Ross Jennings comment (excerpt)

We asked Jennings to weigh in with some of his favorite, time-tested progressive metal albums. He obliged, with the following caveat:

“Honestly, these kind of lists should be taken with a pinch of salt, and that pinch of salt can shift depending on what day it is,” says Jennings. “Regardless, these are five albums that hit me the hardest. You will probably notice that they all fall into a similar era as this was a time when records probably had the most impact on me as a young adult discovering a whole world of fantastic music...”

Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)

You never forget your first time... hearing Dream Theater! For me it was actually the album Awake and I recall a fuse in my mind blowing that day. DT’s influence on Haken has been no secret to anyone and 17 years from that fateful day where we took a gamble on this supposedly random CD, we would find ourselves on stage with Mike Portnoy himself, performing “The Shattered Fortress” suite around the world. Six Degrees holds a really special place in my heart as it came out shortly after discovering them — yes, I discovered Dream Theater after Scenes From a Memory! Plus my first live experience of Dream Theater was on the London leg of their world TOURbulence in 2001, which remains one of my all-time favorite shows that I’ve attended. They’ve arguably been more metal on other records but they’ve never been so prog in my opinion. And I’m referring mostly to the 42-minute title-track, which is a journey through classic prog, heavy metal, folk and power ballads. Back on side one we are treated to some of Petrucci’s most crushing riffs and a few of the strongest songs in the entire Dream Theater repertoire. [Keyboardist] Jordan Rudess even gets to dig deeper into his sound design rabbit hole on “The Great Debate.” This is Dream Theater at their finest and I while I can’t recommend all their records enough, this was the game-changer for me.