Culprit's "Guilty as Charged" should be in The Guardians
The (as of now) sole album by Culprit has been considered one of the earliest progressive metal albums, but I don't hear that genre on its own. It's really mostly heavy metal and an early example of US power metal, ala early Queensryche and Riot. There's a lot more of the simple catchy melodic instrumentation that exemplifies what to expect in The Guardians, and while the structures can be complex and expansive, it's not in the same level as in melodic progressive metal pioneers Fates Warning and Dream Theater. So I'd like to submit Culprit's "Guilty as Charged" to the Hall to sit under The Guardians as well as The Infinite.
So, I tell you what I've done Andi. I've added the release to The Guardians & Heavy Metal based on the RYM tagging but have also created a Hall of Judgement entry to have it removed from those too because all I hear is Progressive Metal & Progressive Rock. It's interesting that you compare "Guilty as Charged" to Queensryche in your argument because I feel the exact same way about records like "The Warning", "Rage For Order" & "Operation: Mindcrime", all of which I'd suggest are Progressive Metal rather than Heavy Metal, so our difference of opinion with "Guilty as Charged" would appear to be about differences in our understanding of what constitutes Progressive Metal.
Thanks, Daniel. I say my view is that Culprit album and those first 3 Queensryche albums are progressive metal, whether mostly or to some extent, yet they haven't cut the bridge between that genre and heavy metal, unlike Fates Warning when they went pure melodic progressive metal from No Exit onwards and Dream Theater which has always been an Infinite band. With that in mind, I'll be voting NO there.