I have been a Progressive Metal addict since 2000, roundabout. I grew up with two music snobs for parents and listened mostly to classical and jazz. In my pre-teens, I found a record copy of ELP's "Pictures at an Exhibition", and this started my love affair with Prog. In college I was listening to a lot of Satriani and Vai, had just seen the G3 tour with Petrucci, and I was studying one day while listening to Satch. My roommate at the time was the film club president and a young man we shall call D came to return some camera equipment. Hearing, and recognizing Satch, he asked if I knew Dream Theater. As I did not, D insisted I borrow an album. I immediately liked them, though I just did not "get" some of their songs. I remember HATING Metropolis Pt. 1 from Images and Words, but for some strange reason a piece of the instrumental section stuck in my head. I had to listen to the song again because of this and after a few listens I had an epiphany, and began to piece together some of the things the band was doing with poly-rhythms and compound time signatures. This is where I truly began to understand and love Progressive music.

I am a collaborator at http://www.metalmusucarchives.com, I write reviews there and on http://www.progarchives.com, and on http://www.seaoftranquility.org. I have attended Prog Power USA (the best festival in the world) since 2005, discovered MANY bands through this, and I have two very good local friends who share many of the same favorites who I have done a yearly Progressive Rock Hour radio show with on WUTC.

On ratings: I consider myself a fair reviewer, if a bit generous. Some people give mostly 3 star ratings - to me, there has to be something wrong to go that low, and something REALLY wrong to go lower. I consider ratings to be a measure of my enjoyment, and nothing more, though I do strive to be objective and open to styles of music that I don't usually listen to. So if you disagree with my ratings - that's perfectly fine! I don't try to pretend I can assess an album's worth - I'm only measuring my enjoyment. This is kind of what I mean by my ratings:

5 - I love this album, and I bring it out to listen to every year, usually multiple times a year

4.5 - I still love this album, but I don't think I'd be willing to put it in my top 10. The difference between 5 and 4.5 to me is simply a way for me to remind myself which albums I think are better often.

4 - This one can mean more than one thing. It can mean I love the album, but there were some weak tracks. It can mean I don't love the album, but I highly respect it and did find enjoyment from it. It can mean that this is an artist I love, and I was a little disappointed in the album in comparison to other albums, but still enjoyed it very much.

3.5 - This can also mean a couple different things. It could mean that what I listened to wasn't something I'd normally listen to, but I did give it a chance and enjoyed it to some extent. Or it could mean it was an artist I love, but was disappointed to some extent with the album, while still enjoying songs/parts.

3 - I was disappointed, may not have even enjoyed it much, but I can still respect it and say that it took some skill to make.

2.5 - Please don't make me listen to this again...

2 - I'm finding it very hard to respect this one, and I would have to be tied down to listen to it again.

1.5 and lower - you can imagine.