Noism

Noism is a Tokyo duo — guitarist Yoshiro Hamazaki and programmer Tomoyuki Akiyama — active since 1999, built around brutally complex, glitched-out programmed-drum death/grind instrumentals. Rather than a live drummer, Akiyama chops and resplices machine-gun drum programming into rhythms that verge on IDM/breakcore, layered under Hamazaki's dissonant, shredding riffs. Their sole full-length, ± (2008, Crucial Blast), followed a run of demos and a Relapse compilation appearance, and stands as one of the more literal 'glitch' bridges between deathgrind and electronic music.

SCORE PROFILE

JazzyBalkanHardcoreSurfBarbershopDeathBlackTechnicalGlitchTheatricalFolkDoomDroneShoegazeAmbient8-bit
Jazzy0
Balkan0
Hardcore4
Surf0
Barbershop0
Death6
Black2
Technical8
Glitch7
Theatrical0
Folk0
Doom0
Drone0
Shoegaze0
Ambient0
8-bit0

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

WHY THOSE SCORES

  • Glitch 7Crucial Blast's description of ± (2008) says the duo's programmed drums are 'cut up and spliced back together into impossible rhythms,' fusing 'Planet Mu-style' IDM/breakcore beat-editing with technical death metal riffing (https://crucialblast.bandcamp.com/album/-).

MEMBERS

  • Yoshiro Hamazakiguitars
  • Tomoyuki Akiyamadrum programming

CONNECTIONS

label

FURTHER LISTENING

Nearest score profiles in the atlas.

  • Dissonant tech-deathEI 11
    Containor
    TechnicalGlitchDeath

    Containor is a Queens, New York experimental/noise trio pairing death-metal extremity with electronics: John Longstreth (Origin) on drums, warr guitar, practice pad and guitar trigger, John DeBlase on synth/computer/casio, and Colin Marston (Krallice, Gorguts, Dysrhythmia) on synth drums, metronome, fake bass, keys, casio, plus editing/mixing/mastering. Released the 'ASSHOLE' EP (2018) and 'DISEASE CUBE: REMOTELY CONTROLLED' (2021), both leaning into blast-driven, electronically mangled noise rather than straight metal songcraft.

  • UnaffiliatedEI 11
    Fear Factory
    GlitchDeathTechnical

    Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989, widely credited as pioneers of the style for fusing death-metal growls and machine-gun riffing with clean vocals, synthesizers and electronic sampling. Their sound centers on Raymond Herrera's machine-precise drumming and Dino Cazares' staccato, down-tuned riffing, colored by Rhys Fulber's keyboards; breakthrough album Demanufacture (1995) wrapped this in a Terminator-inspired man-versus-machine concept, and its 1997 companion Remanufacture reworked the record entirely into electronica. Gene Hoglan drummed for the band from 2009 to 2012, appearing on Mechanize (2010).

  • Devin Townsend-verseEI 13
    Strapping Young Lad
    TechnicalDeathGlitch

    Strapping Young Lad is Devin Townsend's industrial/thrash/death metal band, active 1994–2007 with a stable lineup of Townsend, guitarist Jed Simon, bassist Byron Stroud and drummer Gene Hoglan (also of Dark Angel, Death, Testament). Built on polyrhythmic riffing and blast beats, the band is best known for a hyper-dense, multitracked "wall of sound" production style critics compared to Phil Spector and Frank Zappa, drawing on the harsh industrial/noise lineage of Foetus and White Noise. City (1997) was the critical breakthrough; The New Black (2006) leaned back into the band's tongue-in-cheek black humor before their 2007 disbandment.

  • Mathcore / DEP-verseEI 6
    Car Bomb
    TechnicalGlitchDeath

    Car Bomb is an American mathcore band from Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York, formed in 2000 from the merger of two local groups, Neck and Spooge. The quartet is known for a harsh, glitch-heavy and disorienting take on metal built on stop-on-a-dime tempo shifts and discordant riffing. After a 2007 Relapse Records debut, the band self-released the albums Meta (2016) and Mordial (2019), with Meta produced by Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier.

    compare profiles →
  • Igorrr-verseEI 21
    Whourkr
    TechnicalGlitchDeath

    Whourkr was a Paris-based experimental death metal/grindcore project active 2005-2013, the vehicle where Gautier Serre (Igorrr) first fused blast-beat death metal with breakcore and glitch editing on guitars and programming. Vocalists cycled through the lineup: Laurent Lunoir (who records solo as Öxxö Xööx, 2005-2007), Yann Coppier as -i snor (2007-2011), and Mulk (2011-2013). Reviewers describe Concrete (2008) as throwing 'death metal, grindcore, jazz, opera, glitch, and breakcore into a meat grinder,' with blastbeats processed to resemble 'ten CDs all skipping simultaneously.' The project is widely regarded as the direct prototype for Serre's better-known solo project Igorrr.

  • Dissonant tech-deathEI 4
    Behold... The Arctopus
    TechnicalDeathHardcore

    Behold... The Arctopus is an American instrumental metal band from Brooklyn, New York City, formed in 2001 by guitarists Colin Marston and Mike Lerner. Their technical, dissonant style draws on both metal and 20th-century classical music, built around Marston's 12-string Warr guitar (which spans bass and guitar range and is played by tapping) alongside a conventional electric guitar and drums. The band released the full-lengths Skullgrid (2007) and Horrorscension (2012), with a rotating drum chair over the years.

    compare profiles →
  • Dissonant tech-deathEI 9
    Vomitatrix
    TechnicalDeathHardcore

    Vomitatrix is a Jupiter, Florida-based noisecore/acid-grind project whose self-titled debut (July 2022) was recorded in Austin, TX and mixed by drummer Weasel Walter. The band bills itself as building on the legacy of Morbid Florist, delivering ten tracks of abrasive, dada-tinged grindcore. The lineup pairs Weasel Walter (also founder/leader of The Flying Luttenbachers) with bassist Tim Dahl (Child Abuse, Lydia Lunch Retrovirus), guitarist Rick Eye, and vocalist Gyna Bootleg.

  • Southern Lord / droneEI 13
    Phantomsmasher
    GlitchTechnicalHardcore

    Phantomsmasher is a glitch-grind / digital-hardcore project led by guitarist James Plotkin, previously known as Atomsmasher, that fuses grindcore with electronic noise and cut-up programming. The trio of Plotkin (guitar, bass, electronics), vocalist DJ Speedranch, and drummer Dave Witte released their self-titled album on Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings on August 19, 2002. Plotkin is a prolific experimentalist also known for OLD, Khanate, Khlyst, Jodis, and Scorn.

  • UnaffiliatedEI 11
    NekRock
    GlitchTechnicalHardcore

    NekRock is a one-person Russian (Moscow-based) avant-garde/electronic metal project, self-described as 'avant-aesthetique,' fusing cybergrind, black metal, and harsh noise with trance, house, and jazz elements.

  • UnaffiliatedEI 20
    Umbah
    GlitchTechnicalDeath

    Umbah is the solo avant-garde industrial death metal/cybergrind project of UK multi-instrumentalist Cal Scott (formerly guitarist of grind act Necrosanct), running since 1990 and released largely through I, Voidhanger Records. Extremely prolific (dozens of albums across sci-fi/absurdist concept releases like 'Continuum,' 'Xominod,' and 'Obliticus'), the project fuses industrial death/grind with harsh electronics and jazz-tinged arrangements into what reviewers call 'techno-organic metal.'

1a9cfef