The 100 Greatest Prog Anthems Of All Time (excerpts)

What is the greatest prog anthem of all time? Will a classic steal the top spot, or is it time for a new generation of proggers to take over? Prog turned to you, the readers, to answer this very question, and we were overwhelmed by the response. Did your vote count? Read on...

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74 When The Water Breaks

Liquid Tension Experiment

Liquid Tension Experiment 2 (1999, Magna Carta)

The sprawling centrepiece of the second self-titled LTE album, ‘When The Water Breaks’ is every bit as mind-boggling as you’d expect a collaboration between three members of Dream Theater and legendary bassist Tony Levin to be. —Dom Lawson

You say: “The finest thing that Mike Portnoy has been involved in (that isn’t Dream Theater)...” —Gabe Rambo

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72 The Count Of Tuscany

Dream Theater

Black Clouds & Silver Linings (Roadrunner, 2009)

Based on a day trip to a vineyard but retold through a gothic prism, thundering drums and flashes of lightning-fast guitar illuminate an extended rumination upon mortality. —Sid Smith

You say: “For being able to keep creativity during a full, 18-minute instrumental song.” —Kilian Beyly

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54 Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

Dream Theater

Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (Elektra, 2002)

Not so much a song as a full-blown 40-minute symphony in eight neatly interlocking parts, ‘Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence’ strikes a sublime balance between melody, bombast and poetic pathos. When Dream Theater go big, they go huge. —Dom Lawson

You say: “I may be shunned for this, but for me it is ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’. It has everything I have ever wanted in a prog epic.” —Dave Miller

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34 Metropolis Part 1: “The Miracle And The Sleeper”

Dream Theater

Images And Words (Atlantic, 1992)

A defining early statement from one of modern prog’s true standard bearers. Initially, they channel power metal melodrama with help from James LaBrie’s piercing operatic howl, before Mike Portnoy’s scattergun bass drum and John Petrucci’s sparky fretwork show us something more intriguing is afoot, and by the time they wade into hop scotching jazz rock waters, anything seems possible. —Johnny Sharp

You say: “Nowhere is Dream Theater’s musical interplay demonstrated better than this. It’s nine-and-a-half minutes of pure progressive extravagance.” —Matthew Sielaff

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21 A Change Of Seasons

Dream Theater

A Change Of Seasons EP (EastWest, 1995)

Originally mooted for inclusion on the band’s breakthrough album Images And Words, Dream Theater’s ‘A Change Of Seasons’ more than holds its own as a standalone work. Inspired by the death of then-drummer Mike Portnoy’s mother, it’s a meticulously crafted exploration of prog metal’s outer limits, embellished with dialogue taken from the film Dead Poet’s Society and executed with Dream Theater’s customary grace and precision. —Dom Lawson

You say: “The epic prog piece against which all others ought be measured. Masterfully crafted, both musically and lyrically, it conveys to the hearer a message of loss and hope.” —Chris Files