MRTVI

Gallows' Forest is the solo Hungarian project of JesterOfDestiny, active since 2018 and built around black metal fused with electronic programming and sampled/traditional instrumentation. Across the self-titled debut, Cerulean, and Cosmic Leviathan, Bandcamp credits confirm real didgeridoo, jaw harp, and a sampled koto performance by guest Sachiko Yoshihara layered into the black-metal base, alongside a stated focus on 'the exploration of electronic soundscapes.' The project also released a 2019 split with fellow atlas act Q'uq'umatz, Waxaklahun Ubah Kan.

Norwegian avant-garde project (1998-2006) from Notodden founded by Ihsahn (Emperor), his wife Ihriel and her brother Lord PZ, on their own Mnemosyne Productions. It began as symphonic avant-garde extreme metal and drifted toward classical-tinged avant-garde rock full of twisted synths, electronics, operatic female vocals and Ihsahn's shrieks. Lost in Reverie (2004) is regarded as a landmark of the genre-transcending Norwegian avant-garde.

Urarv is the avant-black-metal vehicle of Björn 'Aldrahn' Dencker, founding vocalist of Dødheimsgard, conceived in 2003 during a stay in a mental institution and originally aimed at 'true Norwegian folkish black metal' before mutating into something stranger. Across Aurum (2017), Argentum (2018), and Substratum — recorded 2013, finished 2021/22 — it channels Ved Buens Ende-style dissonant terror and folkloric black-metal mutation through Aldrahn's singular howled vocal delivery, positioned by the band itself as parallel to, not part of, the black metal mainstream.

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10:13 is the solo, largely instrumental black-metal vehicle of Southern California multi-instrumentalist Neil Carter, self-released through his own Unclebaby Records since 2019. Debut album "Result of an Iron Age" splices black-metal riffing with acoustic sylvan guitar, out-of-tune harmonica, organ and trip-hop-tinged samples into what one reviewer called "a piece broken down rather than a collection woven together," drawing comparisons to Arcturus' more deranged moments. Carter cites Camper Van Beethoven, Philip Glass and Gentle Giant alongside black-metal names like Xasthur and Darkspace as touchstones, and brought in prog-rock keyboardist Derek Sherinian and guitarist Mario Romero as guests.

Post-black metal duo from Saint Petersburg, Russia, active as Swampborn since 2011. Guitarist Pathrone and vocalist Sur released their debut full-length Beyond Ratio via Hypnotic Dirge Records in 2022, weaving brass, violin, cello and accordion into a black-metal core across a concept narrative about existential horror and urban decay.

Echo Zero is a Kraków project that debuted in 2026 with "E0," a concept album about an antenna recovered from the Arctic Ocean floor — "the first rung of Jacob's Ladder" — released on Pest Productions. No Clean Singing folded the band into Poland's long tradition of weird black metal, praising its mind-warping ambient stretches, groove-heavy riffs, prowling bass, and "constantly-mutating" multi-tongued vocal performance that never lets the strangeness dull the aggression. The project is led by IHS (Patryk Rzeszutek, aka Faustyna IHS Moreau), also the mainman of atlas act Biesy.

Solefald is a Norwegian avant-garde metal duo formed in 1995 by Cornelius Jakhelln and Lars Are 'Lazare' Nedland. They build on a black-metal foundation while folding in clean vocals, piano, jazz guitar, classical passages, punk, electronic components and folk rhythms, self-described as 'Red Music With Black Edges.'

Dark Fortress were a melodic black metal band from Landshut, Germany, active from 1994 until their May 2023 disbandment, known for atmosphere-heavy concept albums such as Seance (2006) and Eidolon (2008), released through Century Media. Longtime guitarist V. Santura (with the band 2001-2023) also served as Celtic Frost's touring guitarist during that band's 2006-2008 live reunion, before co-founding Tom G. Fischer's post-Celtic Frost band Triptykon. Later lineups included drummer Hannes Grossmann (ex-Obscura, ex-Necrophagist).

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French duo led by multi-instrumentalist Slo (guitars/drums/vocals/keys) with bassist Camille Giraudeau, playing avant-garde/progressive post-black metal descended from Emperor, Ulver, Borknagar and Ved Buens Ende. After a 12-year gap between albums, 2025's Ruina Draconis (I, Voidhanger) piles on 'extremely layered', ambient-electronic interludes between bursts of blackened violence. Giraudeau's parallel work in Dødheimsgard's touring lineup, Doedsmaghird, Stagnant Waters and Void ties Smohalla directly into the same avant-black/noise diaspora.

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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.