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Fabulae Dramatis is a Colombian-Belgian progressive/avant-garde metal act founded in 2011 in Antwerp, Belgium by singer Isabel Restrepo (Medellín, Colombia), Daniel Díaz, and a member known as Hamlet. The band weaves classical, acoustic and ethnic instrumentation — including sitar, harmonium and tambura — into a progressive-metal base, with Restrepo shifting between metal screams, operatic vocals, growls and South American vocal traditions. Their 2024 album "Violenta" and its single "Fábula Violenta" dramatize Restrepo's childhood during Medellín's drug-war years, complete with a self-directed concept music video.

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Nucleus Torn was a Swiss avant-folk/progressive-metal project founded in 1997 by multi-instrumentalist Fredy Schnyder, expanding into a chamber-metal ensemble with cello, violin, flute, and an array of folk instruments (hammered dulcimer, bouzouki, oud, bagpipes). Signed to Prophecy Productions from 2006, the band moved between folk-rock, 1970s progressive-rock homage, and extreme metal across a decade-plus discography, including a conceptual Nihil/Knell/Andromeda Awaiting trilogy. Active until 2015, the later lineup included Eluveitie's Anna Murphy.

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A British folk-metal band formed in 2019 around guitarist/vocalist/flautist Joe Parrish-James (Jethro Tull, 2020-2024), built explicitly on 'the preservation and exposure of traditional folk music... presented through the modern medium of metal and rock.' Their Pryderi EP (2021) traces a character from the Welsh Mabinogion across four movements blending Celtic/medieval-folk instrumentation with progressive-metal frameworks, and the debut LP Lakesongs of Elbid (2024) expands that fusion across 12 tracks. Live sets reportedly splice Black Sabbath riffs into flute arrangements, underlining the band's folk-instrumentation-over-metal-riffing identity.

2 Foot Yard was a San Francisco/Oakland-based chamber-rock trio led by violinist-vocalist Carla Kihlstedt, alongside cellist-vocalist Marika Hughes and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily (drums, guitar). Functioning as a songwriting collective, the group blended chamber-music intimacy with rock and avant-pop, occupying "the fertile cracks between art song and pop song." It grew out of a solo album Kihlstedt released on Tzadik and released two records: the self-titled "2 Foot Yard" (Tzadik, 2003) and "Borrowed Arms" (self-released, 2008).

Rabbit Rabbit Radio is the song-a-month art-pop duo of Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi, both formerly of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Founded in February 2012, the project releases a new song to Bandcamp subscribers on the first day of every month, collecting them into yearly volume albums. Drawing on art song, folk song, industrial and improvised music and heart-wrenching balladry, their songs are described as raw, beautiful, sparse and rich. The core duo is expanded in performance and recording by Jeremy Flower and Jon Evans.

Faun Fables is an American avant-folk / dark-folk band based in Oakland, California, formed in the late 1990s by Spokane-raised singer, dancer and songwriter Dawn McCarthy. Known for a theatrical "songtelling" style, the band blends British, Scandinavian, Appalachian and Eastern European folk traditions with art rock and performance art. McCarthy's principal collaborator is Nils Frykdahl of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, whom she married; the two build the project around McCarthy's voice and Frykdahl's multi-instrumental work.

SNAILFORCE! is the genre-hopping instrumental project of Greg Eldridge and Adam Stacey, based in Portland, Oregon, blending metal, Balkan, prog and other styles into what the band calls a "musical slime project." Adam Stacey is also known for recording with Estradasphere, Atomic Ape, Secret Chiefs 3, High Castle Teleorkestra and Igorrr. The band's debut, the two-track EP "Greg and Adam's Wilderness Adventure," was released on May 24, 2024, mixed and mastered by Justin Phelps at The Hallowed Halls, with a rotating cast of guest players on strings, horns, shamisen and more.

System of a Down are an Armenian-American alternative-metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1994, whose sound welds thrash aggression to Armenian folk melodies, abrupt tempo shifts and Serj Tankian's operatic, politically charged vocals. Multi-platinum records like Toxicity (2001) and the Mezmerize/Hypnotize pair made them one of the era's biggest metal acts. In 2008 Tankian co-wrote and traded vocals with Mike Patton on 'Bird's Eye' for the Body of Lies soundtrack.

Polkadot Cadaver is an American avant-garde/alternative metal band formed in Rockville, Maryland in 2007 by ex-members of Dog Fashion Disco, and stylistically a close continuation of that band. Their 'schizophrenic musical madness' shape-shifts between thrashing metal, folk-pop, experimental rock and darkly comedic theatricality across albums like Purgatory Dance Party, Sex Offender and Echoes Across the Hellscape. Clutch's Neil Fallon guested on their 2013 record.

Sal y Mileto are Ecuador's most influential rock band, fusing progressive/alternative rock with hardcore, heavy metal, jazz and electronics into what they call 'Rock Libre Ecuatoriano.' Formed in 1994 in Latacunga, they've staged theatrical works blending poetry and contemporary dance and woven in Andean instrumentation like the traversa flute.

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