Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal, which blends the powerful, guitar-driven sound of metal with the complex compositional structures, odd time signatures, and intricate instrumental playing of progressive rock.
Progressive metal is guitar-driven and often features varying (and sometimes sudden) changes in time signatures. The genre is also known for lending itself to complex and extended guitar solos. Consequently, progressive metal songs can become relatively long.
Progressive metal, itself a subgenre of rock and metal, has many offshoots. Elements of progressive metal can be found in death metal, black metal, avant-garde metal, industrial metal, metalcore, thrash metal, mathcore, power metal, djent and post-metal, among other genres.