Bands you've got most albums by...

[Bupie]

TOT and SC are two of the heaviest albums of any band in my collection.

I may agree for TOT but certainly not for SC that has only two metal songs on it !

DT´s Score (probably all of their live albums)

Considering how false James sings on some parts of OIALT and LSFNY, I have to disagree : you can credit the band for being honest no overdubbing those parts (if they had the choice to do that or not) but I would not describe them as great nor even good 

[PH]

You surprise me again and again, Paxi. You don't go for heavy stuff, yet your biggest collection is that of DT. Are you in love with Jamie, or what 

I'm not afraid of heavy stuff at all.
But I wouldn't say that DT are heavy. I don't think they are that heavy at all. Although there are a few exceptions of course.
And yes, I love James' voice quite a bit. But I wouldn't go as far as to say that I'm in love with him (or even his voice).

TOT and SC are two of the heaviest albums of any band in my collection.

Not in my collection!

Everything else you have is medium to lite (late Arena being some of the heaviest).

Alright, but perhaps not so 'lite' in other ways.
A double album by the Flower Kings, THAT's heavy!

[The Butterfly Man]

A double album by the Flower Kings, THAT's heavy!

More cheesy than heavy if you ask me!

Okay, bad joke. Please move on people, and Paco, forgive me...

Tom

[Manatee]

You surprise me again and again, Paxi. You don't go for heavy stuff, yet your biggest collection is that of DT. Are you in love with Jamie, or what 

Give him some time, Nicky.  As I recall, you said you moved much more toward the heavy end of things as you went on in years.  I've done the same, although, with a couple notable exceptions, you're still ahead of me in that department, but then, I'm a mere lad by your standards 

If he already likes Dream Theater stuff now, but the time he's 40 or 50, he'll probably be listening to nothing but thrash and death metal.   

As to being in love with Jamie, my opinion on this is already known, and in fact, if they ever replaced him with, say, Devin Townsend, I would probably pre-order every Dream Theater album they made from that point onward.  And it would have the bonus of removing the ambiguity of what DT stands for.   

[Nicky007]

As I recall, you said you moved much more toward the heavy end of things as you went on in years.  I've done the same, although, with a couple notable exceptions, you're still ahead of me in that department, but then, I'm a mere lad by your standards 

I think you have a point there, Greenie. As I see it, there is nowadays a tendency for rock enthusiasts to gradually go in a heavier direction, the main reason being that that's where you find the most passionate/seeking/hard-driving musicians.

If a group goes heavy, they'v basically removed the limits of their exploration. They can do a lot of fine things in the lite areas too. What they're saying to the listener is, "If you wanna be with us, ya gotta follow us all the way, regardless of what we conjure up."

That's prog for you 

I think that Arena and DT deliberately bank on that.

Nicky.

[PH]

Well Nicky... to be honest, this way you're counting out bands like Gazpacho, and I think you're REALLY missing out!
Not heavy at all, but great!

As I said before, I don't hate heavy music, but I think it's much overrated. There's plenty of good music around, and saying that one will like the heavy music when they 'mature' is kind of insulting in some way.
Not only to me, but also towards the musicians who try to look for the borders of prog and go over it.
Sorry, just had to say it.

[Steve Jones]

saying that one will like the heavy music when they 'mature' is kind of insulting in some way.

Certainly sounds odd to me.  I was almost exclusively heavy when I was a kid and diversified into other areas as I matured got older.

[Nicky007]

Sorry, just had to say it.

Perfectly OK, Paxi. I'm outspoken, and I like other people being so.

Of course there are lots of great artists and groups that never get heavy - just to make that clear !  E.g. I find Jeff Buckley and Simon and Garfunkel fabulous.

What I was talking about was a general tendency. Most prog musicians, in the short or long run, include heavy metal in their expression. E.g. DT did so from start, and Arena picked up between Immortal? and Contagion. I'd of course never call Arena a heavy metal band, but they sure master the craft of metal.

Nicky.

[erik]

Another point to falsify your thesis, Nicky, with which I also think your taking turns on two wheels: there are bands that become more interesting as they mature and become less heavy. Fine examples of this are Anathema and The Gathering.

[Nicky007]

Interesting, Erik 

I must admit to being bored by what I'v heard by The Gathering. I experience them as rather monotonous. In fact that's a problem that I have with virtually all so-called goth groups.

Anathema otoh grip me deeply (in roomese: at the b*s). They're one of the most versatile groups I know of.

It would be interesting to get some input from other roomies, but I experience the general tendency that if one passionately penetrates into music, one learns to be gratified by a wide variety of expression from Jeff-Buckley-like pared-down simple beauty to strenuous complex Scar Symmetry. Again, "The more you love music, the more music you love."

Of course there are exceptions, like some people strike upon an artist or group that simply does it for them (I'v experienced this particularly with Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan fans), and they're fully pleased to remain musically within the universe created by this one artist. I guess the Marillion community has a bit of this quality too.

Fine by me. I'm happy if I can find some people with whom I can share some of my stuff - some with some, other with others, so to speak - like in the Room, and I'm fortunate to also have friends with whom I share some wonderful music. Curiously I havent found anyone who comes close to sharing the entire range of my pantheon, but that aint no problem to me - honestly - rather have everyone diggin down to their own roots 

Nicky.

[erik]

Interesting, Erik 

I must admit to being bored by what I'v heard by The Gathering. I experience them as rather monotonous. In fact that's a problem that I have with virtually all so-called goth groups.

Anathema otoh grip me deeply (in roomese: at the b*s). They're one of the most versatile groups I know of.

Which albums by The Gathering have you heard? I think they became better when they went from goth to "trip rock" as they call it themselves, especially their album Home is a favourite of mine, very layered and melancholic. Had to get used to their shift in style though, was at first apalled by their album How To Measure A Planet, but repeated listening revelead its depths and beauty that went beyond the previous two Anneke albums.

It would be interesting to get some input from other roomies, but I experience the general tendency that if one passionately penetrates into music, one learns to be gratified by a wide variety of expression from Jeff-Buckley-like pared-down simple beauty to strenuous complex Scar Symmetry. Again, "The more you love music, the more music you love."

Hitting the nail on the head there, Nicky! I've certainly noticed this in my own development of musical tastes. As you mature, you remove the limits of your exploration

Of course there are exceptions, like some people strike upon an artist or group that simply does it for them (I'v experienced this particularly with Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan fans), and they're fully pleased to remain musically within the universe created by this one artist. I guess the Marillion community has a bit of this quality too.

I'm passionate about Marillion and they are indeed a band that create a universe that for me is very much a place I love to be, but I certainly wouldn't want to confine myself to it and miss out on all the other great stuff that's out there. But in my high school days when I discovered (Fish era) Marillion they were indeed the centre of the musical universe to me for a while.

[Nicky007]

Which albums by The Gathering have you heard?

I bought if_then_else on the basis of several recoms, listened to it some three times, but altho I preach "Ten", I really became thoroughly frustrated with it 

So I gave it away.

But OK, Erik, you'v tipped me with Rush and King Crimson, which as you can see are now in my pantheon, so I'l gladly accept your recoms of recent Gathering 

Nicky.

[erik]

I bought if_then_else on the basis of several recoms, listened to it some three times, but altho I preach "Ten", I really became thoroughly frustrated with it 

So I gave it away.

But OK, Erik, you'v tipped me with Rush and King Crimson, which as you can see are now in my pantheon, so I'l gladly accept your recoms of recent Gathering 

Nicky.

Home would be my no 1 recom, but if you were really so turned off by if_then_else maybe it's just not your thing and I suppose Home wouldn't be to your liking either. Especially love the tracks Amity, Saturnine and Analog Park on if_then_else. You might also try the powerful first album with Anneke, Mandylion. Less layered and versatile than their later work, but definitely a classic and founding album of the genre, the track Sand And Mercury alone is worth the price of admission.

[Manatee]

Re: The Gathering

They were actually the first group in the black metal/goth metal/symphonic metal area that came to my attention because I heard the song "Fear the Sea" (from Mandylion) several times while grazing on Pandora.  I like that one very much, and I think you might too, Nicky, but, although I did hit upon a few other songs of theirs that I thought were pretty good, on the whole they didn't really do it for me.  What it did do though, is lead me to several other bands that I like more.

[keyboardistmatt]

Pink Floyd. 
But they have got alot of albums after all...

and Anathema.

Great Bands!