Faxed Head

Psychopathology Orchestra was a one-man Dijon, France project helmed by a musician known as Timmy (also of the black metal duo Astaarth), releasing a single 2003 album that pairs stop-start death/black/grind riffing with a heavy layer of synths and industrial-style programming. Mr. Bungle-indebted horn stabs, cartoonish pitch-bent keyboard tones, and a thematic fixation on psychiatric insanity give the record a theatrical, unhinged character within an otherwise French death-metal frame.

Melted Bodies are an avant-garde metal quartet from Los Angeles who fuse thrash/death-metal riffing with pop-leaning synths, programming and post-punk elements. Frequently compared to System of a Down and Mr. Bungle, they pair theatrical, satirical vocals with body-horror multimedia and chaotic live shows. Their debut album is Enjoy Yourself.

Cleveland's Mushroomhead formed in 1993 and built a reputation on horror-movie masks, a rotating cast of vocalists trading rap, croon, and growl, and a sound Wikipedia characterizes as alternative/industrial/nu/experimental metal steeped in hip-hop, gothic rock, and techno textures. Their theatrical stagecraft and 'X Face' branding are frequently noted as predating similar imagery used by Slipknot. Longtime vocalist Jason Popson also fronts the extreme metal project Pitch Black Forecast alongside former Strapping Young Lad/Death drummer Gene Hoglan.

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Zelophilia is the solo studio project of Lou Kelly, based in Ukiah, California, releasing one full-length, Lust, Loathing & Love, in December 2011. Blends death metal, hardcore, and mathcore with baroque classical touches and absurdist, humor-laced songwriting.

Carnival in Coal was a French extreme/avant-garde metal duo formed in Amiens in 1995 by vocalist Arno Strobl and multi-instrumentalist Axel Wursthorn, active until 2007 (briefly revived 2014). The band mixed death and black metal with disco, pop, reggae, and chamber-rock elements under a recurring carnival/circus concept, releasing albums via War On Majors, Season of Mist, and Earache's Elitist imprint. Critics drew comparisons to Faith No More/Mr. Bungle, Frank Zappa, and John Zorn for the band's genre-defying juxtapositions.

Formed in 1999 in France's Landes region, La Fin de la Société Telle Que Nous La Connaissons builds death-metal blocks around cello and electronic-drum/sample textures, alternating brutality with melancholic tenderness. Their self-titled 2017 album and 2024's Melancolia fold in electro and cinematic-orchestral touches, and their live shows go fully theatrical, with the band performing in costume and makeup.

Strapping Young Lad is Devin Townsend's industrial/thrash/death metal band, active 1994–2007 with a stable lineup of Townsend, guitarist Jed Simon, bassist Byron Stroud and drummer Gene Hoglan (also of Dark Angel, Death, Testament). Built on polyrhythmic riffing and blast beats, the band is best known for a hyper-dense, multitracked "wall of sound" production style critics compared to Phil Spector and Frank Zappa, drawing on the harsh industrial/noise lineage of Foetus and White Noise. City (1997) was the critical breakthrough; The New Black (2006) leaned back into the band's tongue-in-cheek black humor before their 2007 disbandment.

Dethklok is the real-world melodic death metal act behind Brendon Small's animated series Metalocalypse, with Small performing guitars, lead vocals, bass and keyboards and Gene Hoglan (Strapping Young Lad, Death, Dark Angel) on drums since the 2007 debut The Dethalbum. Powered by Hoglan's blast beats and Small's technical shredding, the studio project became the highest-charting death metal act in Billboard 200 history at the time. Its over-the-top satirical concept culminated in the sung-through metal opera The Doomstar Requiem (2013). The touring lineup has drawn on Zappa/Vai-school virtuosos including Bryan Beller, Mike Keneally and Nili Brosh.

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Zimmer's Hole is a Canadian comedic thrash/heavy metal band formed in Vancouver in 1991 as a side project for members and friends of Strapping Young Lad. The lineup pairs vocalist Chris Valagao with three Strapping Young Lad alumni — guitarist Jed Simon, bassist Byron Stroud and drummer Gene Hoglan — playing fast, riff-driven thrash laced with tongue-in-cheek humor and song parodies rather than genuine genre experimentation. Across three albums (Bound by Fire, 1997; Legion of Flames, 2001; and the Motley Crue-inverting concept record When You Were Shouting at the Devil...We Were in League with Satan, 2008) the band trades on satire and over-the-top metal imagery. The debut was produced by Devin Townsend and released on his Hevy Devy Records label.

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Solo dissonant death metal/grindcore project from Todesfelde, Germany, formed in 2022 (https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Ryona_Hime/3540547934) and run by producer 'The Popu,' who writes, records, mixes, masters and illustrates under genre tags including 'animegrind,' 'weebgrind,' 'dungeongrind' and 'trancegrind' (https://ryonahime.bandcamp.com/album/ritv-s-hrapta). Releases such as 'Ritvōs Hrapta' (2023) pull in guest musicians - clarinetist Yumi Sakata, guitarist/vocalist Alice Simard of Filesharemaiden, and vocalists Billy Qvarnström, Jesse Agiomamitis and Starlix - wrapping technically demanding, fretless-bass-driven dissonance in an anime-inflected aesthetic.