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Winds are a Norwegian neoclassical progressive-metal band formed in 1998, trading black-metal ferocity for classically-informed composition, clean vocals and duelling piano and guitar. Drummer Jan Axel 'Hellhammer' Blomberg — best known from Mayhem — anchors the group alongside guitarist Carl August Tidemann and pianist Andy Winter across Of Entity and Mind (2001) and Reflections of the I (2002). The result is one of the scene's most overtly 'classical' side-projects, far from its members' extreme-metal roots.

Hail Architeuthis! is a chaotic instrumental metal duo from Bloomington, Indiana, combining technical, prog-metal riffing with cinematic, ambient, and post-rock textures across dynamically extreme compositions. Released a self-titled debut EP in 2009 and a full-length in 2010, both via the Auris Apothecary label.

Oh. is the solo moniker of Greek multi-instrumentalist, composer, and director Olivia Hadjiioannou, who writes, performs, records, and mixes every part of her music herself. Her instrumental progressive-metal EP Metallia (self-released, July 2018) is a six-part concept work built from layered electric/acoustic guitars, violin, keyboards, and shifting time signatures; its 'Red Lion' music video won Best Music Video at multiple festivals, including the French Riviera Film Festival in Cannes.

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Age of Silence is a Norwegian avant-garde progressive metal 'supergroup' formed in Oslo in 2004 by keyboardist Andy Winter of Winds, drawing members from Mayhem, Arcturus, The Kovenant, and Solefald. Their sole album, Acceleration (2004, The End Records), pairs 'aggressive guitar grind' with Winter's gothic, classically-tinged piano and synths, occasionally veering into pure electronic beats, per a Sputnikmusic review. A follow-up EP, Complications – Trilogy of Intricacy (2005), preceded a long hiatus for the project.

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One-man Vienna-based experimental progressive metal project helmed by David Angerer, whose 2026 album Palingenaeon plays like 'a film score at a party' -- neoclassical/symphonic prog metal stitched together with circus music, absurdist black comedy, and a loose concept about botched reincarnation. Extremely new and thinly documented outside a handful of prog/metal press write-ups.

Danish industrial/progressive thrash outfit active in the early 1990s, known for bizarre stage costuming, thick facial makeup, and outrageous live shows that made them an unlikely precursor to Marilyn Manson and Slipknot. Their sole full-length, Just Human (1993, TBA Records), fused Godflesh-style industrial mechanization with dense polyrhythmic 'chugga-chugga' riffing that a Metal Archives review describes as predating Meshuggah's Destroy, Erase, Improve by two years. The band split up shortly after release, leaving only a 1992 demo and the one album behind.

A Perfect Circle is an American rock supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel, a former guitar tech for Tool, Nine Inch Nails and the Smashing Pumpkins, and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Fronting a more melodic, art-rock-leaning counterpart to Tool, the band broke through with the platinum debut Mer de Noms (2000) and its David Fincher-directed single "Judith." The rotating lineup has drawn from across alternative rock, with Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, session drummer Josh Freese, and bassist Matt McJunkins among its long-running members. After a long hiatus the group returned with Eat the Elephant (2018).

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Giant Robot was the short-lived mid-1990s trio built around guitarist Buckethead, drummer Bryan 'Brain' Mantia, and keyboardist/producer Pete Scaturro, releasing one self-titled album on the Japanese NTT label in 1996 before Brain's departure broke up the group. The record is a virtuosic, sample-strewn instrumental record splicing film dialogue into dense guitar shredding, with absurdist song titles signaling its jam-session, prank-prone character. It sits adjacent to Buckethead's vast solo catalog but stands as its own band credit -- distinct from the same-titled 1994 Sony Japan Buckethead SOLO album that shares its name and caused the scout's identity confusion.

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Dakrya are a theatrical/avant-garde metal band from Athens, Greece, founded in late 2004 by classically trained keyboardist Sophia Charalampous. Crime Scene (2010) was recorded in Sweden with producers known for work with Diablo Swing Orchestra and Dark Tranquillity.

Tool is an American progressive metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1990, meshing dark underground metal with the ambition of art rock into multi-sectioned, layered songs built on odd time signatures and lengthy instrumental passages. The classic lineup pairs vocalist Maynard James Keenan and guitarist Adam Jones with drummer Danny Carey and, since 1995, bassist Justin Chancellor, who replaced founding bassist Paul D'Amour. Across albums from Undertow (1993) through Ænima, Lateralus, 10,000 Days, and Fear Inoculum (2019), the band cultivated an almost mythic reputation for cryptic, cerebral heaviness. Keenan splits his time with A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, while Carey moonlights in the fusion outfit Volto!.

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