Progressive Metal 2000s Albums - Page 2

Paper Blood layers dense keyboard arrangement, hard guitar and forceful vocals into a dramatic progressive-metal setting.

Reason builds a dramatic sound around Andre Matos’s soaring voice, thick keys and classically colored guitar.

Wound Creations introduces Amoral through rapidly changing guitar riffs, abrupt rhythmic shifts and raw growls at high density.

Temple of Shadows combines fast guitar, classical arrangement, Brazilian rhythmic color and soaring vocals to tell a story on a large scale.

FWX uses sharp guitar, restrained rhythm and shadowed vocals to create progressive metal that turns inward.

The second studio album, a concept record drawn from Herman Melville's Moby-Dick and the band's last for Relapse Records. It opens with "Blood and Thunder".

11 Dreams tightly combines heavy riffs, shifting rhythm and the contrast between clean vocals and growls.

Neurosis's eighth album, from 2004. It pulls back the folk leanings of its predecessor and moves closer to post-rock, with more industrial textures.

Far from the Sun keeps heavy guitar underneath softer vocals, expansive keyboards and subdued melody.

Accelerated Evolution combines walls of guitar, dense arrangement and soaring vocals to make heaviness and release coexist.

Dir En Grey's fourth album, released on 10 September 2003 and co-produced by the band with Tatsuya Sakamoto.

Train of Thought turns Dream Theater toward harder, darker progressive metal through low guitar, precise rhythm and technical keyboards.

The Phantom Agony layers heavy guitar, orchestra, choir and Simone Simons’s clear voice into a large-scale drama.

The Link builds distinctive pressure from low, rolling guitar, machine-like rhythm and heavy roars.

Labyrinth combines fast guitar, bright keyboards and soaring vocals to put European power-metal lift at the front.

Nevermore's fifth album, from July 2003. The sound it was released with drew heavy criticism, and in 2005 Andy Sneap remixed and remastered the whole record.

Opeth's seventh album, from April 2003, the half of one set of sessions that carries neither distortion nor death growls.

Tribe uses hard guitar, shifting rhythm and Geoff Tate’s expressive voice to create tense metal with progressive instincts.

Eyewitness layers weighty keyboards, firm guitar and soaring vocals into a cinematic progressive-metal setting.

Voivod's self-titled tenth studio album, from March 2003, with Snake back and Jason Newsted newly on bass.

Arcturus's third album, from 2002. It turns towards a space-influenced sound, and it is the last record with Kristoffer Rygg singing.

Three combines heavy guitar riffs, dark melody and dramatic movement in Armageddon’s melodic-metal world.

Dir En Grey's third album, released on 30 January 2002, sixteen tracks running 69:57 and produced by the band.

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence uses heavy riffs, complex meters, lyrical ballads and an extended suite to examine inner life from multiple angles.

The debut album, released by Relapse Records in 2002 by the band formed in Atlanta in 2000.

Everblack fuses death-metal sharpness, power-metal drama and a vocal approach that moves between clean singing and growls.

Opeth's sixth album, from November 2002. It was made in the same sessions as Damnation and is the heavy half of the pair.

Ritual uses dramatic keyboards, fast guitars and expressive high vocals to build Shaman’s expansive narrative.

The Odyssey combines neoclassical guitar, complex rhythm, weighty keyboards and powerful vocals at a high level of density.

Am Universum expands Amorphis beyond a heavy-guitar base with keyboards, saxophone and clean vocals.

Rebirth presents Angra’s renewed lineup through Brazilian rhythmic color and grand power metal.

Terria uses heavy guitar, but places atmosphere, silence and scale at the center of Devin Townsend’s writing.

Terra Incognita introduces Gojira through complex rhythms, low heavy riffs and abrupt shifts in texture.

Neurosis's seventh album, from 2001. It turns towards clean singing and acoustic instruments, and Decibel placed it eighteenth in its metal albums of the decade.

Opeth's fifth album, out on 12 March 2001. It is the first record Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree produced for them.

The Mission is a concept-driven Royal Hunt record that tells its story through thick keyboards and metal riffs.

Savatage's eleventh album, released in 2001: their first after leaving Atlantic, with Jon Oliva singing every lead vocal for the first time since Streets.

Sigh's fifth album, from 2001. It was their first for Century Media, taking the experiments of the previous record further and adding a psychedelic streak.

Tool's third album, released on 15 May 2001 after their dispute with Volcano was settled: their first Billboard 200 number one.

Embrace the Mystery places Armageddon’s melodic-metal drama around Jeff Scott Soto’s powerful vocal.

Borknagar's fourth album, released in 2000. It was recorded at The Abyss Studios and mixed by Peter Tagtgren.

Physicist collides Devin Townsend’s enormous sound pressure with introspective, off-kilter melody.

Dir En Grey's second album, released on 20 September 2000, thirteen tracks running 72:57.

Disconnected deepens Fates Warning’s progressive-metal tension through precise playing and inward-looking songs.

Isis's first full-length album, issued in 2000 by Escape Artist and Hydra Head Records.

Sons of Thunder connects Labyrinth’s technical playing with accessible, singable choruses.

Nevermore's fourth album, from 2000. It is their first record made with seven-string guitars, and it includes a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence".

V: The New Mythology Suite turns Symphony X’s mythic themes into a large-scale progressive-metal narrative.