Progressive Rock/Metal

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Never heard of them, but the name makes me curious so will have to check them out.

So just curious is post punk by default progressive?....I mean of course it has the punk elements but obviously its a style that's expanded beyond that in various ways. IDK just started listening to that kind of thing kind of recently because I heard some Joy Division and liked it so I checked out other bands of the genre and over-all I enjoy it. But seems at least somewhat progressive in nature.

This is where it gets wacky, because prog fans often differentiate between "progressive" and "prog". "Progressive" is merely an attribute of songwriting, not a sound: unconventional song structure, unusual time signatures, extended instrumental passages, etc. After all, the spectrum of "progressive rock" spans as wide as rock, metal, folk, pop, psychedelia and jazz fusion, so there's no one unifying sound connecting all of it, only its compositional attributes. Keep in mind there's also established genres of "progressive bluegrass" and "progressive electronic" which aren't remotely related to "progressive rock", yet all share the same basic characteristics.

"Prog" is used mostly to describe bands whose entire output hinges around these progressive elements of songwriting. Bands from Yes and King Crimson to Tool and The Mars Volta write practically all of their songs in an unconventional style, so while Jethro Tull and Dream Theater may be diametrically opposed in sound, they're still connected by the same aesthetic and mentality, which is undeniably "prog". So, a band like Radiohead, for example, would be "progressive" for their unconventional elements, but not necessarily "prog". Make any sense?

As far as post-punk goes, some of the more experimental bands - Wire, Public Image Limited, Magazine, The Pop Group, Pere Ubu, early Devo, Gang of Four, etc. - are definitely progressive, but few would categorize them as prog.

Where it gets even blurrier is the genre of Krautrock (a style of minimalist post-psychedelia from bands like Can, Neu!, Amon Duul II, Faust, etc.) which is generally considered to be part of the progressive rock spectrum and had a notable influence on the development of post-punk and specifically on bands like Joy Division and PIL (as well as the development of alternative rock, ambient and electronic music.