Crotchduster
Crotchduster was a 2003–2006 joke side-project fronted by Jason Suecof (Capharnaum) under the alias Fornicus 'Fuckmouth' McFlappy (vocals, guitar), alongside vocalist Slippery Jim (Erik) and a drummer credited only as 'Cain,' allegedly a dog. Their sole album, Big Fat Box of Shit (Willowtip Records, 2004), careens between A-tuned death metal, grindcore blasts, surf-rock interludes, disco, rap and a cappella boy-band pop, with guest spots from Obituary's John Tardy, Death's James Murphy, and Richard Christy. Metal Archives tags the record avant-garde metal; reviewers praised the production and technical playing while debating whether the constant genre-hopping cohered into actual songs.
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 3 — Album described as mixing 'classic rock, blues, soul, grindcore, rap, jazz, techno, a cappella and many other musical forms' (Spotify artist bio/search synthesis).
- Hardcore 6 — Album explicitly jumps into 'Grindcore blasts' (AllMusic/Lambgoat description of Big Fat Box of Shit).
- Surf 6 — Album features 'depressingly comic Surf Rock beats and harmonies' (AllMusic/Lambgoat description).
- Barbershop 4 — Genre-hopping includes 'a cappella' and 'over-processed boy band pop' vocal sections (search synthesis of AllMusic description).
- Death 6 — Core sound is 'A-tuned Death Metal,' with reviewers citing 'amazing technical riffing' (metalreviews.com; AllMusic).
- Black 4 — Album includes explicit homages to 'black metal and symphonic black metal' (AllMusic description of genre experiments).
- Technical 6 — Reviewer notes 'amazing technical riffing and solos' and a 'highly planned feel' beneath the apparent chaos (metalreviews.com review, 90/100).
- Glitch 1 — Vocal and production style described as 'over-processed,' a mild studio-manipulation touch (AllMusic description).
- Theatrical 6 — Band conceals members' identities behind stage personas (Fornicus 'Fuckmouth' McFlappy, Slippery Jim) and claims a dog, 'Cain,' as drummer (metalkingdom.net).
- Folk 1 — Genre-hopping cited as including 'blues, soul' Americana-adjacent styles (search synthesis of AllMusic description).
MEMBERS
- Jason Suecof (Fornicus "Fuckmouth" McFlappy)vocals, guitar
- Slippery Jim (Erik)vocals
- "Cain"drums (credited; drum machine in practice)
CONNECTIONS
FURTHER LISTENING
Nearest score profiles in the atlas.
- Patton-verseEI 33Mr. BungleTechnicalTheatricalHardcore
Formed in Eureka, California in 1985, Mr. Bungle is the ur-text of genre-whiplash metal: a band that mutated from death/thrash demos into carnival-mirror avant-rock, cycling through heavy metal, avant-garde jazz, ska, disco and funk — often inside a single song — under Mike Patton's shape-shifting vocals. The core trio of Patton, guitarist Trey Spruance and bassist Trevor Dunn cut three Warner Bros. albums (Mr. Bungle 1991, Disco Volante 1995, California 1999) before splintering into half the projects in this atlas. In 2020 they reunited as a thrash unit with Dave Lombardo and Scott Ian to re-record their 1986 demo as The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo on Patton's Ipecac label.
- UnaffiliatedEI 15UkakujaTechnicalHardcoreDeath
Ukakuja is an international extreme-music collective centered on vocalist Lori Bravo (ex-Nuclear Death), fusing dissonant deathgrind, avant-garde grindcore, and free-jazz-adjacent noise into a dense, short-form assault. Debut album Ōmukade (2023, The Centipede Abyss, limited to 35 copies) draws direct comparison to John Zorn's Naked City, pairing Bravo's operatic-to-guttural vocal range with morphing synth textures and a revolving cast of guest screamers. It reads as a spiritual successor to Nuclear Death's chaotic early sound rather than a conventional band.
- Estradasphere / MimicryEI 16Don SalsaTechnicalTheatricalHardcore
Don Salsa was an experimental avant-prog/avant-metal band formed in 1993 while its members were in high school in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, active until 1997. The band recorded a single album, 'Koolaide Moustache in Jonestown,' released May 21, 1997, recorded over nearly three years in a warehouse on a primitive digital multi-track recorder, with an opening track exceeding 30 minutes. Core members Tim Smolens and Jason Schimmel went on to form Estradasphere, and Schimmel later became a founding member of Atomic Ape and an active member of Secret Chiefs 3.
- Patton-verseEI 26DüreforsögTechnicalSurfTheatrical
Düreforsög are a Copenhagen avant-metal/rock band formed in August 1994, whose name is Danish for "scientific experiments" or "animal testing." The debut Knee (1997, Mega Records) leaned into death metal and grindcore-adjacent aggression; by Exploring Beauty (1999) and the Beach EP the band had pivoted toward avant-garde rock built from electronica, surf and exotica textures, an evolution that continued on Engine Machine (2002, Kool Arrow). The band cites The Residents, Mr. Bungle and Melt-Banana as touchstones, and is known for intense rhythm sections, unusual chord structures and "surreal vocals."
- UnaffiliatedEI 12Bad Acid TripHardcoreTheatricalBlack
A North Hollywood grindcore/crust act formed in 1989 out of the West Coast powerviolence scene, known for splicing manic grind and blast-beat black-metal tremolo with surf-rock detours, jazzy guitar asides, and outright circus-music absurdism, topped by 'make any noise necessary' vocals. Longtime signees to System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian's Serjical Strike Records, with 2004's Lynch the Weirdo produced by SOAD guitarist Daron Malakian; still active into the 2020s with new lineups.
- Estradasphere / MimicryEI 12Deserts of TraunTechnicalHardcoreDeath
The Deserts of Traun (stylized TRAUN) is an experimental, multi-genre metal project from Santa Barbara, California, founded and largely composed by drummer Dave Murray, formerly of Estradasphere. Its self-titled 2003 debut features Murray on numerous instruments alongside contributions from Estradasphere guitarist Jason Schimmel and others, blending metal, jazz, progressive rock and soundtrack styles. Murray later carried the project's polyrhythmic-metal sensibility into High Castle Teleorkestra.
- Igorrr-verseEI 31HAHTechnicalTheatricalSurf
HAH (formerly Hardcore Anal Hydrogen) is an avant-garde metal project formed in Monaco in 2009 by guitarist Martyn Clement and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Sacha Valony. Across four albums the duo (expanded to an eight-piece for 2021's Chimaera Monstrosa) folds flute, sitar, mandolin, Portuguese guitar, and orchestral strings into a genre-hopping metal base, drawing comparisons to Mr Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3, and Igorrr. Guitarist Martyn Clement is also a touring/studio guitarist for Igorrr, whom he joined in 2021.
- Patton-verseEI 21FantômasTechnicalHardcoreTheatrical
Fantômas is the avant-metal supergroup Mike Patton assembled in the wake of Faith No More's breakup, uniting him with Melvins guitarist Buzz Osborne, Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn, and ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo. The band treats metal as raw material for conceptual games: a debut sung as pages from imaginary sci-fi comics, The Director's Cut warping horror-film themes into grindcore-tinged miniatures, and Delìrium Còrdia stretching one queasy piece across an entire album around the concept of surgery without anesthesia. Whiplash dynamics, cartoon-splice editing, and Patton's wordless vocal acrobatics made it a cornerstone of the experimental metal canon, with every record released on Patton's own Ipecac label.
- UnaffiliatedEI 16Celebrity Sex ScandalTheatricalTechnicalHardcore
Celebrity Sex Scandal is an avant-garde metal band from San Antonio, Texas, formed in 2011 by guitarist Greg Combs after the dissolution of Dog Fashion Disco, effectively continuing that band's eclectic funk/ska/metal/pop hybrid with a horn section. Debut album Derivative (2013) was Kickstarter-funded, followed by Integral (2015), The Fundamental (2020) — which featured Dog Fashion Disco alumni John Ensminger and Jeff Siegel — and Convergence of Infinite Sequences (2023) on Razor To Wrist Records.
- Blackgaze / avant-blackEI 18Imperial TriumphantTechnicalDeathTheatrical
Imperial Triumphant is a New York City avant-garde black/death metal band formed in 2005 by vocalist-guitarist Zachary Ezrin, who describes the group as translating the dissonance, grandeur and decadence of Manhattan into sound. Since the mid-2010s the core trio of Ezrin, bassist/keyboardist Steve Blanco and drummer Kenny Grohowski has fused blackened extremity with jazz, brass, chorales and cinematic art-deco menace, performing in gilded golden deity masks. Signed to Century Media in 2019, they built a run of records including Vile Luxury (2018), Alphaville (2020) and Spirit of Ecstasy (2022) with a rotating cast of avant-garde collaborators.