Maladie

One-man project of linguist Liu Zhenyang (born in Ningbo, China; studying in Paris), Hoplites fuses dissonant black and death metal with mathcore and zeuhl-style repetition, topped with squealing saxophone. All song and album titles are rendered in Greek despite lyrical content addressing Chinese social themes. The project debuted with an EP in 2021, released three full-lengths in 2023, and put the project on an open-ended hiatus in mid-2024 as Zhenyang shifted focus to a new project, Dgra.

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.

Henget is a Finnish avant-garde black metal project founded in late 2021 by guitarist Jesse J. Heikkinen (also of The Abbey and Iterum Nata) and vocalist King Aleijster de Satan (of Saturnian Mist), signing to Season of Mist in September 2022. Their debut album Beyond North Star (May 2023) pursues a violent hallucinatory journey rooted in psychedelia, the occult, and ancient shamanism.

Henkivallatplay in the dock

BandcampSpotify

compare profiles →

Aryos is a long-running French avant-garde black metal act from Ussac/Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze), formed in 1994 (originally as Forlorn, renamed 1997). Built around an occult/esoteric concept by members using the stage names Napharion, Pétal and Alilteas Gornnec, their sound layers jazz-tinged synths, classical piano and prog-rock textures over a black metal core. Later releases like Les Stigmates d'Hécate (2015) lean into atmospheric, folk-tagged textures.

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.

Back to R'lyeh is a Madrid progressive/avant-garde metal band formed in 2011, building Lovecraftian Cthulhu Mythos concept albums out of genre-hopping riffs that swing from black and death metal aggression into funk, jazz-tinged chords, and theatrical, multi-voiced vocal performances. Critics have compared their unpredictable, vocally chaotic style to Mr Bungle, Sigh, and System of a Down.

Chosenplay in the dock

BandcampSpotify

compare profiles →

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.

The Law of Asbestosplay in the dock

BandcampSpotifyYT Music

compare profiles →

Deathspell Omega is an anonymous French black metal collective, formed in 1998, that turned from orthodox raw black metal into one of the most cerebral, theologically-preoccupied acts of the 'dissonant' avant-black wave. From Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice (2004) and Kénôse (2005) onward their music folds jazz-derived chord voicings, math-rock complexity and dark-ambient/choral interludes into blast-driven black metal. The band never confirms its lineup, so personnel details are limited to widely-reported names.

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).