Avenged Sevenfold, Punk, and Prog: Something I Was Just Thinking Of

I got to thinking about how progressive rock and punk rock are, essentially, polar opposites. They both belong in the rock genre, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. It’s typical for a punk rock song to be under three minutes long, whereas it’s not uncommon for prog rock songs to exceed ten minutes in length. Also, punk songs also tends to have the same tempo throughout - where prog songs tend to have varying tempos. Prog rock also tends more influences from classical, rather than blues - although, without the blues, rock music wouldn’t even exist.

I then got to thinking about how Avenged Sevenfold has dabbled in both prog and punk. Mike Portnoy is from Dream Theater, which is progressive metal. Brooks Wackerman, from what I gather, has a history of performing punk rock. Although, The Stage (which exceeds eight minutes in length) can hardly be considered punk. I can hardly wait to hear what the rest of the album sounds like.

What are your thoughts?