Assyrian

Solo vehicle of German musician Leonhard von Stein (Eichstätt, Bavaria), prolific 2013-2016 across Stonehill and Cosmic Gates Records (Rise of the Behemoth, Of Silence and Tears, The Taste of Mankind, Buried in Blood, Tropfen, Sun EP, Lightforger). German-language reviews (metal.de) place the project 'at the intersection of black metal, drone, doom, psychedelic, electro and jazz' — instrumental 'headphone cinema' of guitar noise-cascades, jazzy rhythms, melancholic piano/strings, sitar, electronic beats and extensively explored drones, plus a heavily processed EBM/electro mode on other releases.

Struggle To Subsistplay in the dockcompare profiles →

The dark-ambient/doom project of Matron Thorn (also of Ævangelist and Præternatura), based in Tampere, Finland, with six full-lengths 2021-2024. Bandcamp self-tags consistently describe it as experimental dark-ambient doom metal with post-rock and soundtrack qualities and occult lyrical themes — a slower, more spatial sibling to Thorn's more extreme-metal-facing projects.

In the Woods... are a Norwegian avant-garde/progressive metal band from Kristiansand, formed in 1992 from the early Green Carnation lineup. Their debut 'Heart of the Ages' helped shape pagan black metal before the band evolved toward atmospheric, progressive and doom-leaning territory across 'Omnio' and later records, with clean and female vocals broadening the palette. After disbanding in 2000 they reformed in 2014 and continue releasing through Debemur Morti Productions.

Dola are a Polish avant-garde black metal trio formed in Poznań in 2018 and now based in Toruń. Their sound couples a dissonant, aggressive black-metal backbone with ritual ambient, sludge/post-metal heaviness and pronounced jazz elements, the latter carried by Maras's trumpet. Recent album 'Tabernakulum' (2024, Piranha Music) swings between brutal dissonance and the atmospheric avant-garde passages that define the band.

Emptiness are a Brussels avant-garde metal act formed in 1998 by bassist/vocalist Jérémie Bézier and guitarist Olivier J.L.W., both formerly of Enthroned (not in the E.M.M.A. atlas). Metal Archives tracks their evolution from Black/Death Metal in the early years toward Post-Metal/Post-Punk on later records, and their own bio describes the arc as moving 'through black and death metal, avant-garde experimentation, and claustrophobic minimalism.' Now signed to Season of Mist, their 2026 album Nowhere Speaks was tracked live in studio and deliberately loops back into the closing riff of 2014's Nothing But the Whole; the band also played Roadburn Redux 2021.

The Clash of Forcesplay in the dock

Spotify

compare profiles →

Overmars was a French post-metal band active from 2001 to 2011, formed in Lyon around vocalist Xavier Théret, guitarists Antoine Simon and Pierrick Marin, bassist Marion Leclerc, drummer Benjamin Pic, and keyboardist Tiphaine Coudert. Their 2005 debut Affliction, Endocrine... Vertigo (Candlelight Records) fused doom, industrial, gothic rock, death and black metal into an oppressive, droning, oftentimes sludgy whole, while 2007's Born Again stretched that approach into a single 40-minute piece that NME later named among its 'Twenty Heaviest (Metal) Records of All Time.'

Affliction, Endocrine... Vertigo (Full Album)play in the dock

BandcampSpotify

compare profiles →

Avant-garde metal sextet from Poznań, Poland, founded in 2019 by guitarist Marcin Tuliszkiewicz and drummer Krzysztof Kulis. Their self-titled debut (10 January 2025) fuses black/death metal harshness with dark jazz, doomy drone and trumpet (Magdalena Andrys), driven by dual vocals between clean singer Julita Dąbrowska and growler Michał Sosnowski.

Asofy is the black/doom metal solo project of Italian multi-instrumentalist and visual artist Tryfar, born in Milan in early 2000 and signed to Avantgarde Music since 2013's Percezione. Tryfar handles guitar, bass, vocals and programming across a discography (Ebym, Percezione, Nessun luogo, Amusia, Svanire) that trades blast-and-riff black/doom for gloomy reverb-soaked atmospheres. 2020's Amusia, its sixth release, drew its concept from Oliver Sacks's Musicophilia, framed by reviewers as sitting 'between doom and black metal' with beautiful, decaying guitar layers and breathy vocals.

ebYmplay in the dock

BandcampSpotifySoundCloud

compare profiles →

Blut aus Nord is a French avant-garde black metal project from Mondeville, formed 1994 by Vindsval, evolving toward dissonant, industrialized and 'black hole metal' territory on The Work Which Transforms God (2003) and MoRT (2006). Later work such as Hallucinogen (2019) shifts into shoegaze-y, melodic and psychedelic territory. The band explicitly rejects black-metal orthodoxy in favor of an atmospheric 'artistic concept.'

Lychgate is a London-based avant-garde black/doom metal band formed around 2011-2012, built on a foundation of pipe/church organ used as the compositional backbone of every track. Their influences span late-19th/early-20th-century art music, Rock in Opposition and musique concrete. They record for Debemur Morti Productions, with a discography running from the 2013 self-titled debut through 2025's 'Precipice.'