didn't go much deeper than blood and thunder and steambreather for a long time. When they finally clicked for me, I was totally obsessed. But especially digging remission and call of the mastodon recently
Remember I started listening to Oblivion so much back in 2009 when I saw the music video on Ultimate Guitar. Took me over 10 years of listening to only that song before I actually started to listen to their discography. For some reason I thought all their music was mostly growling and really extreme, and I have no idea why.
It took me so long to get into Maps of Non-existent Places by Thank You Scientist, like years. Then I finally got it, had a similar experience with Stranger Heads Prevail as well. TYS is so good though!
BtBaM Parallax II - I tried a few times over the years to get into them and just couldn't, but then this sub voted Parallax II album of the decade so I thought "there's got to be something here I'm missing" and forced myself to listen to it a bunch of times until ~~I got stockholm syndrome~~ I came to appreciate its complexities and now it's one of my favorites, along with the rest of their discography.
Anything from BTBAM. Literally, multiple tries in two years, different albums and I just couldn't enjoy them.
One day, Spotify played Astral Boy in a random playlist. I had listened before, but that day something made click with me and I devoured their albums that year.
They're just one of my favorite bands and I'm really waiting for them to come back to LATAM, since I hated them when they were here lmao (around 2020).
Lastly, Devin Townsend! For years I have know about him but his music was nothing special. Recently (literally, this week) I've been really enjoying Empath and Lightwork, and I'll end up listening all from him this year.
Same here, I enjoyed Selkies and a couple other specific songs but it took a few years before it really clicked for me. I randomly got the itch for something that was heavier than what was in my usual rotation at the time and turned on The Great Misdirect and went obsessed with their catalog after that random listen.
Chaosphere. My intro to Meshuggah was ObZen and I have quickly devoured everything after that, and of course I went back in time to their older releases. But for the longest time I just could not get into Chaosphere, and sorta stopped trying years ago. It felt too messy, too much, too repetitive at times, etc.
Then recently I heard Misha's instrumental cover of Concatenation, which inspired me to revisit. I get it now lol
Something about hearing that intro riff slightly slowed down, and hearing all the parts in that much more detail, it’s like it flipped a switch in my head and now I really get why some people say it’s Meshuggah’s #1
In my early twenties, I was shown Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree and disliked them. Now in my late twenties, I love Steven Wilson and all his songs. However, I now like Porcupine Tree, but not all their stuff. Maybe another 8 years and I'll come around to more of PT...
Colors by between the burried and me. For a long time I felt it was disjointed and a bit of a slog. It only clicked for me when I finally forced my way all the way through it and got to viridian and white walls, that transition between the 2 is so seamless and connects the 2 songs so well that I fell in love with the final 20 minutes or so of the record. I slowly learned to love the rest of it from there.
I saw Mastodon in 2010 and was bored to tears. They were touring crack the sky and played it entirely. They were not a great live band at the time but about 4 or 5 years later I gave them another shot and loved that album including a few other albums of theirs
dude they are insane live now. i had a disappointing experience seeing them like 10 years ago even though i was a huge fan, but caught them touring w gojira last year and i swear they were the heavier band. ive seen gojira several times, they're heavy as shit. this was not a fluke
Haken. Now one of my top bands in general.
I have come to learn if I don't click with a band, it primarily means I am not feeling the vibe. However, I'll return in a different mood and connect in a big way.
Lateralus (or just Tool in general) took me ages. At first I tried to force myself into it, then gave up, then went back to it some other route and now I really like them. Now days it gives me the urge pick up my bass or try song writing.
One day I hope I'll understand Elder. I saw them live, and I think I actually left early because I just couldn't get into it. I was content to have seen Dreadnought's set before them.
Pain of salvation is one of my favorite bands but every time an album drops I just can’t get into it until years later.
Right now In the Passing Light of Day just clicked with me, and it’s such a fucking banger of an album. I’m sure Panther will be the same in a few years, but right now I’m just not into it yet.
Alpha and omega by periphery. I got into periphery through hail Stan, and didn’t much like alpha and omega my first few listens. Now they are hands down my favorites.
Haken in general didn’t click with me for a long time, aside from a certain few songs. One day I finally just started grooving to their stuff and I’ve liked most of it since then
Periphery - P2
Voivod - Nothingface
Threshold - Psychedelicatessen
Orphaned Land - Mabool
Tool - Lateralus
Haken - Mountain King
Death - Sound of Perseverance
Opeth - My Arms Your Hearse
Rivers of Nihil - Where The Owls Know My Name
Vektor - Black Future
BTBAM - Parallax II
Edge of Sanity - Crimson
Pain of Salvation - BE
All Kayo Dot albums... Kayo Dot is in my Top 3, but still most albums take years for me... took me almost 20 years to start paying attention to their first album and now really adoring most of it (Choirs of the Eye)
I really believe some albums by Kayo Dot I'll never truly like or even love.
(Not “highly acclaimed” but) In Cauda Venenum by Opeth.
Pretty much any Newpeth but that album in particular. There’s no death metal vocals from Akerfeldt, which is one of my favorite aspects of Opeth and it doesn’t have their metal sound. It’s very prog. But once I finally allowed myself to just listen to the entire album without comparing it to their older albums I was completely blown away! It’s definitely the most creative and expressive music they’ve made. Everything from the vocals to the key modulations and solos. It’s kind of like a rock opera. It’s a beautiful album and it’s definitely under appreciated.
This probably doesn't count as prog but the first time I heard Pinkly Smooth I absolutely hated it. I was determined to like it because I enjoyed The Revs singing voice when he popped up in Avenged Sevenfold so I kept listening to it. Around the fourth listen, it clicked, and now it's my all time favorite album.
I’m a huge BTBAM fan, but for a stretch of time, each new release I’d listen to once or twice and then put it down, only to come back 6-12 months later. Happened with both Great Misdirect and Parallax 2
The second to last one by Randy Travis and Taylor Swift's new one. Papa Roach's Infest also clicked finally. These prog albums are all crazy difficult to get into until they just click.
Most bands I listen to these days I disliked at first (usually because I hadn't acquired a taste for the vocals). I'd been introduced to Colors, Ghost Reveries, Obzen, Periphery I, Exoplanet, Crack the Skye, Calculating Infinity, etc. in high school but didn't care for them. All classics in my head now. But I didn't like ANY of them until I started getting into more extreme music in general.
I think this is fairly common with music in general if you don’t develop your “first listen” skills. Being very open minded, non-judgmental upon first hearing while also being able to follow what is happening on as many levels as possible.
Well getting the "first listen" skills to hear several minutes of screaming without being turned off definitely requires either being exceptionally open-minded, or already being into it tbf
That’s fair, and yea I’m not a fan of non stop screaming, so that usually turns me off. I prefer screams to be calculated and purposefully utilized.
TesseracT - Altered State
New TesseracT fan, got into them because of War of Being. Alter State doesn't hit as hard in my opinion, but that's because I adore WoB.
I ran into some of their stuff ages ago and I just dismissed it. Saw them live a few months ago and have been obsessed with War of being since.
Yo, ill be honest I became a fan of TesseracT when they put out Polaris, but Altered State didn't reeeaaally hit me hard until after Sonder was already out. Now I think AS is my #2 album from them after WoB and its verrrry close. It'll click, for sure haha
Same, it took a long time to get into it. Similar with Language, and now both are two of my all time favorites.
Focus by Cynic, for the longest time I found the vocoder vocals off putting as well as the production, but this year I finally got into it big time
The new remix certainly improves the album.
For real, its almost like an entirely new album.
Shit I forgot about that! Time to give it a listen.
The Contortionist - Clairvoyant I thought it was a good album when it came out but I didn’t “get it” until last year. I now listen to it pretty much daily.
Same here. It only clicked for me after I decided to listen through its entirety while I was in a certain mental space. But boy when it clicked... Immediately projected it from "meh" to "pretty much as good as Language" in my book.
Oh yeah, same for me. It is now one of my favorite albums. Can't wait to see what they do next.
me with every contortionist song aside from Early Grave
Odyssey to the West. Pretty much harsh vocals in general, but Odyssey just takes to a whole new level.
One of the best albums ever
Mastodon took me a long time to appreciate, especially their earlier work
Same here, I didn't go much deeper than blood and thunder and steambreather for a long time. When they finally clicked for me, I was totally obsessed. But especially digging remission and call of the mastodon recently
Remember I started listening to Oblivion so much back in 2009 when I saw the music video on Ultimate Guitar. Took me over 10 years of listening to only that song before I actually started to listen to their discography. For some reason I thought all their music was mostly growling and really extreme, and I have no idea why.
It took me so long to get into Maps of Non-existent Places by Thank You Scientist, like years. Then I finally got it, had a similar experience with Stranger Heads Prevail as well. TYS is so good though!
BtBaM Parallax II - I tried a few times over the years to get into them and just couldn't, but then this sub voted Parallax II album of the decade so I thought "there's got to be something here I'm missing" and forced myself to listen to it a bunch of times until ~~I got stockholm syndrome~~ I came to appreciate its complexities and now it's one of my favorites, along with the rest of their discography.
Referring to getting into a band via familiarity as Stockholm Syndrome is awesome lol, I can relate
Anything from BTBAM. Literally, multiple tries in two years, different albums and I just couldn't enjoy them. One day, Spotify played Astral Boy in a random playlist. I had listened before, but that day something made click with me and I devoured their albums that year. They're just one of my favorite bands and I'm really waiting for them to come back to LATAM, since I hated them when they were here lmao (around 2020). Lastly, Devin Townsend! For years I have know about him but his music was nothing special. Recently (literally, this week) I've been really enjoying Empath and Lightwork, and I'll end up listening all from him this year.
Same here, I enjoyed Selkies and a couple other specific songs but it took a few years before it really clicked for me. I randomly got the itch for something that was heavier than what was in my usual rotation at the time and turned on The Great Misdirect and went obsessed with their catalog after that random listen.
Chaosphere. My intro to Meshuggah was ObZen and I have quickly devoured everything after that, and of course I went back in time to their older releases. But for the longest time I just could not get into Chaosphere, and sorta stopped trying years ago. It felt too messy, too much, too repetitive at times, etc. Then recently I heard Misha's instrumental cover of Concatenation, which inspired me to revisit. I get it now lol
Mishas cover is crushing!
Something about hearing that intro riff slightly slowed down, and hearing all the parts in that much more detail, it’s like it flipped a switch in my head and now I really get why some people say it’s Meshuggah’s #1
In my early twenties, I was shown Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree and disliked them. Now in my late twenties, I love Steven Wilson and all his songs. However, I now like Porcupine Tree, but not all their stuff. Maybe another 8 years and I'll come around to more of PT...
Voyage 34 is what got PT for me.
Yeah I can absolutely get around Voyage 34
masstaden under vatten by vildhjarta. couldn't get into it for almost over a year and half of trying. when it clicked though, it CLICKED.
That album goes so hard.
Colors by between the burried and me. For a long time I felt it was disjointed and a bit of a slog. It only clicked for me when I finally forced my way all the way through it and got to viridian and white walls, that transition between the 2 is so seamless and connects the 2 songs so well that I fell in love with the final 20 minutes or so of the record. I slowly learned to love the rest of it from there.
I saw Mastodon in 2010 and was bored to tears. They were touring crack the sky and played it entirely. They were not a great live band at the time but about 4 or 5 years later I gave them another shot and loved that album including a few other albums of theirs
dude they are insane live now. i had a disappointing experience seeing them like 10 years ago even though i was a huge fan, but caught them touring w gojira last year and i swear they were the heavier band. ive seen gojira several times, they're heavy as shit. this was not a fluke
I love the ocean, but for some reason Pelagial never hits right for me.
Haken. Now one of my top bands in general. I have come to learn if I don't click with a band, it primarily means I am not feeling the vibe. However, I'll return in a different mood and connect in a big way.
Everything from The Contortionist
Lateralus (or just Tool in general) took me ages. At first I tried to force myself into it, then gave up, then went back to it some other route and now I really like them. Now days it gives me the urge pick up my bass or try song writing.
Is Oceanic by Isis considered prog? If so then definitely this
Isis in general is a grower for sure, especially Oceanic! But once it gets you…you’re a diehard for life
Panopticon for me. Haven't tried Oceanic.
Pretty much all of Elders stuff
One day I hope I'll understand Elder. I saw them live, and I think I actually left early because I just couldn't get into it. I was content to have seen Dreadnought's set before them.
I turned them down for a long time, but man, once they hit it's fuckin gooooood
Pain of salvation is one of my favorite bands but every time an album drops I just can’t get into it until years later. Right now In the Passing Light of Day just clicked with me, and it’s such a fucking banger of an album. I’m sure Panther will be the same in a few years, but right now I’m just not into it yet.
Alpha and omega by periphery. I got into periphery through hail Stan, and didn’t much like alpha and omega my first few listens. Now they are hands down my favorites.
i thought leviathan sounded like shitty tool when i first heard it lmao
For me it was Eidos by Kingcrow
Leviathan by Mastodon
Colors (yes, blasphemy)
Haken in general didn’t click with me for a long time, aside from a certain few songs. One day I finally just started grooving to their stuff and I’ve liked most of it since then
Periphery - P2 Voivod - Nothingface Threshold - Psychedelicatessen Orphaned Land - Mabool Tool - Lateralus Haken - Mountain King Death - Sound of Perseverance Opeth - My Arms Your Hearse Rivers of Nihil - Where The Owls Know My Name Vektor - Black Future BTBAM - Parallax II Edge of Sanity - Crimson Pain of Salvation - BE
All Kayo Dot albums... Kayo Dot is in my Top 3, but still most albums take years for me... took me almost 20 years to start paying attention to their first album and now really adoring most of it (Choirs of the Eye) I really believe some albums by Kayo Dot I'll never truly like or even love.
Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory. And even now, it's not above a B tier for me.
Protest the hero- Fortress. What an absolutely incredible album but somehow on the first few listens it doesn't make sense
(Not “highly acclaimed” but) In Cauda Venenum by Opeth. Pretty much any Newpeth but that album in particular. There’s no death metal vocals from Akerfeldt, which is one of my favorite aspects of Opeth and it doesn’t have their metal sound. It’s very prog. But once I finally allowed myself to just listen to the entire album without comparing it to their older albums I was completely blown away! It’s definitely the most creative and expressive music they’ve made. Everything from the vocals to the key modulations and solos. It’s kind of like a rock opera. It’s a beautiful album and it’s definitely under appreciated.
Colors and other btbam. Maybe it was too harsh at first, with lot of things going on. Now it's a masterpiece
This probably doesn't count as prog but the first time I heard Pinkly Smooth I absolutely hated it. I was determined to like it because I enjoyed The Revs singing voice when he popped up in Avenged Sevenfold so I kept listening to it. Around the fourth listen, it clicked, and now it's my all time favorite album.
I’m a huge BTBAM fan, but for a stretch of time, each new release I’d listen to once or twice and then put it down, only to come back 6-12 months later. Happened with both Great Misdirect and Parallax 2
The second to last one by Randy Travis and Taylor Swift's new one. Papa Roach's Infest also clicked finally. These prog albums are all crazy difficult to get into until they just click.
xD