GuilThee

Endolith are an extreme progressive metal three-piece from Tromso, Norway, formed 2010 and signed to local label Rob Mules Records. Their concept album 'Chicxulub - The Fossil Record' (2019) refracts the dinosaur-extinction narrative through Meshuggah/Strapping Young Lad-style djent grooves, Gojira-esque crush, Devin Townsend-scale orchestral synth walls, black-metal (Emperor-tinged) tremolo bursts, and electronic programming, arriving at what one reviewer called 'a truly unforgettable trip.'

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A prog-extreme-metal supergroup uniting Jason McMaster (Watchtower, Dangerous Toys) on vocals, Davide Tiso (Ephel Duath, Botanist) on guitar, and Hannes Grossmann (ex-Necrophagist, Alkaloid) on drums, Howling Sycamore melts thrash, black metal, and old-school prog-metal singing into dense, riff-heavy epics. Their two albums draw a deep guest bench — Marty Friedman and Kevin Hufnagel (Gorguts, Dysrhythmia) on lead guitar, Bruce Lamont on baritone sax — that pulls the sound toward technical/progressive metal more than cross-genre experimentalism. Jamie King of Between the Buried and Me mixed and mastered the sophomore record, Seven Pathways to Annihilation.

Upendedplay in the dock

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Norwegian avant-garde metal band formed in Oslo in 2000 by Carl-Michael Eide (Czral), who considered it a continuation of his earlier band Ved Buens Ende. Their angular, dissonant sound folds jazz and death-metal elements into an idiosyncratic avant-rock framework across albums like 'Carheart' (2003) and 'The Black Flux' (2008, Season of Mist). The band disbanded in 2018.

Umbral Presence is a Russian black metal side-project founded in 1998 by Noctulius (Rustam), the keyboardist/vocalist of avant-garde metal band Rakoth, conceived as a more brutal, occult-oriented outlet. Its sole full-length, Caelethi I, was recorded in 2000, re-recorded in 2005, and released in 2006 through Sound Age Productions (Moscow), pairing keyboard-driven black/death metal with industrial and ambient textures. Session guitarist Lidagon (Alex Plotnikoff, also of Glazemaker) contributed to the album.

Light Dweller is the solo dissonant death/black metal project of Cameron Boesch, based in Phoenix, Arizona, who writes, performs, records, mixes and masters every release himself. Since the 2018 EP 'Nullity of Light,' the project has moved from Immolation/Incantation-indebted death metal through Ulcerate/Krallice-style angularity, culminating in 2025's 'The Subjugate' (released via Avantgarde Music's death-metal imprint Unorthodox Emanations), which reviewers describe as adding a 'glitchy, percussive pulse' to its bleak, blackened atmosphere. Boesch also regularly turns up alongside other one-person underground acts on split releases, most recently 2025's 'Illusory Dissolvents.'

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Lengsel are a Norwegian progressive/avant-garde 'unblack' metal band formed in 1995, whose 2000 debut Solace won a following for its atmospheric, experimental take on black metal. The band is tightly bound to Extol: guitarist Tor Magne Glidje joined Extol in 1999 (first on bass, later guitar) and, over time, all three Lengsel members became members of Extol. The overlap left Lengsel a largely studio-bound project.

Korog is a Budapest black'n'roll/death'n'roll outfit formed in 1995, most widely known for the two years (2001-2003) that Mayhem vocalist Attila Csihar spent behind the microphone.

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.

Avant-garde metal sextet from Poznań, Poland, founded in 2019 by guitarist Marcin Tuliszkiewicz and drummer Krzysztof Kulis. Their self-titled debut (10 January 2025) fuses black/death metal harshness with dark jazz, doomy drone and trumpet (Magdalena Andrys), driven by dual vocals between clean singer Julita Dąbrowska and growler Michał Sosnowski.

Morpheus Tales is a Greek experimental/progressive black metal project from Thessaloniki, built around core member Paris (guitars, drums/keys programming) with Georgios P on guitars and Lee on vocals for their most recent work. Their music is billed as 'avantgarde post black metal' that's psychedelic, strange and concept-driven — 2014's Secular Noir is a 'cosmic noir tale of greed and lust,' while 2017's II is an 8-chapter concept record about hypocrisy, false prophets and the denial of reality, featuring a guest saxophone part from Orestis Exidaris. The project appears self-released/unsigned, distributing exclusively through its own Bandcamp.