Arkheth
last active 2022
Arkheth is the long-running (2001-present) Australian project of Tyrone 'Tyraenos' Kostitch, now a one-man vehicle for symphonic-turned-experimental black metal after growing out of the Orange, NSW band Eternal Dark. Its 2018 high point, 12 Winter Moons Comes the Witches Brew, folds saxophonist Glen Wholohan's honking, Contortions-indebted jazz lines into black-metal songwriting critics have dubbed 'an inverted Shining' -- black metal wading into jazz rather than the reverse. It is one of the more distinctive jazz/black-metal hybrids operating outside the Norwegian axis the label comparison implies.
SCORE PROFILE
Accent numbers counted towards the index. Hover an axis — or hold it on a phone — for what it means.
WHY THOSE SCORES
- Jazzy 6 — Reviewers call 12 Winter Moons 'an inverted Shining' -- where Shining is jazz injected with black metal, Arkheth is black metal 'wading into the depths of jazz,' with saxophonist Glen Wholohan's 'layered execution of jazzy melodies' and honking, Contortions-style sax solos (review synthesis of Arkheth - 12 Winter Moons Comes the Witches Brew coverage).
- Death 1 — Album is framed foremost as 'extreme metal,' with only intermittent harsher death-adjacent passages amid the black-metal/jazz core (review synthesis for 12 Winter Moons Comes the Witches Brew).
- Black 7 — Described as 'undeniably black metal,' evoking both first-wave BM and mid-80s thrash before the sax enters, positioned as Sigh-style psychedelic black metal rather than Mayhem-style misery (review synthesis for 12 Winter Moons Comes the Witches Brew).
- Technical 5 — Songs 'transform themselves from extreme metal onslaughts to jazz-fusion noodling via moments of tranquil beauty,' built on hooks and structural detail rather than blast-beat repetition (review synthesis for 12 Winter Moons Comes the Witches Brew).
- Theatrical 3 — Conceptually anchored in Hermes Trismegistus mysticism and cosmic/ancient-civilization themes, with a sound critics call 'hypnotic and hallucinogenic' (review synthesis of Arkheth coverage).
- Ambient 2 — On tracks like 'Dark Energy Equilibrium' the saxophone functions purely as an 'atmospheric accent' rather than a lead voice (review synthesis for 12 Winter Moons Comes the Witches Brew).
MEMBERS
- Tyrone 'Tyraenos' Kostitchall instruments (composition, guitars, drums, vocals)
- Glen Wholohansaxophone (guest, 12 Winter Moons Comes the Witches Brew)
CONNECTIONS
- Cephalic Carnagesatellitepath →
Both bands' visual work was done by Mark Riddick (Discogs artist id 518333): Cephalic Carnage's "Halls Of Amenti" (2002, Graphics [Graphic Execution By]) and Arkheth's "Twelve Winter Moons Comes The Witches Brew" (2018, Artwork [Logo By]). Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Mark Riddick is not an atlas band so there is no anchor band. source ↗
FURTHER LISTENING
Nearest score profiles in the atlas.
- UnaffiliatedEI 14AenaonBlackJazzyTechnical
Aenaon is a Greek avant-garde/progressive black metal band from Ioannina, formed in 2005 and signed to Agonia Records. Mastermind Achilleas C. (also of Varathron and Katavasia) leads the band with drummer Haris (Varathron), vocalist Astrous (Katavasia) and saxophonist Orestis Zyrinis, whose horn work gives their dark, noir-tinged black metal a distinctive jazz-inflected edge, as heard on 2022's 'Mnemosyne.'
- UnaffiliatedEI 9Deathspell OmegaBlackTechnicalJazzy
Deathspell Omega is an anonymous French black metal collective, formed in 1998, that turned from orthodox raw black metal into one of the most cerebral, theologically-preoccupied acts of the 'dissonant' avant-black wave. From Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice (2004) and Kénôse (2005) onward their music folds jazz-derived chord voicings, math-rock complexity and dark-ambient/choral interludes into blast-driven black metal. The band never confirms its lineup, so personnel details are limited to widely-reported names.
- Blackgaze / avant-blackEI 10GoatchristBlackTechnicalJazzy
Goatchrist is the solo vehicle of Leeds, UK musician Jacob Guilherme, formed in 2014, an explicitly occult project layering piano, orchestral textures, and jazz-inflected instrumental passages over an Orthodox black-metal core.
- UnaffiliatedEI 13InquisitorBlackTechnicalJazzy
Inquisitor were a Vilnius, Lithuania avant-garde black metal band active 2002-2016, best known for the concept album The Quantum Theory of Id (2010), a four-part metaphysical narrative pairing harsh black-metal riffing with jazzy/spooky acoustic piano and disjointed, technical song structures. A 2014 follow-up, Clinamen | Episteme, continued in the same 'progressive, complex and extremely dynamic blackened metal' vein. They are a niche entry in the Lithuanian black metal underground with no documented ties to other EMMA atlas acts.
- UnaffiliatedEI 10Nefarious MashBlackTechnicalJazzy
Nefarious Mash is the solo vehicle of Grenoble-based contemporary-classical composer Eddy Jaber, founded in late 2021 to bridge concert-hall composition and extreme metal. Debut LP In Memory of Your Hopes (2022, reissued 2024 on Wormholedeath) builds dense 'harmonic cathedrals' of dissonant black metal, threading in jazz-derived harmony, polyrhythmic surprises and theatrically flexible vocal delivery across nine long-form tracks.
- UnaffiliatedEI 9KexelürBlackTechnicalJazzy
Kexelür is a Santiago, Chile trio formed around 2021 playing atmospheric, dissonant, and psychedelic black metal built around free improvisation. Their releases are billed as largely improvised live sessions, with reviewers noting 'jazz fusion inspired soloing/leads' layered over the black metal foundation. The band communicates only through single-letter pseudonyms (Λ., V., J.), with Λ. also running the solo project Fatalys (not in the E.M.M.A. atlas).
- UnaffiliatedEI 12Morpheus TalesBlackTechnicalJazzy
Morpheus Tales is a Greek experimental/progressive black metal project from Thessaloniki, built around core member Paris (guitars, drums/keys programming) with Georgios P on guitars and Lee on vocals for their most recent work. Their music is billed as 'avantgarde post black metal' that's psychedelic, strange and concept-driven — 2014's Secular Noir is a 'cosmic noir tale of greed and lust,' while 2017's II is an 8-chapter concept record about hypocrisy, false prophets and the denial of reality, featuring a guest saxophone part from Orestis Exidaris. The project appears self-released/unsigned, distributing exclusively through its own Bandcamp.
- UnaffiliatedEI 18Neon ScaffoldBlackJazzyTechnical
Neon Scaffold is a Russian avant-garde/blackened metal project from Sergiyev Posad, Moscow Oblast, formed in 2018 by musicians drawn from Cage of Creation, Zatemno, and Licho. Their sound mixes jazz-inflected walking bass and saxophone with dissonant, folk-rooted black metal riffing; their 2025 album Noir (Pest Productions) followed a 2020 split, Konflikt, with Polish band Gruzja.
- Blackgaze / avant-blackEI 11Ved Buens Ende.....BlackJazzy
Ved Buens Ende..... is a Norwegian avant-garde black metal band, active 1993–1997 with later reunions, whose sole album Written in Waters (1995) is a touchstone of experimental black metal. It blends aggressive black-metal blasts and harsh vocals with quiet, jazz-influenced instrumental passages, atonality, dissonance, prominent bass and eerie clean crooning. Its members are central figures of the Norwegian avant-black scene, overlapping with Dødheimsgard, Ulver, Aura Noir and Virus.
- UnaffiliatedEI 14TrelldomBlackJazzyTechnical
Trelldom is Norwegian black metal vocalist Gaahl's (Kristian Eivind Espedal) longest-running band, founded in Sunnfjord in 1992 and debuting with 'Til Evighet' in 1995. After a long hiatus the band returned with 2024's '...by the Shadows...', a stylistic departure that pulls in jazz saxophonist Kjetil Møster to push the band's traditional black metal into dissonant, avant-garde and drone-rock territory.