There was a punk/power/metal band from Flint, MI in the 80s who were credited with being among the pioneers of speed/power metal. Several bands who later went-on to commercial success cited this band as an early influence on them. They were much bigger over in Germany or Netherlands than they were in the USA. I cannot remember the name of the band (it sucks getting old) but will post it if I can.
In an interview with some metal zine, the band members admitted how their speed/power metal style basically came about from a friendly competition/rivalry with another band. They would just try to out-do each other in terms of beat per minute, and also rhythm/key/tempo change-ups multiple times in the same song. IOW, it didn't come organically, it was to out-do what everyone else was doing.
Dream Theater's music has always struck me the same way. A few of their songs DID strike or appeal to me as 'organic' and soulful, but the rest just seemed like they were in some kind of complexity pissing match.