Ekdikēsis

Avant-garde metal duo of 47_N_74D0 and horrid_charme, recorded and arranged 2019-2020 between Warsaw and Madrid. Their debut Deformed by the Misuse of Soul [RG06] (ruego label, May 2020) fuses black metal and industrial metal with death industrial, noise, musique concrète, and glitch, using field recordings and sound design across four long-form tracks (one featuring guest act portento).

Abbey ov Thelema is a Slovak project founded in mid-2009 by Delgrast (vocals, keyboards, programming) of atmospheric black metal band Nevaloth, initially as a dark-ambient solo side project before Nevaloth bandmate Vilozof joined on guitar in late 2010 and pushed it toward what the pair called 'Transcendental Khaoblack Metal.' Across a run of demos and full-lengths for Wraith Productions (2009-2019), including "A Fragment ov the Great Work" (2011) and "Liber DCLXVI" (2013), the project fused fast, melodic black metal songwriting with heavy synth/electronic textures and esoteric Thelemic themes before splitting up.

Ophe is a one-man avant-garde/post-black metal project from Châtillon, France, created by Christophe "Bargnatt XIX" Denhez (also frontman of OMRÅDE and Demande à la Poussière), who handles all vocals, instruments and programming. Debut album Litteras Ad Tristia Maestrum Solitude arrived on My Kingdom Music in 2018, followed by Somnium Nocte Mendaciis (2022) on the same label. The project pairs primal black metal with dissonant, hermetic song structures and post-industrial, noise-inflected atmospheres, drawing comparisons to Dodecahedron, Ævangelist and Spektr.

The Black Mysteries is a one-man ritualistic black metal project of the Dutch multi-instrumentalist M. de Jong -- better known as Mories, the mastermind behind Gnaw Their Tongues, De Magia Veterum and Cloak of Altering. Debut album Lemegeton (2018, Iron Bonehead Productions) marries malevolent riffing with choirs and organ passages in service of occult, ceremonial-magic themes drawn from the grimoire of the same name. Reviewers describe a hybrid of melancholy and 'uncomfortable negativity,' alternating ponderous, ambient-tinged passages with feral barrages of riffs.

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Strangeways is an experimental black metal band from Jerusalem, formed in 2006 by Avi Caspi and Yossi Darmon (later joined by drummer Nir Nakav). Their sole full-length, Rotting Under the La La Bombs (2013, Orgasmatrön Records), delivers Mayhem-indebted, Attila Csihar-toned Norwegian-style black metal roughened by deliberate CD-skip glitch edits and two contrasting instrumental interludes (keyboard/piano, and pure dark ambient). A minor, single-album entry at the fringe of Israel's small extreme metal scene.

Adaestuo is an international black metal project built around VJS (also known for Nightbringer, Demoncy, Incursus) and P.E. Packain (ex-Horna, Sargeist), with Hekte Zaren on vocals. Across Tacent Semitae (2016), Krew za krew (2018), and Manalan virrat (2020), raw black metal dissolves into extended dark-ambient and musique-concrete passages built around occult, ritual, and cosmogonic lyrical themes. It's a well-pedigreed underground black metal outfit, but none of its members' other projects currently appear in the atlas.

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Leukotomy was a black metal duo from Hanoi, Vietnam, formed in late 2020 and active until 2023. Their sole full-length, 'Eternal Path to Eden' (House of Ygra, March 2023), is a nine-part conceptual 'tragedy' set in a gothic world, blending second-wave black metal aesthetics with avant-garde, noise, and ambient elements to tell a story of vengeance, mental torment, and unrequited love. The album was produced by Imperial Cult (Elcrost), mastered by Nemo Lockeheart, and features spoken-word passages by Sam Tang.

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Crystalline Thunderbolts Pierce the Sacred Mountain is a synth-driven raw black metal / dark ambient project of prolific Dutch multi-instrumentalist Maurice 'Mories' de Jong (Gnaw Their Tongues, Cloak of Altering, De Magia Veterum, Obscuring Veil, Aderlating, Seirom). Releases like Blessed Hands Touch the Ophanim Under the Golden Rainbows (2023) and Shine Like the Suicidal Madness of the Sacred Amethyst (2024) are built from 'wild keyboard music exclusively' — chaotic, saturated electronic textures layered with black-metal atmosphere and grandiose, scripture-tinged song titles about celestial beings. It's tagged avant-garde/symphonic/black metal on metal.academy and functions as one more mutation in de Jong's sprawling, genre-blurring catalog.

Eibon la Furies are an English industrial black metal/ambient act from Lincolnshire, formed in 2005 by Lord Eibon Blackwood (Paul D. Sims), built around Victorian occultism and 'esoteric ascendance.' The full band lineup adds Matt Cook (bass/vocals), Jamie Batt (drums) and Neil Purdy (lead guitar), with live performances historically fleshed out by keyboardist/programmer Spectral Symphony and burlesque performers Cara and Leah. Signed to Italy's Code666 Records, they released four records between 2006 and 2013, described by Zero Tolerance as an 'entertaining mix of black metal, gothic hysteria and horror movie inspired soundscapes.'

The Kovenant are a Norwegian band formed in 1992 (as Covenant) in Hamar that began in symphonic black metal and reinvented itself as industrial/cyber 'space metal' after its 1999 rename. The pivotal 1998 album Nexus Polaris, released on Nuclear Blast, drew in Mayhem drummer Jan Axel 'Hellhammer' Blomberg, who has remained the band's drummer. Fronted by Lex Icon (ex-Dimmu Borgir) and Psy Coma, their programming-drenched sound sits at the electronic edge of the Norwegian avant-black scene.