Caïna
United Kingdom · formed 2004 · last active 2021
The shape-shifting solo project of Andrew Curtis-Brignell, moving from raw one-man black metal to an ambitious fusion of metal, pop, shoegaze and post-rock on the double-disc Hands That Pluck (2011), before settling into harsh drone, dark-ambient folk and 'cinematic noise' on later releases like Setter of Unseen Snares (2015). Billed by the artist itself as 'genre shifting cinematic noises.'
SCORE PROFILE
Accent numbers counted towards the index. Hover an axis — or hold it on a phone — for what it means.
WHY THOSE SCORES
- Black 6 — Formed 2004 as a one-man black metal project; 'Setter of Unseen Snares' (2015) marked a return to the project's black metal roots per album coverage.
- Theatrical 2 — Official tagline 'genre shifting cinematic noises' points to a staged, cinematic self-presentation.
- Folk 2 — 'Setter of Unseen Snares' employs elements of drone, post-punk, shoegaze and dark ambient folk per album coverage.
- Drone 6 — Bandcamp bio tags the project 'harsh drone.'
- Shoegaze 5 — 'Hands That Pluck' (Profound Lore, 2011) is described as 'an ambitious fusion of metal, pop, shoegaze and post-rock.'
- Ambient 6 — Bandcamp genre tags include 'cinematic noise' and 'experimental/ambient.'
MEMBERS
- Andrew Curtis-Brignellsongwriting, all instruments, vocals
CONNECTIONS
- Winterquiltpath →
Caïna remixed winterquilt's 'O'Discordia' on the 'O'Discordia / O'Discordia Remixes' release (2021), a genuinely new tie between the two bands. source ↗
- Alcestpath →
Shared label roster: Drakkar Productions, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Cara Neirpath →
Shared label roster: Broken Limbs Recordings, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Dead Raven Choirpath →
Shared label roster: God Is Myth Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Full of Hellpath →
Profound Lore Records artist (Mourner, 2007; Temporary Antennae, 2008; Hands That Pluck, 2011) — anchored at Full of Hell, whose Trumpeting Ecstasy and Merzbow collaboration are label landmarks. source ↗
- Gnaw Their Tonguespath →
Shared label roster: Universal Tongue, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Smohallapath →
Shared label roster: God Is Myth Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- The Firstbornpath →
Shared label roster: Major Label Industries, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Venowlpath →
Shared label roster: Broken Limbs Recordings, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
FURTHER LISTENING
Nearest score profiles in the atlas.
- UnaffiliatedEI 15greyfleshtetheredBlackAmbientDrone
greyfleshtethered is the solo electronic black metal project of Daria, recording from the Connecticut woods and citing ambient black metal touchstones like Paysage d'Hiver, Neige et Noirceur, Trist, and Arkhtinn. 2021's 'The Dark Being' is an 83-minute, five-track narrative journey through alternate dimensions that blends atmospheric black metal with dark ambient, dungeon synth, and shoegaze textures. Live, the project splits its set between guitar and soundboard-triggered electronics. The project is explicitly framed as trans anarchist and anti-fascist within the black metal underground.
- UnaffiliatedEI 14Sea MosquitoBlackAmbientDrone
London's Sea Mosquito wrap raw black metal in ambient synth haze and echo-drenched production, favoring atmospheric wash over riff-forward songwriting - tremolo guitar and drums function as background texture behind cascading, almost lead-like drumming. Their 2025 album Majestas (I, Voidhanger Records) explores religious ecstasy across cultures, with harsh vocals occasionally giving way to spoken passages in English and Arabic. They sit closer to psychedelic/atmospheric black metal than to the death-metal-adjacent avant-garde acts on this chart, but the noise-and-texture-first approach is exactly the kind of unorthodox BM the label built its name on.
- Blackgaze / avant-blackEI 10DëgénéréscenceBlackAmbientShoegaze
Dëgénéréscence is a French black metal project, active since 2019, centered on the musician known as Infämie, who handles vocals and all instruments. The project is affiliated with the Cërcle Mortüaire collective (alongside Feuille Morte, Mortuaire, Olatom Amespïrïa and others) and released albums such as Hélas ! Je n'étais pas fait pour cette haine... (2020) and ...Ainsi ! Nous dansâmes aux limbes détestées... (2022) through Drakkar Productions. Its sound is catalogued as depressive/atmospheric black metal shading into blackgaze, pairing raw riffing with piano-led, ambience-forward passages.
- UnaffiliatedEI 18EdasiDroneAmbientBlack
Edasi is a solo project of M. Kleis from Tallinn, Estonia, self-described as 'experiments in the field of black metal/drone/ritual ambient/noise/psychedelia' and reviewed as 'outsider black metal.' The catalogue spans lo-fi black-noise pieces (Horror Mirror) to the 2009 EP Pikse litaania, which reworks Estonian folk-choral composer Veljo Tormis and medieval composer Hildegard von Bingen into extended, droning, chant-like sound-collage pieces -- described by Boomkat as re-interpreting those composers' work 'through the outsider black metal' of Kleis's own sound.
- Blackgaze / avant-blackEI 23LocrianDroneAmbientBlack
Locrian are an American experimental trio formed in late 2005 in Chicago by André Foisy and Terence Hannum, with drummer Steven Hess joining permanently in 2010. AllMusic characterizes their sound as an eclectic mixture of black metal, electronics, drone and noise rock, shot through with ambient and industrial textures and dystopic, apocalyptic imagery. In 2012 they made the collaborative album Bless Them That Curse You with Mamiffer, released on Profound Lore alongside Sige and Utech.
- UnaffiliatedEI 15MurmuüreAmbientBlackDrone
Murmuüre is a French one-man avant-garde black metal project (sole member Felix Naos) whose enigmatic 2010 self-titled album was assembled over three years from a single one-hour guitar improvisation recorded in November 2006, edited and re-layered into a ritualistic sound collage. The result blends black-metal instrumentation with dark ambient, drone, noise and psychedelic textures — 'a churning, claustrophobic mix of queasy underwater black metal... glitchy, phantom drones'. It was released on Cold Void Emanations and Aurora Borealis Recordings.
- Blackgaze / avant-blackEI 23BotanistBlackAmbientDrone
Avant-garde black metal project from San Francisco founded in 2009 by Roberto 'Otrebor' Martinelli, built entirely around distorted hammered dulcimer and drums with no guitar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botanist_(band)). NPR spotlighted Botanist as pairing an unheard-of lead instrument with dynamic, hypnotic songwriting, and lyrics center on environmental collapse and nature's reclamation of Earth under the mythic figure of 'The Botanist.' The band has expanded from a solo recording project into a full lineup for later albums, releasing through The Flenser, Totalrust Music and Prophecy Productions.
- UnaffiliatedEI 12Al-KamarBlackShoegazeAmbient
Al-Kamar is a Japanese blackgaze/depressive black metal project, essentially the solo work of a musician known as Tsukisima, begun in 2010 as a doujin circle arranging Touhou Project music before evolving into an atmospheric post-black/shoegaze sound that incorporates Vocaloid/voice-synthesis vocals. Live performances feature supporting musicians; the self-titled 2022 album marked a deliberate return to black metal roots.
- UnaffiliatedEI 11Benthik ZoneBlackAmbientDrone
Portuguese experimental/atmospheric black metal project from Porto, self-styled 'Underwater Black Metal', built around Francisco Braga (aka Bragadast) and Artur Leão (aka Einsichtmar). Their 2022 album εἴδωλον weaves mythological narrative through drone-laden passages, tribal instrumentation (didgeridoo, berimbau, hangpan), and abrupt shifts between raging black metal and gentle ambient interludes.
- UnaffiliatedEI 10GelassenheitBlackAmbientDrone
Gelassenheit is the solo avant-garde/atmospheric black metal project of Uncumber (Mave/Abe Goren), based in Brooklyn/New York and active since 2020. The self-titled album blends symphonic black metal, avant-garde metal, dungeon synth, depressive black metal, and coldwave into a synth-heavy sound built around explicitly Christian-anarchist ('Red and Anarchist Black Metal') themes of communal living, care for the poor, and anti-fascism, framed by the artist as 'using Christianity as a tool for advocacy and unique aesthetic cultivation' rather than evangelism. Uncumber is a trans woman and has described the project in interviews as unblack, RABM-aligned black metal.