Pryapisme

Sleep Paralysis is a 2025 avant-garde black metal project from San Diego by Stephen Knapp, also known for the dissonant black metal band Cerulean, released via I, Voidhanger Records. The self-titled debut is a concept album about fever dreams, anxiety and sleep paralysis, blending dissonant black metal with jazz, classical, chiptune and vaporwave elements across 11 tracks. The project's only credited guest is Lorenzo Kemp, who contributes a guitar solo on one track.

Shining is a Norwegian band formed in Oslo in 1999 by saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Jørgen Munkeby (not to be confused with the Swedish black-metal band Shining led by Niklas Kvarforth). Starting life as an acoustic jazz quartet influenced by Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, they mutated across the 2000s into extreme avant-garde metal, coining the term 'blackjazz' with their 2010 album of that name — a Frankenstein blend of free jazz, blackened industrial metal, growled vocals and raw electronic noise that won the 2011 Spellemannspris. Munkeby is a prolific session player, contributing saxophone (most prominently on 'Moon') to Devin Townsend's Casualties of Cool.

The Madness and the Damage Doneplay in the dock

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Mastery is the avant-garde black metal solo project of San Francisco Bay Area musician Ephemeral Domignostika (also of Pandiscordian Necrogenesis, Pale Chalice, and Ulthar), active in demo form since 2004. Its 2015 debut full-length Valis, released on The Flenser, is a Philip K. Dick-inspired concept album that critics called 'free jazz black metal' built from cut-up techniques and spontaneous composition rather than traditional songwriting. Earlier releases include a string of limited demos and the 2011 compilation Barbaric Usurpation of the Hypereonic Black Metal Throne.

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Solo avant-garde metal/jazz-fusion project of Raphaël Beaudouin, a musician based in Bois-Guillaume near Rouen, France, who writes, performs, and records every instrument himself — electro-acoustic guitar, clarinet, bass, drums, keyboard — layered with 8-bit sounds and glitch electronics. His 20-track album Pahilcé Koot (self-released, March 2020) is a rapid-fire run of short, absurdly titled vignettes, with Beaudouin citing Pryapisme, Igorrr, Mr. Bungle, Pin-Up Went Down, CHON, and Gentle Giant as touchstones.

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Five Pound Pocket Universe is a Zurich, Switzerland jazzcore trio founded in 2016 by drummer/composer Michel Barengo, saxophonist Andi Bissig, and guitarist Valentin Baumgartner. Their sole album, 'Brain Bubble Party' (2018), swings between pre-arranged jazz-metal themes and improvised noise built from samples and prepared/effected guitar, self-described as 'hyper sweet pastel jazzcore madness... spliced with lost cartoon snippets found in the places between channels.'

Tabernacle ov Thee Flesh is a Brazilian avant-garde/experimental black metal project from Joinville, released via Ultra Gash Records, featuring Naboth E. Coli (vocals, keyboards), L. Borgia Rossetti (guitar, also of Esmectatons and Os Legais) and Leal Barroso (drums, also of Esmectatons and Zombie Cookbook). Their sole album Versículos de Autoflagelo (2021) comprises 25 short tracks forming one continuous suite steeped in free improvisation, jazz and noise traditions.

Gematria is a New Jersey instrumental duo of guitarist Ray Suhy (Six Feet Under, Cannabis Corpse, ex-East of the Wall) and drummer Steve Honoshowsky, formed in 2017 around a shared interest in Qabbalistic numerology and Aleister Crowley. Their Nefarious Industries releases — the 2018 self-titled EP and 2022's Gematria II: The Spindle of Necessity — fuse Adrian Belew-era King Crimson-style prog guitar with jazz-tagged flute solos, ambient soundscapes, and vintage toy-keyboard electronics (Casio PT-1, Realistic Concertmate 200).

Psudoku is the one-man 'space grind' project of Norwegian musician Steinar Kittilsen (aka Cpt. Roger, previously recording as Planetarisk Sodomi), built around blast-beat grindcore fused with prog-rock, jazz-fusion, and B-movie sci-fi keyboards. Released across labels including Nerve Altar and Selfmadegod, albums like Space Grind (2011) and Planetarisk Sudoku (2015) have been compared to a parallel-universe grindcore descended from Naked City, Magma, and King Crimson rather than hardcore and thrash.

Stagnant Waters is a Franco-Norwegian avant-garde project built around multi-instrumentalist Camille Giraudeau (Smohalla), joined by vocalist Svein Egil 'Zweizz' Hatlevik (Fleurety, ex-Dødheimsgard) and woodwinds/drums player Aymeric Thomas (Pryapisme). Reviewers describe the music as jittering between free jazz, glitch electronics, black metal and mathy dadaist improvisation, with a 2024 comeback album, Rifts, following a 2012 self-titled debut.

Self Spiller is a one-off avant-garde metal studio project helmed by Agalloch bassist Jason William Walton, assembling contributions from fourteen musicians worldwide into the 2015 album 'Worms in the Keys.' Compared to a collision of Mr. Bungle's California and Arcturus' La Masquerade Infernale.