Mean Deviation Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal

Mean Deviation Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal by Jeff Wagner

Finally someone has written a book on progressive metal. It starts out charting the earliest sounds of metal in 1969 Black Sabbath, some Led Zeppelin, King Crimson's Red album and from there follows the extremities of the progressive rock movement of the 70's and how it gave way to the branching of 80's metal and today's manifestations.


http://www.amazon.com/Mean-Deviatio...6336/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305700325&sr=8-1

 

The book is totally awesome and very, very thorough. Jeff has done an outstanding job boiling down a hard-to-grasp subject to something substantial. I especially like how he includes bands that generally don't get when discussing progressive metal, so everything from Megadeth to Mayhem can be found within the books pages.

And since it's all about progressing forward, the book is available on Kindle too!

 

Yeah, I had no idea Scorpions were prog before they became stadium rock and speaking of Megadeth, I think Dave Mustaine has gone down the deep end with the rapture lyrics... He should hit the road with Family Radio these next few months ; )

It was only through this book I found out about NEARFest in PA, "the largest progressive music festival in the USA" only to realize that it's on hiatus this year because of low attendance and he mentions how the crowd was full of older men in their 50's. I don't know why progressive rock isn't more popular with the younger generations; at least not when it comes to live concerts/festivals that other genres have...

Kinda suprising considering how all these technical death metal and progressive/fusion metal bands are popping up like crazy lately. My generation is re-discovering the old tech stuff from the late 80's/early 90's that was shunned for the most part and it's finally starting to show.

 

Very Nice Book! I like this book very much Jeff has started this point in new version... Really great Book

 

What is progressive heavy metal?

 

That's the complicated part. It's not always clearly defined. I guess you can say that is started off when metal bands of the 80s adapted elements from the progressive rock movement of the 70s, and also started to push the envelope from a technical standpoint.

That's some kind of standard answer. Jeff brings up these points in the book, but his definition is much more complex, you really do have to read the book to understand. Which you should! Read the book, that is.

 

It's heavy metal with unusual song structures, that makes greater use of harmony and melody and difficult tempi and rhythm, and tends to be "concept-based."

The best examples: Voivod, Gorguts, Atheist, Watchtower, Demilich.