Monno

Germany · formed 1999 · last active 2013

Swiss experimental noise/drone outfit (later based partly in Berlin) built around Antoine Chessex's tenor saxophone skronk, Gilles Aubry's laptop electronics, and a bass/drums engine that pushes doom and sludge toward pure noise abstraction. Active roughly 2000-2013 across releases like Error, Ghosts, and Cheval Ouvert, they sit closer to noise-rock/free-improv lineages (Throbbing Gristle, Wolf Eyes, Lightning Bolt comparisons) than to conventional metal songwriting.

SCORE PROFILE

JazzyBalkanHardcoreSurfBarbershopDeathBlackTechnicalGlitchTheatricalFolkDoomDroneShoegazeAmbient8-bit
Jazzy5
Balkan0
Hardcore0
Surf0
Barbershop0
Death2
Black0
Technical2
Glitch6
Theatrical0
Folk0
Doom5
Drone7
Shoegaze0
Ambient3
8-bit0

Accent numbers counted towards the index. Hover an axis — or hold it on a phone — for what it means.

WHY THOSE SCORES

  • Jazzy 5Antoine Chessex's tenor saxophone (played through guitar amps) is a lead instrument throughout, tagged 'Avant-Garde Jazz' alongside the metal tags (Discogs artist page quoted via search, discogs.com/artist/572362-Monno; idiosyncratics.limitedrun.com release page).
  • Glitch 6Gilles Aubry's laptop/electronics create 'infinite loops of electronic madness' and 'implacable synth manglings' (idiosyncratics.limitedrun.com Cheval Ouvert release page).
  • Doom 5Genre-tagged sludge/doom, with a 'rock solid wall' of heavy bass-and-drums weight (idiosyncratics.limitedrun.com Cheval Ouvert release page).
  • Drone 7Tagged Drone Metal on Discogs; reviewers describe walls of sustained, repetitive noise with minimal riff movement (discogs.com/artist/572362-Monno via search; idiosyncratics.limitedrun.com).
  • Ambient 3Described as immersing listeners in a 'brutal typhoon of intense abstraction' via sustained atmospheric noise (idiosyncratics.limitedrun.com Cheval Ouvert release page).

MEMBERS

  • Marc Fantinidrums
  • Derek Shirleybass
  • Gilles Aubryelectronics, vocals, laptop
  • Antoine Chessextenor saxophone

CONNECTIONS

producer
label

FURTHER LISTENING

Nearest score profiles in the atlas.

  • UnaffiliatedEI 27
    Bong-Ra
    GlitchDroneDoom

    Solo vehicle of Dutch producer Jason Köhnen, who cut his teeth in death-doom band Celestial Season before founding Bong-Ra in 1996 as one of the first projects to weld extreme-metal riffing to breakcore's stutter-edited breakbeats. Three decades on, the project has swung from jungle/gabber assault (Full Metal Racket, Grindkrusher) through a 'crushing, ritualistic experimental doom' phase indebted to Om and Sunn O))) (Antediluvian, Meditations), alongside side-projects in doomjazz. Now signed to Debemur Morti Productions, 2025's Black Noise pushes toward industrial metal while keeping the breakcore DNA intact.

    compare profiles →
  • Southern Lord / droneEI 15
    Zatvor
    DroneDoomGlitch

    Zatvor is a long-running experimental doom/sludge/drone project from Kursk, Russia, active since 1996. Their 2018 release 'Ключ земли' is a single 49-minute piece blending guitars, drums, flute, and saxophone with noise and electronic textures over a drone/doom foundation, mixed and mastered by James Plotkin.

  • Blackgaze / avant-blackEI 15
    Psy-No-Ark
    DoomDroneGlitch

    Ecuadorian experimental collective from Guayaquil ('Psychedelic-Noise-Arkestra') led by multi-instrumentalist José Francisco Ycaza (aka Esquizoide 0nírico), billed 'Arkestra Director' in the Sun Ra tradition. Their 2019 album Nodvs Gordivs (Pensador Records) is a long-form concept piece weaving Castro, Alexander the Great and the Sabazios cult into a psychedelic doom/sludge/krautrock ritual built from extended pieces of noise, orchestral texture and heavy riffing.

  • UnaffiliatedEI 17
    Black Mayonnaise
    DroneDoomGlitch

    Black Mayonnaise is the long-running one-man bedroom project of Mike Duncan from Akron, Ohio, active since August 1991. It blends heavily detuned, distorted doom/sludge guitar with drum-machine programming, tape loops and cut-up sonic manipulation into a lo-fi, ambient/psych-drone-inflected sound. Cited influences include old Godflesh, old Carcass, Butthole Surfers and Big Black; notable releases include TTSSATTSR (2004) and the retrospective compilation When You Get Caught Between the Moon and Boston Harbor (2011). (Verified spelling: the RYM scout note had a typo, 'Black Mayonaise' — the real band spells it 'Black Mayonnaise'.)

  • UnaffiliatedEI 13
    The Mountain King
    DroneDoomAmbient

    German experimental/noise act (Mainz) built around destructive recording techniques rather than conventional songwriting — their Radiant Eulogy series deliberately degrades master tapes (sun exposure, physical decay) to bury heavy doom riffs under crackling, collapsing signal. Prolific (37+ Bandcamp releases since 2013) across noise, post-metal, drone, doom, and post-rock with electronic/tape elements. Sits closer to power-electronics/drone art-noise than conventional metal songcraft.

  • Tool-verseEI 23
    Author & Punisher
    DroneGlitchDoom

    Author & Punisher is the one-man industrial/drone/doom-metal project of San Diego mechanical engineer Tristan Shone, who performs on custom-designed and hand-fabricated instruments he calls 'Drone Machines' and 'Dub Machines'. Handpicked by Tool to support their 2020 tour, Shone returned the favor on his 2022 Relapse album Krüller: Tool's Danny Carey drums on 'Misery' and bassist Justin Chancellor plays on 'Centurion'. The result pairs monolithic, machine-driven weight with dub space and industrial menace.

  • Southern Lord / droneEI 25
    Merzbow
    GlitchDroneAmbient

    Merzbow is the project of Japanese musician Masami Akita, the most prolific and definitive figure in harsh noise, working in distortion, feedback, synthesizers and homemade noisemakers since the late 1970s. His vast collaborative discography connects him deep into this atlas: he has recorded with Boris continuously since 1997 (Megatone, Gensho, 2R0I2P0), mixed the tracks "O)))Bow 1/2" on Sunn O)))'s Flight of the Behemoth (2002), and later performed live with Sunn O))) at Tokyo's Earthdom in 2007. His early-career work also included collaborations with KK Null.

    compare profiles →
  • UnaffiliatedEI 23
    Zonal
    DroneGlitchDoom

    Zonal are the British duo of Justin Broadrick (Godflesh) and Kevin Martin (The Bug), a reactivation of their 1990s Techno Animal partnership trading in cavernous bass, cacophonous dub and ear-splitting drone. Their debut album Wrecked was released on Relapse Records on 25 October 2019, with Philadelphia poet-vocalist Moor Mother featured across its first six tracks. The record was mastered by Stefan Betke (Pole) and pairs industrial hip-hop menace with drone-metal weight.

    compare profiles →
  • UnaffiliatedEI 18
    Ghostmass (大鬼眾)
    DroneDoomGlitch

    Ghostmass (大鬼眾) is a Beijing improvisation collective formed in 2021 from a shared passion for drone, doom, and extreme metal, filtered through harsh noise and free improvisation. Reviewer Michael Scharf (Outside Noise) describes their 2024 album 'Ghost Meditation' as evolving from chaotic noise toward a more structured, doom-metal-inspired sound, with anguished throat-singing-style vocals over grating feedback and power electronics. The lineup draws members from Beijing noise-rock scene acts Carsick Cars and Soviet Pop.

  • Southern Lord / droneEI 24
    Nazoranai
    DroneDoomGlitch

    Nazoranai is an improvising power trio formed in 2011 by Keiji Haino (guitar, vocals, synth), Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))) (bass) and Oren Ambarchi (drums), issuing its self-titled live debut on O'Malley's Ideologic Organ imprint in 2012. The name signals a stance against pure free improvisation, favoring a more deliberate approach as the trio moves from sparse, post-industrial landscapes into huge firestorms of riff and distortion. Its genesis traces to a 2006 introduction between Haino and O'Malley via Ambarchi.

    compare profiles →
1a9cfef