La Torture des Ténèbres
Canada · formed 2016 · last active 2026
Solo raw black metal project of Ottawa multi-instrumentalist Jessica Kinney, running since 2016 across roughly eight releases including full-lengths and splits. The sound layers harsh, noise-caked black metal against warped, decayed ambient passages, earning press comparisons to Sutekh Hexen, Gnaw, and dark-ambient artist The Caretaker. Albums build a recurring retro-futuristic, dystopian mythos described by Vice as 'Metropolis meets Victorian death cult.'
SCORE PROFILE
Accent numbers counted towards the index. Hover an axis — or hold it on a phone — for what it means.
WHY THOSE SCORES
- Glitch 4 — Noise-soaked production the artist herself describes as 'layers upon layers of calculated cacophony,' drawing press comparisons to noise acts Sutekh Hexen and Gnaw (Vice).
- Drone 4 — Warped, off-kilter passages of sustained tone interrupt the black-metal onslaught, described in press coverage as tempering 'pure sonic annihilation' with slower, decayed sections.
- Ambient 5 — Press coverage (Vice) compares the quieter, decayed passages directly to dark-ambient tape-loop artist The Caretaker.
MEMBERS
- Jessica Kinneyall instruments/vocals (solo project)
FURTHER LISTENING
Nearest score profiles in the atlas.
- UnaffiliatedEI 19AdaestuoBlackAmbientGlitch
Adaestuo is an international black metal project built around VJS (also known for Nightbringer, Demoncy, Incursus) and P.E. Packain (ex-Horna, Sargeist), with Hekte Zaren on vocals. Across Tacent Semitae (2016), Krew za krew (2018), and Manalan virrat (2020), raw black metal dissolves into extended dark-ambient and musique-concrete passages built around occult, ritual, and cosmogonic lyrical themes. It's a well-pedigreed underground black metal outfit, but none of its members' other projects currently appear in the atlas.
- UnaffiliatedEI 18DargarBlackAmbientGlitch
Dargar is a Los Angeles-based experimental black metal studio project by Pete Majors (vocals/guitars, also of Harassor) and James Brown III, aka Horus (programming/mixing/editing; the solo USBM artist behind the Rising Beast label/archive). The project's name is an inside joke referencing Marc Singer's 'Dar' (The Beastmaster) and Sam Elliott's 'Gar' (Mask). Songs were built by having Horus program drum-machine beats in GarageBand, Majors improvise guitar/vocals over them, then Horus sample and loop those fragments into finished compositions — yielding a lo-fi, glitchy, ambient-tinged black metal sound. The debut was recorded in 2006 and released on cassette in 2012 (100 copies); a second collection, The Shores of Space, followed in 2017.
- UnaffiliatedEI 20GriiimBlackGlitchAmbient
Griiim is the solo project of Paris-based visual artist and musician Maxime 'MT' Taccardi (also the sole member of atlas act K.F.R.), fusing atmospheric black metal with trap, trip-hop, industrial noise, and power electronics. Angry Metal Guy describes 2019 debut Pope Art as 'an eerie concoction of trap, trip-hop, industrial, noise and black metal' where 'true-blue riffs surface only once' and guitars mostly function to 'simulate droning dives and oppressive noise' under 'phat beats.' RateYourMusic and Discogs tag the record Avant-Garde Metal / Atmospheric Black Metal, and it features guest vocalists Meyhna'ch (Mutiilation) and O (Obskuritatem), released via Purity Through Fire.
- UnaffiliatedEI 15BríiBlackAmbientDrone
Bríi is the electronic-leaning solo alter ego of Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Caio Lemos (aka Serafim), better known for his acoustic-folk black metal project Kaatayra. Where Kaatayra leans on native Brazilian folk instrumentation, Bríi fuses raw black metal blast passages with dark ambient, techno, trance and space-psychedelia, described by one Metal Archives reviewer as an 'improbable' but effective genre collision. Based in Distrito Federal, Brazil, the project has released a string of albums since 2020 via Flowing Downward and Bandcamp, including Sem Propósito (2021) and Último Ancestral Comum (2023).
- UnaffiliatedEI 15MurmuüreBlackAmbientGlitch
Murmuüre is a French one-man avant-garde black metal project (sole member Felix Naos) whose enigmatic 2010 self-titled album was assembled over three years from a single one-hour guitar improvisation recorded in November 2006, edited and re-layered into a ritualistic sound collage. The result blends black-metal instrumentation with dark ambient, drone, noise and psychedelic textures — 'a churning, claustrophobic mix of queasy underwater black metal... glitchy, phantom drones'. It was released on Cold Void Emanations and Aurora Borealis Recordings.
- UnaffiliatedEI 19DosanjosBlackDroneAmbient
Dosanjos is a Sao Paulo black/death metal project built around raw riffing, claustrophobic dark-ambient drones, and dense noise textures, tagged by the band itself as 'schizometal.' Their lyrical world draws on cursed Brazilian poet Augusto dos Anjos, framing decomposition and existential horror through necro-poetic themes. The project is frequently likened to Abruptum, Gnaw Their Tongues, and Blut Aus Nord (comparisons only, not verified ties), and has steadily released full-lengths since 2014, most recently 2025's 'Funeral 23.'
- UnaffiliatedEI 10Abbey ov ThelemaBlackAmbientGlitch
Abbey ov Thelema is a Slovak project founded in mid-2009 by Delgrast (vocals, keyboards, programming) of atmospheric black metal band Nevaloth, initially as a dark-ambient solo side project before Nevaloth bandmate Vilozof joined on guitar in late 2010 and pushed it toward what the pair called 'Transcendental Khaoblack Metal.' Across a run of demos and full-lengths for Wraith Productions (2009-2019), including "A Fragment ov the Great Work" (2011) and "Liber DCLXVI" (2013), the project fused fast, melodic black metal songwriting with heavy synth/electronic textures and esoteric Thelemic themes before splitting up.
- UnaffiliatedEI 9ÄgakäkenBlackGlitchDrone
Ägakäken is a one-person Estonian black metal/experimental project helmed by SÜBÜR (guitar, vocals, synths, percussion). Its 2022 EP "BlÄkk VVärkk" mixes black metal with harsh noise, noise rock, and post-rock textures across short, abrasive tracks, some under 30 seconds. Other 2021–2022 releases include "DEMO 2021," "AxLxBxUxM," and "Seksiori Indrek."
- Blackgaze / avant-blackEI 23LocrianBlackAmbientDrone
Locrian are an American experimental trio formed in late 2005 in Chicago by André Foisy and Terence Hannum, with drummer Steven Hess joining permanently in 2010. AllMusic characterizes their sound as an eclectic mixture of black metal, electronics, drone and noise rock, shot through with ambient and industrial textures and dystopic, apocalyptic imagery. In 2012 they made the collaborative album Bless Them That Curse You with Mamiffer, released on Profound Lore alongside Sige and Utech.
- Blackgaze / avant-blackEI 20Crystalline Thunderbolts Pierce the Sacred MountainBlackGlitchAmbient
Crystalline Thunderbolts Pierce the Sacred Mountain is a synth-driven raw black metal / dark ambient project of prolific Dutch multi-instrumentalist Maurice 'Mories' de Jong (Gnaw Their Tongues, Cloak of Altering, De Magia Veterum, Obscuring Veil, Aderlating, Seirom). Releases like Blessed Hands Touch the Ophanim Under the Golden Rainbows (2023) and Shine Like the Suicidal Madness of the Sacred Amethyst (2024) are built from 'wild keyboard music exclusively' — chaotic, saturated electronic textures layered with black-metal atmosphere and grandiose, scripture-tinged song titles about celestial beings. It's tagged avant-garde/symphonic/black metal on metal.academy and functions as one more mutation in de Jong's sprawling, genre-blurring catalog.