---
product_id: 12391547
title: "Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal"
brand: "jeff wagnersteven wilson"
price: "¥28672"
currency: JPY
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 10
url: https://www.desertcart.jp/products/12391547-mean-deviation-four-decades-of-progressive-heavy-metal
store_origin: JP
region: Japan
---

# Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal

**Brand:** jeff wagnersteven wilson
**Price:** ¥28672
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal by jeff wagnersteven wilson
- **How much does it cost?** ¥28672 with free shipping
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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Easily the most important book on Progressive Metal
  

*by M***Z on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 2, 2011*

Even though I'm an avid reader, I never review books. I prefer to share my views on music, especially progressive metal bands. However, I'll have to make an exception for this one.First of all, the foreword by Steven Wilson explaining his love of great bands like Opeth and Meshuggah is only a taste of what's to come in this great book.Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal is an absolutely essential piece of work. Written by former Metal Maniacs editor Jeff Wagner, the book is both very easy to read and informative. There are long chapters dedicated not only to the big names in prog but also to more esoteric groups from all across the globe. None of the chapters read like boring biographies about when and how these bands were formed, who the original members were, their discogrpahy lists, etc. Rather, while touching on the essentials, Wagner analyzes the music: how it was created and how it influenced other bands' work. The index section at the end lists all the page numbers a band is discussed, so one can also use Mean Deviation as a resource in the future. You can read the book from beginning to end within two days if you are interested in prog metal or you can simply open it up and read about a 'scene' or a certain album you want to check out. The bands are not limited to Dream Theater, Queensryche, Fates Warning, Crimson Glory, and their followers. Acts on the more technical side of the spectrum are also analyzed in depth: Watchtower, Psychotic Waltz, Sieges Even, Spiral Architect. Wagner also touches on the thrashy progressive acts detailing the discographies of great bands like Voivod, Anacrusis, Coroner, Realm, Toxik, and Hexenhaus. After reading them, I felt compelled to re-listen to these discs and discover their brilliance once again.That's not all. There are chapters devoted solely to other, more unconventional acts: Celtic Frost, Thought Industry, or the Norwegian acts such as Age of Silence, Ansur, Green Carnation, and Virus. How were these bands formed? Which side of progressive music do they take their roots from? How did they decide to blend it with metal's more extreme forms? It's all in this book.Wagner does not only relay his own views. He has actually conducted interviews with most of these bands. He has read a million articles, interviews, and reviews. I was extremely surprised to see him quote a part of my write-up while discussing how the Evergrey fan base was divided on their more recent output. You will learn so much about bands' internal affairs -- why they decided to write or produce an album a certain way, why they couldn't sign to bigger record labels, how vastly different the progressive scene in Europe was from the one in the USA, and so much more.I have read hundreds of biographies and books on heavy metal (and its various subgenres). This one is easily the most important one because it is the first and only book focusing entirely on progressive metal. Highly recommended.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Prog Power
  

*by J***N on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 20, 2011*

In my humble opinion this book is what some would call the progressive metal bible. I personally feel that this is what this is. If you like music like Opeth and Dream Theater, they are in there but not a lot, if you like bands like Rush and Queensryche then this book is for you(I happen to like them all). The author indeed knows his stuff and enlightens the reader with the beginnings of prog rock to the most progressive metal today. The history of prog is a lengthy one, but this book is short(to me anyway) but it is amazing. Ive read it twice since I got it, of course I do that with books about metal, well the good ones anyway. This one is one of the best. If you dont know anything about progressive metal or progressive rock or think you know everything about it then this book is for you. Just get it already. Also the seller I bought it from had took great care of it and it was and is in mint condition. Amazon wanted to buy it back from me but good luck on getting it away from me.Also in combination with Choosing Death,Swedish Death Metal and The Headbanging History of Heavy Metal you will be informed on the best music ever made. So get to it and buy this book already, you will be glad you did.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    A must buy for anyone that has ever liked prog metal
  

*by M***N on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 3, 2011*

A well researched and written study of progressive metal. It was great to see a genre of music that I love so much treated with intelligence, passion and thorough care. Many of the bands, eras and genres are extremely well researched and discussed in great depth. And even though I thought I knew quite a bit about prog-metal, there were still some pivotal bands that I knew very little about. The books discusses obvious bands (Fates Warning, Dream Theater) contemporary bands (Opeth, Mastadon) and some obscure gems (Damn the Machine). And stylistically the book talks about bands much closer to prog-rock (Spock's Beard) and those musch closer to extreme metal (Cynic).Also there is a great distinction between bands that are truly progressive in terms of pushing musical boundaries (Pain of Salvation) and bands that are happy just with slight variations on the tried and true Dream Theater format (Pagan's Minds). While I think both types can be enjoyable, the genre sees much more of the latter than the former. Reading about how these visionary and pioneering bands expanded the musical landscape is extremely fascinating.If you have gotten this far into my review it is because you have some knowledge/love for this type of music. Given that interest; this book is a must own.

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*Last updated: 2026-03-11*