Gonin-Ish (五人一首)
Japan · formed 1996 · last active 2020
Tokyo progressive/avant-garde metal quintet active since 1997, built around keyboardist Masashi Momota's sweeping piano work and vocalist Anoji Matsuoka's genre-hopping delivery, from spitting growls to a more crooned register. The band favors through-composed 'movements' over verse-chorus form, blending death metal weight with jazz and fusion harmony; their 2005 sophomore album Naishikyo-Sekai reached the West via a 2008 Season of Mist reissue. Early drummer Junichi Harashima left the band (replaced by Gaku Yamaguchi around 2006) to become the longtime drummer of fellow Japanese avant-garde metal act Sigh.
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 5 — Season of Mist's own artist bio describes 'harsh Death Metal equilibrated with Jazz and Fusion,' with keyboardist Masashi Momota's piano work anchoring the fusion side and drawing Cynic comparisons in reviews.
- Theatrical 3 — Songs are built from through-composed 'movements' rather than verse-chorus form, giving records a suite-like, dramatically staged arc per Metal Archives reviews and Decibel's retrospective.
MEMBERS
- Anoji Matsuokaguitar, vocals
- Fumio 'Fu-Min' Takahashiguitar
- Oyama Tetsuyabass
- Gaku Yamaguchidrums
- Masashi Momotakeyboards
- Junichi Harashimadrums (former, through c. 2006)
CONNECTIONS
FURTHER LISTENING
Nearest score profiles in the atlas.
- UnaffiliatedEI 15Schizoid LloydTechnicalTheatricalJazzy
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- ZornEI 15Titan to TachyonsTechnicalJazzyTheatrical
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- UnaffiliatedEI 16Pin-Up Went DownTechnicalJazzyTheatrical
Pin-Up Went Down is a French experimental band from Rouen, begun in 2006 as multi-instrumentalist Alexis Damien's solo project before vocalist Aurelie 'Asphodel' Raidron joined, followed by Damien's brother Nicolas in 2010. Self-described as blending 'art rock, metal, avant-garde, and pop', their albums 2 Unlimited (2008) and 342 (2010) on Ascendance Records mix gothic, death, funk, and progressive metal beneath Asphodel's famously wide-ranging, theatrical vocal delivery; a planned third album, Perfreaktion, stalled after Asphodel's 2014 departure.
- UnaffiliatedEI 21Tantric BileTechnicalJazzyDeath
Tantric Bile is the solo avant-death/free-jazz project of North American multi-instrumentalist Matt Stephens, who also leads Effluence and Neural Indent; the name is a nod to a Painkiller track. Since 2021 it has released a steady stream of albums on Stephens' own Putrefactive Recordings, blending guttural goregrind vocals with squealing saxophone-adjacent woodwinds, film samples and John Zorn/Naked City-style jump-cut composition, often joined by regular Effluence collaborators Paul Acuña and Ollie Burgess.
- UnaffiliatedEI 20CyraxTechnicalJazzyTheatrical
Cyrax are a Milan progressive metal band formed in 2012 around Marco Cantoni, whose sound has grown steadily more eclectic across three albums (Reflections 2013, Pictures 2015, Experiences 2020, plus 2021 EP Metamorphosis and 2023's Novo Deus). Bandcamp tags the catalog Electronic/Jazz/Metal/Progressive Metal/Progressive Rock/Folk, and RateYourMusic double-tags 2020's Experiences as Progressive Metal and Avant-Garde Metal; reviewers describe it mixing 'celtic, death metal, thrash, jazz fusion, rock prog, bluegrass and Stravinski influences,' with choir passages, ukulele, ambient electronics/soundscape (courtesy of drummer Lorenzo Beltrami), and carnival-style interludes with flutes sitting alongside death-metal growls.
- Dissonant tech-deathEI 14DysrhythmiaTechnicalJazzyDeath
Dysrhythmia is an instrumental progressive/technical metal trio formed in Philadelphia in 1998 by guitarist Kevin Hufnagel and drummer Jeff Eber, now based in Brooklyn. Bassist Colin Marston — also of Krallice, Behold...The Arctopus, and the reunited Gorguts — joined in 2004, and the band's eight studio albums fuse jazz-inflected chord work, technical/progressive-death riffing, and prog-rock structure into a wordless, largely live-tracked instrumental attack.
- UnaffiliatedEI 8Tear Light From MatterTechnicalJazzy
Tear Light From Matter is a Massachusetts-based instrumental act pairing saxophone with a standard metal rhythm section, self-tagged on Bandcamp as experimental/jazz metal/fusion/prog metal. Their debut, "In Statu Nascendi" (released 25 January 2019, recorded and mixed by Jerry MacDonald at Odd Fellows Recording), sits alongside a further release, "Fœtal Præyers", in a small but pointed discography. The saxophone-led interplay places them in the lineage of jazz-inflected heavy bands rather than straightforward metal songwriting.
- Estradasphere / MimicryEI 19I.S.S.TechnicalJazzyTheatrical
I.S.S. (Ideal Social Situation) is a largely studio-based, self-described 'time-warping boy band' led by vocalist, songwriter, producer and bassist Tim Smolens, best known as the bassist of the genre-hopping Santa Cruz band Estradasphere. Built around four-part vocal harmonies drawing on 1950s barbershop quartet and doo-wop styles and Pet Sounds/Smile-era Beach Boys, the project blends homage and parody of the boy-band tradition. The core quartet of Smolens, Joey Ryken, Joel Robinow and George Smith is aided by guests including Estradasphere's Timba Harris and John Whooley and Mr. Bungle's Bar McKinnon. Its debut Forget About the Girl was released in 2002 on Mimicry Records, followed by She's A Girl in 2018.
- UnaffiliatedEI 10Blind Idiot GodTechnicalJazzy
Blind Idiot God is an instrumental trio formed in 1982 in St. Louis, fusing noise rock, dub, funk, free jazz and metal; Greg Ginn signed them to SST Records after hearing their demo. Their 1988 album Undertow was produced by Bill Laswell and featured saxophonist John Zorn, and the full band performed on Laswell's Praxis album Sacrifist (1993) alongside Buckethead, Bootsy Collins and Yamatsuka Eye. Khanate drummer Tim Wyskida joined in 2001 and remains the band's drummer through their 2015 reunion album Before Ever After.
- UnaffiliatedEI 16AkphaezyaTechnicalJazzyTheatrical
Akphaezya are a self-described 'eklektik metal' band from Orléans, France, active since 2002 and built around guitarist/concept-writer Stephan H. Zag-Zero's multi-album story arcs. Reviewers (French-Metal.com, Metal Archives) describe them freely mixing death metal, jazz, gothic, stoner, and cabaret/bal-musette elements, with critics drawing style comparisons to Unexpect, Diablo Swing Orchestra, and Pin-Up Went Down (no documented member/label overlap with those acts was found). Vocal duties have passed from the operatic, ethnically-inflected Nehl Aëlin to current singer Hakata Ooh.