After Crying-After Crying 6 (1997)

This is one of those "weird" bands that are too progressive for mainstream rock fans and too strange for progressive rock fans. After Crying makes prog rock so complex and inaccessible to the average listener that it's difficult to find a middle ground in their music, at least without giving their albums many careful listens. One of their main attractions is precisely their refusal to get stuck in a defined style, so they are constantly experimenting with new ideas and reconfiguring their sound. This Hungarian band was formed in the mid-eighties and was still active in 2017. It comprises a group of musicians who use all kinds of instruments, almost all of them members of the Brussels Symphony Orchestra. With such a varied style, it's no wonder that their extensive discography is full of albums of different kinds, some more conservative and others more experimental. However, their main influences are 70s progressive rock, folk, classical music, pop, and almost every other genre. Their first album was released in 1990, and far from being symphonic, it's more of an avant-garde record. The lack of a consistent melody is the defining characteristic of this release. The eclectic use of themes gives it a more avant-garde than symphonic feel. In 1997, they released "After Crying 6", one of their more "accessible" works, featuring elements of jazz, powerful drums, pastoral passages, sinister vocals, and sublime keyboards in the purest Keith Emerson style. Although they still sound eccentric, their music becomes more melodic and even addictive in certain parts of the album. They also have more conventional progressive rock albums like "Struggle For Life" (2000) and "Show" (2003).