The progressive metal genre is currently undergoing a radical shift, with many extreme metal bands embracing their inner prog, and groups with an undeniable prog element playing bigger shows than ever. Members of Jinjer, Blood Incantation and Rivers Of Nihil explain what’s going on.
Progressive metal is evolving at a rate of knots. Four decades on from the pioneering efforts of Savatage, Queensrÿche and Fates Warning, the ostensible divide between progressive rock and heavy metal has been bridged like never before, resulting in some of the most mind-bending and deliriously imaginative heavy music ever committed to tape.
Not so long ago, the phrase ‘prog metal’ was generally agreed to apply to a very specific sound. Dream Theater’s rise to glory and subsequent dominance of the scene in the early 90s led to a deluge of like-minded bands, all gleefully demonstrating their technical prowess on records that were structurally adventurous but audibly in debt to classic metal and melodic rock traditions.
Of course, there have been plenty of exceptions to that rule – not least the synapse-twisting likes of Watchtower and Voivod – but the perception that prog metal was a flashy and polished extension of trad metal prevailed for many years. These days prog metal is much, much weirder and more diverse than even its stoutest defenders could have predicted.
Leading the charge for this new generation of mavericks are Denver, Colorado’s Blood Incantation. Formed in 2011 as an unusually imaginative death metal band, they’ve steadily become one of the most celebrated heavy outfits on the planet, and their prog credentials are impeccable. Following the release of third album Timewave Zero, which ditched the death metal in favour of long-form psychedelic ambience, Blood Incantation scaled new heights on last year’s Absolute Elsewhere.
It’s a two-song, psychedelic voyage that assimilated everything from Floydian prog and meandering cosmic rock to fiendishly inventive old-school death metal, blending it all into a kaleidoscopic, genre-blind tour-de-force. Universally acclaimed, Absolute Elsewhere is notable for being a progressive rock record that happens to feature extreme metal elements, rather than the other way around. As drummer Isaac Faulk explains, Blood Incantation were inspired by prog from the start.
“When Paul [Reidl, guitarist/vocalist] and I first met in our early 20s, we were naming bands at each other. When I was at his place the first time, one of the records he pulled out was was Close To The Edge by Yes. I was like, ‘Absolutely – I love that record!’ Even in the very early days of the band we were all into that stuff.”
“I think the missing link for us has been krautrock and kosmische music,” says Riedl. “It wasn’t generally pursued in death metal, but in black metal, there was space ambient, there was Neptune Towers and all these guys in Norway, basically making kosmische records in the 90s. So it was OK for black metal people to be into that stuff.
“But the connection between krautrock and death metal was an unmined expanse that we had the instincts to pursue. Now it seems very natural to be like, ‘Yeah, death metal Pink Floyd; who wouldn’t love that?’ For a long time that wasn’t considered a good idea. But it’s a great idea!”
“I think that’s the key,” agrees Faulk. “A lot of metalheads wind up finding prog, but it’s in a lot of their favourite bands already. Bands like Emperor, Arcturus and Dodheimsgard. And Enslaved – they’re one of the other extreme metal bands that decided to put Yes and Pink Floyd and krautrock into their music. Once you go back and listen to those seminal prog albums, it’s clear the lineage is there.”
It would take a brave or possibly foolish person to claim that Absolute Elsewhere isn’t an authentic prog record; but Blood Incantation acknowledge they may continue to struggle with fans of more mainstream prog, due to the death metal elements that remain an integral part of their sound. However, that suspicion goes both ways: as any long-suffering listener knows, metal fans can be just as myopic and resistant to change when it comes to their favourite genre.
One major difference between the metal scene of 2025 and its equivalent from 30 years ago is that many fans are now far more open to progressive music in general, partly through being schooled by the likes of Tool, Opeth and Meshuggah, and also because music fans in general are exposed to a much wider range of amazing sounds. But not everyone is on board.
“We have had resistance from death metal fans at every turn, to be honest,” says Riedl. “What Cynic did in the 90s is a great example of that. They’re one of the few bands that went full-bore into prog, but they went so far that they broke up after releasing Focus. They were getting booed on tour with Sleep and Cannibal Corpse in Europe in ’93. What they were doing was too crazy and the metal world wasn’t ready for it.
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“Even the first few Opeth albums, they were getting shit every time, amid a growing demographic of shit-talkers. Now, Cynic are playing Focus front-to-back at festivals on the main stage at 10 o’clock. And Opeth are playing in arenas. It was very different back then. People seem much more open to it now.”
Among the factors behind prog metal’s exponential blossoming, the influence of the internet cannot be overstated. As older readers will attest, people simply didn’t have access to as much music in the pre-digital age, unlike today’s music nerds, who have a much less tribal attitude towards genre. Similarly, the current generation of prog metal bands are much more likely to have had their childhoods soundtracked by progressive rock and heavy metal, with access to parents’ record collections thrown in as a helpful bonus.
I’ve always thought we’re underestimated by the prog scene. It’s almost an insult to see the media claim we’re a metalcore band
Eugene Abdukhanov
Even more important is the fact that prog is no longer burdened by its former critical reputation as a bloated anachronism. Progressive sensibilities have been assimilated into nearly every strain of modern metal, from the avowedly underground to the pointedly mainstream; and prog metal has flourished as a result.
While Blood Incantation have mastered the art of turning death metal into prog in a decidedly underground context, the metal mainstream has also become inundated with bands that have prog sensibilities etched into their musical identities. In the UK, Sleep Token have risen from obscurity to arena-filling hugeness with a unique and compelling blend of post-djent complexity, subverted electronics and emotionally turbocharged, singer-songwriter shtick.
Across the Channel, Gojira have established themselves as one of metal’s biggest and most revered bands, with a sound that has been quietly progressive and endlessly inventive from the start. They picked up a Grammy for Best Metal Performance after playing a reconstructed version of a French revolutionary anthem at the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony in Paris, which has got to be worth a few extra prog points.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian quartet Jinjer are rapidly becoming one of the hottest properties in heavy music, with an endlessly ingenious sound that has reached an apex of efficacy on new album Duél. Armed with vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk, who has both a powerful, melodic voice and the ability to scream and growl with great authority, Jinjer are emblematic of the anything-goes mindset that’s slowly transforming prog metal into something smarter, sharper and more fervently original.
As bassist Eugene Abdukhanov tells Prog, the band have encountered some resistance to their ongoing evolution from prog and metal fans; but their growing popularity suggests that they’re winning.“There are no limitations to what we do,” he says. “We don’t deliberately control what we make; everything coming out from Jinjer is a flow of creativity. I’ve always thought we’re underestimated by the prog scene because of our supposed metalcore origins.
“It’s almost an insult to see the media claim that we’re a metalcore band in 2025! I want to play on proggier bills and I generally consider that, by now, Jinjer has become one of the biggest prog metal bands – without even being a part of the prog metal scene.”
As their country continues to suffer amidst the Russo-Ukrainian War, Jinjer have become great ambassadors for their home and its vibrant culture, touring globally and spreading a message of hope and defiance through songs that are often equal parts ethereal and brutal. Their progressive approach was arrived at through a natural process of pooled influences, but his enthusiasm for prog grew from a humble beginning.
“I guess the first proggy bands I discovered were Florida death metal pioneers like Cynic and Atheist, who obviously wanted something more from their music,” Abdukhanov explains. “When I was a teenager, the only media we had, from music to games and movies, was pirated or bootlegged. I had a CD-R full of mp3 discographies of Cynic, Atheist and Italian band called Sadist, all with that prog mentality. Through that I discovered Opeth – they became my favourite band of all time, and fully opened the landscapes of prog for me.”
Don’t take growling for singing. The growls should be viewed as a kind of third rhythm guitar
Eugene Abdukhanov
There are several moments on Duél that hint at a less frantic, less vicious approach that prog fans might be more inclined to embrace. There’s no denying that extreme vocals have been a perennial sticking point for many, and while Shmayluk’s ability to roar has been celebrated in metal circles, traditional prog fans may be less inclined to entertain the technique as a legitimate ingredient in contemporary prog metal.
Ignoring the fact that screamed metal vocals have been around for at least 40 years, growls may be the last obstacle preventing some from taking a leap of faith. Abdukhanov is sympathetic, and offers some helpful advice to the growl-curious. “To be honest, I may be subconsciously turning away from extreme vocals. To me it’s way more extreme to find a clean singing solution for a super-heavy and groovy riff, than to just lazily staccato-growl on top of it. But don’t take growling for singing. Like I was told many years ago, the growls should be viewed as a kind of third rhythm guitar.”
With origins in death metal, Blood Incantation have also been drawn into the debate about extreme vocals. Riedl backs up Abdukhanov’s thoughts about how they should best be regarded. “For the initiated, the vocals are a secondary thing,” he says. “With most forms of popular music the vocals are the thing you’re paying most attention to. The human voice is what the ear latches onto first; so one of the things we like about extreme vocals is that they’re a rhythmic, textural element.”
Another band that have strayed from the death metal path and into bona fide prog territory is Rivers Of Nihil. Alongside vaunted contemporaries like Allegaeon, Wilderun, Between The Buried And Me and Ne Obliviscaris, the Pennsylvanian quartet have openly and increasingly embraced prog throughout their career.
Their new self-titled album is a dazzling display of progressive death metal, full of soaring melodies, lavish vocal harmonies, relentless brutal twists and mellow turns. Then in 2021 they released The Work – an album that pursued a progressive path with such unbridled passion that fan opinion was split down the middle.
“It does often seem like the possibilities are endless, but every now and again I’ll demo a song that’s just not for us,” says guitarist Brody Uttley. “I think The Work was a real experiment in that. We turned off the filter and did whatever we wanted to, without considering our fanbase. It was a divisive album for that very reason – but still an album I’m extremely proud of.”
Rivers Of Nihil began their creative journey as a death metal band, albeit one with more and better ideas than most. For Uttley, delving into prog’s endless depths has become an essential part of the songwriting process. “I really like the ‘no rules’ mentality that the prog genre cultivates,” he says. “I always thought it was cool to hear multiple genres combined together to create something unique. I listen to everything from Radiohead and Morbid Angel to Iron & Wine and Slowdive, so my taste is pretty all over the place. Naturally, I felt drawn to prog because it sort of allows for all of that at once.”
Having mainly toured with bands from the metal world, Uttley is keen to spread his band’s message further – specifically into the prog sphere. “We’ve crafted such a diverse discography at this point that I really feel like we could tour with anyone,” he says. “I’d love the challenge of cultivating a setlist for an Opeth crowd just as much as for a Cannibal Corpse crowd. Our band have always been an outlier, so we’re used to it at this point.”
When nobody wanted to be prog, where did all these prog musicians go? Steven Wilson said extreme metal is where they ended up
Paul Riedl
When Blood Incantation released Absolute Elsewhere they anticipated a strong response, good or bad. It’s been a huge success, at least in underground metal terms, and has given them a new level of exposure. The band confirm that their audiences have become much more diverse, with plenty of brave prog fans taking the plunge. “We’ve had people tell us it was their first metal show,” says Riedl. “In my opinion, we provided a smörgåsbord of qualities – this cosmic, progressive, spacy, technical, atmospheric thing – and if you like those qualities, there’s an endless amount of ear candy and little treats to enjoy on a record like this.
“We don’t make music to be interesting or cool or contrarian, or to make money or get chicks; we want to make cool music that takes us on a journey and makes an atmospheric imprint on ourselves and the collective consciousness of music fans around the world, whether they’re extreme or not. We are almost victims of circumstance as much as the listeners, being taken on this crazy journey.”
Faulk adds: “When we were making it, it felt special – like we were making something that meant something. On the other hand, we were making two 20-minute, prog-metal odyssey things, self-indulgent and over-the-top. In the context of where music is at right now, that doesn’t make sense. But we were also in the mindset that it’s what the music world needs right now.”
The old-school greats of prog metal are still flying high, not least Dream Theater, whose new album Parasomnia is a return to top form. Standard-bearers from TesseracT and Periphery to Devin Townsend and Meshuggah continue to push boundaries in perverse directions. Meanwhile, the genre’s new breed are excitedly exploring new possibilities and changing a once-restrictive identity from within.
As Riedl concludes, it was always going to happen. “In the 2000s, Steven Wilson was putting out Porcupine Tree records and people were asking him, ‘You’re adding these metal elements – what’s the deal?’ He made an interesting point: that in the 90s, prog had been a bad word and nobody wanted to be prog.
“So where did all these prog musicians who would have been in prog bands in the 70s go? Steven said that extreme metal is where those people ended up. In the end we’re all just nerds!”
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