Falling Into Infinity took forever to come out, and I remember being at Best Buy where I was working at the time, and while I enjoyed it, I was a little underwhelmed with such high expectations.
To compare, earlier in the year, Fates Warning had released A Pleasant Shade of Gray, which I remember really liking, but also not looking at Fates Warning as good as my favorite bands like Rush and Dream Theater. But as I came to realize, it was a masterpiece, and their greatest masterpiece.
I do recall being really sad though as learning both Joe DiBiase and Frank Aresti had left the band and being incredibly depressed about that, along with Kevin Moore's departure from Dream Theater not that long before also hitting me hard. And oddly enough, it was not long after I became a fan of both bands.
Anyway, looking at the rest of 1997, Soundscape's album Discovery I enjoyed when I heard it, but in truth, became more of a fan in the subsequent years. Pain of Salvation's debut album Entropia I didn't hear then but years later; but it has become one of my favorites of theirs, debut albums, and progressive metal albums, etc.
Royal Hunt, Savatage, Angra's live album, Big Wreck, The Tea Party, Mew's debut, Godspeed, Devin Townsend's debut, etc..a lot of good stuff or artists who put out albums early in their careers of course. A lot of Prog Metal as the mid and late 90's it was being made in large numbers, and on my radar. And frankly, while much of it sounded a lot like Dream Theater, it seemed still enjoyable and unique in some ways. I dunno, it didn't seem as watered down as it became and has been the last 10 or 15 years. But maybe some of that has to do with nostalgia.
I think 1997 was a year that was in the midst of a lot of terrible mainstream music, and got looked down on by the prog scene, but maybe has aged relatively well over the last 2 decades.
1. Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray
2. Soundscape - Discovery
3. Pain of Salvation - Entropia
4. Dream Theater - Falling into Infinity
5. Savatage - The Wake of Magellan
6. Pat Metheny - Imaginary Day
7. Royal Hunt - Paradox
8. Marillion - This Strange Engine
9. Magellan - Test of Wills
10. Big Wreck - In Loving Memory Of...
11. Enchant - Time Lost
12. Angra - Holy Live
13. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - F♯A♯∞ (1995-1997)
14. Ocean Machine - Biomech
15. Eternity X - The Edge
16. Conditioned Response - Pavlov's Dogs
17. The Tea Party - Transmission
18. Mew - A Triumph for Man
19. The Flower Kings - Stardust We Are
20. Galactic Cowboys - The Horse that Bud Bought
21. Yes - Keys to Ascension 2
22. Live - Secret Samadhi
23. dredg - Orph [EP]
24. Faith No More - Album of the Year
25. MagellanMusic - A Strange Traffic of Dreams
26. Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
27. The Quiet Room - Introspect
28. Tiles - Fence the Clear
29. IQ - Subterranea
30. Queensryche - Hear in the Now Frontier
Daft Punk - Homework
rel January 20, 1997
Niacin - Niacin
rel February 13, 1997
Live - Secret Samadhi
rel February 18, 1997
Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny - Beyond the Missouri Sky
rel February 25, 1997
h - Ice Cream Genius
rel February 27, 1997
Marillion - This Strange Engine
rel March 9, 1997
Queensryche - Hear in the Now Frontier
rel March 25, 1997
Conception - Flow
rel April 1, 1997
Mew - A Triumph for Man
rel April 1, 1997
Tiles - Fence the Clear
rel April 15, 1997
Dark Tranquillity - The Mind's I
rel April 21, 1997
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray
rel April 22, 1997
Angra - Holy Live
rel April 25, 1997
Stratovarius - Visions
rel April 28, 1997
The Flower Kings - Stardust We Are
rel April 1997
Ozric Tentacles - Curious Corn
rel May 1, 1997
Magellan - Test of Wills
rel May 6, 1997
Fish - Sunsets on Empire
rel May 9, 1997
Toad the Wet Sprocket - Coil
rel May 20, 1997
No-Man - Dry Cleaning Ray
rel May 1997
Blackmore's Night - Shadow of the Moon
rel June 2, 1997
Faith No More - Album of the Year
rel June 3, 1997
The Gathering - Nighttime Birds
rel June 6, 1997
Ween - The Mollusk
rel June 24, 1997
Galactic Cowboys - The Horse that Bud Bought
rel July 15, 1997
Ocean Machine - Biomech
rel July 21, 1997
Spastic Ink - Ink Complete
rel August 12, 1997
Voivod - Phobos
rel August 12, 1997
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - F♯A♯∞ (1995-1997)
rel August 14, 1997
The Tea Party - Transmission
rel August 19, 1997
Pain of Salvation - Entropia
rel August 21, 1997
Vanden Plas - The God Thing
rel September 5, 1997
Eternity X - The Edge
rel September 7, 1997
Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
rel September 9, 1997
The Tories - Wonderful Life
rel September 9, 1997
Savatage - The Wake of Magellan
rel September 15, 1997
Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
rel September 16, 1997
Dream Theater - Falling into Infinity
rel September 23, 1997
Royal Hunt - Paradox
rel September 23, 1997
The Apples in Stereo - Tone Soul Evolution
rel September 30, 1997
Enchant - Time Lost
rel September 1997
IQ - Subterranea
rel September 1997
Big Wreck - In Loving Memory Of...
rel October 7, 1997
Pat Metheny - Imaginary Day
rel October 7, 1997
In Flames - Whoracle
rel October 15, 1997
Porcupine Tree - Coma Divine: Recorded Live in Rome
rel October 1997
Yes - Keys to Ascension 2
rel November 3, 1997
Jane's Addiction - Kettle Whistle
rel November 4, 1997
Martyr - Hopeless Hopes
rel November 7, 1997
sElf - Feels Like Breakin' Shit
rel November 1997
Conditioned Response - Pavlov's Dog
rel 1997
dredg - Orph [EP]
rel 1997
MagellanMusic - A Strange Traffic of Dreams
rel 1997
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - En concert à Paris
rel 1997
The Quiet Room - Introspect
rel 1997
Soundscape - Discovery
rel 1997
Sinkadus - Aurum nostrum
rel 1997