“The quality of bands is much higher than it used to be… There’s something going on here that we cannot describe”: Why is Australia turning out some of the most amazing prog metal guitarists on the planet?

[L-R] Sam Vallen (Caligula's Horse), Brandon Lloyd (Reliqa) and Simone Dow (Voyager).

With Australian progressive metal in a rich vein of form, we ask some of the key players behind its success about the big questions. What defines the Aussie brand of prog metal? Why is the country so fertile when it comes to creating unique guitar-driven music?

Australia, despite its geographic isolation, has a rich lineage of standout progressive metal bands, each with their own outlook on guitar playing and songwriting. “Our metal history has always bucked trends simultaneous to different developments,” Caligula’s Horse guitarist Sam Vallen explains.