Midnight Odyssey

Todesstoß is the solo experimental black metal vehicle of German musician, poet and painter Martin Lang, active out of Munich since the early 2000s. Releases like Hirngemeer and the 46-minute single-track Ebne Graun fold harmonica, funeral-doom pacing and abrasive electronic texture into a deliberately disorienting, self-willed strain of black metal, released via I, Voidhanger Records.

Avant-garde black metal project from San Francisco founded in 2009 by Roberto 'Otrebor' Martinelli, built entirely around distorted hammered dulcimer and drums with no guitar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botanist_(band)). NPR spotlighted Botanist as pairing an unheard-of lead instrument with dynamic, hypnotic songwriting, and lyrics center on environmental collapse and nature's reclamation of Earth under the mythic figure of 'The Botanist.' The band has expanded from a solo recording project into a full lineup for later albums, releasing through The Flenser, Totalrust Music and Prophecy Productions.

Midoran is the solo dark-fantasy project of French multi-instrumentalist Athal'Zacker, part of the Cercle Mortuaire collective alongside acts like Degenerescence and Mortuaire. Its prolific catalog alternates between raw, melodic black metal and synthesizer-driven dungeon synth passages, built around an ongoing fantasy narrative (Zolaria, Merozia, the Athal'Zackar mythos) in a vein reminiscent of Nuit Noire or Trha. Releases favor world-building atmosphere and lore over technical ambition.

A Magical Night in Forgotten Realmsplay in the dock

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Holdlajtorja is a Hungarian project from Zalaegerszeg formed in 2018 by figures from the country's black metal underground - guitarist/songwriter Inmar (also of Vorkuta), vocalist Kryptagonist (also of Leiru and SIR), and Vorgrov (also of Marblebog and Asattarn). Named for a Lovecraftian vision from At the Mountains of Madness and sung in Hungarian, the band trades blast-beat orthodoxy for slow-unfurling, dark-ambient soundscapes laced with unusual string instruments and 'oriental' melodic passages. Their 2024 debut full-length Arcana et Tenebrae (Sun & Moon Records) was described by reviewers as 'Dark Ambient Avant Garde Music with Black Metal's constant intervention.'

Eidosplay in the dock

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Hail Spirit Noir is a Greek band from Thessaloniki (formed 2010) that welds 1970s psychedelic and progressive rock — vintage organ, synth and mellotron textures — onto a modern second-wave black metal frame. Founded by Haris and Theoharis, both veterans of the prog outfit Rex Mundi and the avant/symphonic project Transcending Bizarre?, the band cultivates an occult, horror-tinged atmosphere across concept albums, drifting further into synth-forward territory on Eden in Reverse. Frequently filed alongside Oranssi Pazuzu and Arcturus as psychedelic/avant-garde black metal.

Prolific solo Australian project (Reservoir, Victoria) started in 1997 by sole member A DMN SHN, self-styled 'Pure Ancient Occult Egyptian Space Metal.' Across 28+ full-lengths on Shaytan Productions the project sets all 189 spells of the Egyptian Book of the Dead to music, blending industrial black metal with choral/orchestral ambience, dungeon synth, dark ambient and layered folk/ethnic instrumentation (mandolins, flutes, arghuls, violins) under funeral-doom passages and ritual chanting.

Grave Gnosis is a ritualistic occult black metal band from St. Petersburg, Florida, formed in 2015, rooted in Theistic Satanism, framing its recording sessions as literal ritual and trance work.

A New York art-world side project active from 2000-2003, pairing visual artist Rita Ackermann with Gang Gang Dance's Lizzi Bougatsos in a ritualistic, blood-and-paganism-themed 'art + metal' hybrid — chant-like incantations and wordless vocal panting over heavy, dirge-paced guitar/bass, with Orthrelm's Mick Barr guesting on guitar for Labia Minora. Functioned as much as a performance-art and visual-art collective as a band, releasing on Captain Trip and, posthumously, Locust Music.

K.F.R. (Kâfir, 'disbeliever' in Arabic) is the solo black metal / dark ambient vehicle of Paris visual artist Maxime Taccardi, treating each album as a sonic extension of his blood-paintings and demonological iconography. The music alternates chaotic, deliberately unmusical raw black metal with slow, cinematic dark-ambient passages, across a sprawling catalogue on Purity Through Fire. Drummer Déhà tracked drums from 2013 to 2015.

All There is Was Never Meantplay in the dock

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Thorne was a short-lived experimental/atmospheric black metal band from Río Gallegos, Argentina, that recorded one demo (Until Their Ruins Be Our Trench, 2013) and one full-length, Ekpyrosis & Restitutio in Pristinum Status, released as a limited cassette in 2017 by Brotherhood of Light Recordings. The album mixes Spanish-language black metal with lengthy instrumental passages and a lute-song arrangement of Renaissance composer John Dowland's 'Grief'. The band split up after this release.