Progressive Metal 1990s Albums

Tuonela keeps Amorphis’s heavy guitar foundation while giving greater weight to quiet keyboards, folk-tinged melody and a submerged atmosphere.

Dir En Grey's debut album, released on 28 July 1999, thirteen tracks running 64:47.

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory joins complex rhythm, fluent soloing and memorable vocal melody into a single narrative arc.

Fields of Yesterday highlights Lillian Axe’s shaded melodies and carefully shaped guitar arrangements.

Neurosis's sixth album, released in 1999. It is the first they made with Steve Albini, and a reference point for what is called post-metal.

Nevermore's third album, issued by Century Media in 1999. It is a concept record following one man's slide out of his mind.

Opeth's fourth album, from October 1999, and the first with the bass player Martin Mendez.

Q2K reduces some of Queensrÿche’s more elaborate progressive machinery and presents vocals and riffs in a more direct rock form.

Fear builds dramatic melodic metal from thick keyboard orchestration, hard guitar and expansive vocal melody.

Fireworks threads Brazilian rhythmic character, progressive movement and delicate melody through Angra’s power-metal drive.

Infinity joins Devin Townsend’s layered guitars, unpredictable movement and fragile, highly melodic writing.

Return to Heaven Denied combines fast guitar, vivid keyboards and soaring vocals in Labyrinth’s dramatic power-metal style.

First Breath is Mercenary’s debut, combining thrash/death-metal sharpness with melodic guitar and shifting arrangements.

Opeth's third album, from August 1998, the first on which every song runs under ten minutes and the first built as a single story.

Twilight in Olympus joins classical harmony, intricate rhythm and powerful vocals in Symphony X’s progressive-metal world.

Crossing the Rubicon is Armageddon’s debut, joining aggressive guitar, rough vocals and melancholy lead work.

Ocean Machine: Biomech joins Devin Townsend’s huge guitar layers, wide space and fragile melody.

Falling into Infinity finds Dream Theater tightening its long-form construction and trying to place technique and melody inside more compact songs.

A Pleasant Shade of Gray follows one extended composition through anxiety, isolation and quiet release.

Hear in the Now Frontier finds Queensrÿche reducing some of its elaborate progressive construction in favor of drier guitar and more direct songs.

Paradox combines thick keyboard work, dramatic chorus and heavy guitar in a concept-driven Royal Hunt record.

Savatage's tenth album, released in September 1997: the tale of an old sailor called Magellan, woven around a real stowaway case and the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin.

The Divine Wings of Tragedy unites sharp riffing, classical-flavored keyboards and complex development in Symphony X’s major leap forward.

Voivod's ninth studio album, from 1997 and the second and last with Eric Forrest on bass and vocals.

Elegy keeps the weight of death metal while opening the music to clean vocals, airy keyboards and folk-colored melody.

Holy Land layers power-metal speed with classical grandeur, Brazilian rhythm, choral color and acoustic detail.

No Limits presents Italian power metal directly through fast twin guitars, bright keyboards and open, soaring vocals.

Nevermore's second album, from 1996. It takes its title from Timothy Leary's book of the same name and runs sixty-two minutes, closing with the sixteen-minute "The Learning".

Opeth's second album, issued by Candlelight on 24 June 1996. Five songs run for sixty-six minutes, and it is the defining record of their early years.

Tool's second album, released on vinyl on 17 September and on CD on 1 October 1996: the first with Justin Chancellor, and a No. 2 debut.

Meshuggah's second album, issued by Nuclear Blast in 1995. Its odd metres and stuttering riffs opened the way to mathcore and djent.

Nevermore's debut, from February 1995. It is the first record of the band Warrel Dane and Jim Sheppard started after Sanctuary broke up, and two different drummers play half of it each.

Opeth's debut, issued by Candlelight on 15 May 1995. The band never made a demo; a rehearsal tape alone got them the contract.

Moving Target places D.C. Cooper’s soaring, dramatic vocal at the center of Royal Hunt’s keyboard-led architecture.

Savatage's ninth album, released in September 1995: a rock opera set in wartime Sarajevo, whose "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)" caught on with American radio.

The Damnation Game gains the powerful vocal of Russell Allen and brings Symphony X’s neoclassical guitar, heavy riffs and progressive construction into sharper focus.

Voivod's eighth studio album, from November 1995, the first after Snake left for a time, sung by bassist Eric Forrest.

Tales from the Thousand Lakes, a turning point for AMORPHIS, sets the world of the Kalevala to death-metal weight and Finnish folk-like melody.

Awake, DREAM THEATER's third album, turns inward from the openness of its predecessor with heavier guitars, dense keyboards and tense song construction.

Inside Out, FATES WARNING's seventh album, is mature progressive metal that lets complex meters and tight ensemble work flow quietly inside the songs.

Promised Land finds QUEENSRŸCHE in a phase that deliberately steps away from the broad success of Empire and explores a darker, more inward sound.

Clown in the Mirror finds ROYAL HUNT in a phase that sharpens Royal Hunt's neoclassical speed and dramatic melody around André Andersen's keyboards.

Savatage's eighth album, released in August 1994, less than a year after Criss Oliva's death, with Alex Skolnick of Testament on lead guitar.

Symphony X, the self-titled debut by SYMPHONY X, crosses classical construction and neoclassical guitar with technical playing.

Angels Cry captures ANGRA at a point where the later image is not yet fully fixed.

Cynic's debut, issued by Roadrunner on 14 September 1993. It brings fusion playing and a vocoder into death metal.

On Psychoschizophrenia, LILLIAN AXE keeps its melodic hard-rock instinct but steps into heavy guitars, darker textures and more complex emotion.

Savatage's seventh album, released in April 1993: the first with singer Zak Stevens, and the last album Criss Oliva lived to complete.

Tool's first full-length album, released on 6 April 1993 and made with Sylvia Massy, the only one with original bassist Paul D'Amour.

Voivod's seventh studio album, from 1993, with the seventeen-minute "Jack Luminous" and a Pink Floyd cover.

The Karelian Isthmus is Amorphis’s debut of sinking heavy riffs, low growls and desolate atmosphere.

Images and Words joins complex rhythm, precise ensemble work and broad, singable melody at a very high level.

Poetic Justice connects thick guitar riffing with a more melancholy melodic sense.

Land of Broken Hearts is Royal Hunt’s debut, built around André Andersen’s thick keyboard work, heavy guitar, dramatic chorus and Henrik Brockmann’s powerful vocal.

Tool's debut EP, released on 10 March 1992: four studio songs and two live tracks, picked for their heaviness at the label's urging.

Parallels keeps Fates Warning’s complex rhythm and extended development while giving the songs a clearer outline around Ray Alder’s vocal.

Savatage's sixth album, a rock opera issued by Atlantic in October 1991: the rise, fall and redemption of a New York drug dealer who becomes a rock star.

Voivod's sixth studio album, from 1991, produced by Terry Brown of Rush fame and turned towards alternative rock.

Atheist's debut, taped in 1988 and held back for years by a label bankruptcy before its international release in 1990. It is one of the earliest death metal records built on jazz-fusion phrasing.

Empire finds QUEENSRŸCHE in a phase that joins intricate movement and high-level musicianship to vocal melody and dramatic structure.