Iblis

Blutmond is a Swiss avant-garde black metal band from Olten, active since the early 2000s, whose lineup includes saxophonist/guitarist Marc (also of Schammasch) alongside vocalist-guitarist John, vocalist-bassist Jerry, guitarist Simon and drummer Fabio. Beginning as a more straightforward black metal act (Endzeit, 2006), the band pivoted toward genre-blending 'urban mysticism' on Thirteen Urban Ways 4 Groovy Bohemian Days (2010) and The Revolution Is Dead! (2012, Code666), the latter folding saxophone, jazz and post-hardcore textures into black metal and drawing guest vocal spots from Anna Murphy (Eluveitie), Managarm (Varg), Markus Baltes (Autumnblaze) and Fredy Schnyder (Nucleus Torn).

Goatchrist is the solo vehicle of Leeds, UK musician Jacob Guilherme, formed in 2014, an explicitly occult project layering piano, orchestral textures, and jazz-inflected instrumental passages over an Orthodox black-metal core.

Atrorum is a two-person avant-garde/progressive black metal project from Munich, Germany, formed in 1998 by vatroS (guitars, bass, clean vocals, programming) and umbrA (vocals, keyboards, programming). Across three albums on Apathia Records — most notably 2015's Structurae — the band folds symphonic black and death metal into gothic organ, choir, cabaret, funeral-doom, jazz, and industrial-electronic passages, alternating harsh and clean vocals delivered in French, German, and English.

Creatvre is the solo project of French multi-instrumentalist Raphaël Fournier (Paris), who performs every instrument himself — guitars, bass, drums, synths, trombone, trumpet, and saxophone. His 2025 album Toujours Humain (released via I, Voidhanger Records) is described by critics as progressive black metal fused with electronica, industrial metal, and choral/symphonic elements, built around a 'cyber-industrial' concept of humanity dissolving into technology. The prior album Eloge de l'Ombre (2021) was named album of the year by Metal Hammer Spain.

Nefarious Mash is the solo vehicle of Grenoble-based contemporary-classical composer Eddy Jaber, founded in late 2021 to bridge concert-hall composition and extreme metal. Debut LP In Memory of Your Hopes (2022, reissued 2024 on Wormholedeath) builds dense 'harmonic cathedrals' of dissonant black metal, threading in jazz-derived harmony, polyrhythmic surprises and theatrically flexible vocal delivery across nine long-form tracks.

In Front of the Mirrorplay in the dock

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A Paris-based avant-garde black metal collective built around composer Thibault Schwartz, integrating 'electro-jazz to black metal' across a large ensemble with violin, cello, clarinet, keyboards and dual male/female vocalists. Fans have described the sound as 'avant-garde black with circus metal and symphonic elements' — a baroque, maximalist take on black metal rather than a straight genre exercise. Dormant since its sole full-length, Introspection (2012).

Kwade Droes is an anonymous Dutch black metal act from Gelderland, releasing through Ván Records since a 2017 debut EP. Reviewers describe the project as lo-fi Darkthrone-style black metal collided with a 'stoned free jazz ensemble,' built from tremolo riffs, sampled radio static, and demonic chorales. The band guards its members' identities closely.

Met Onoprechte Deelneming (full album)play in the dock

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Ashenspire is a Glasgow avant-garde/progressive black metal act formed in 2015, one of Scotland's most distinctive experimental metal bands. Their acclaimed 2022 album 'Hostile Architecture' (Code666) welds black-metal dissonance to avant-garde jazz, weaving saxophone, violin, Rhodes and prepared piano beneath vocalist Alasdair Dunn's Sprechstimme delivery. Lyrically it is a scathing, class-conscious critique of late capitalism, gentrification and urban design.

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Damned Spirits' Dance is a Budapest, Hungary act (active 2002–2013+) that began as melodic black-death metal and mutated into a genuinely odd hybrid of blackened riffing, quirky synths, clean vocals, and circus-tinged theatricality, released via the Dutch label Vic Records and then Italy's Code666. Critics discussing Hungarian avant-garde metal have grouped the band alongside Arcturus and Unexpect for its playful, off-kilter approach to extremity. Their sole full-length, Weird Constellations (2009), is the clearest document of the sound.

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The Sprawlcosm was a Vienna, Austria act active 1999-2005 (performing as Sprawl until 2001) that fused black metal's blast beats and shrieked vocals with industrial/EBM electronics, oriental-tinged scales, and jazz-adjacent touches. Their sole full-length, Cybionic Black Art (Silverhead Records, Dec 2000), juxtaposed programmed industrial textures and harsh black metal aggression with acoustic guitar and symphonic keyboard passages.