Salqiu

Graal were a Ukrainian avant-garde black/death metal band from Sumy, evolving out of the earlier acts Temptation (1992) and Brainstorm (1992-97) before adopting the Graal name. Their sole full-length, Sigullum Naturae (1998), is remembered in cult circles as one of the strangest metal records of the 1990s, splicing black/death riffing and shrieked vocals with flute, bayan, cimbalom, freeform jazz, flamenco-style bass, and circus-music interludes. The band split up not long after, leaving one album and one split release behind.

Sigullum Naturae (full album)play in the dock

Bandcamp

compare profiles →

Formed in 1991 by Alexander Nordgaren and Svein Egil Hatlevik, Fleurety began as a conventional Norwegian black metal band before radically expanding its palette: Min Tid Skal Komme (1995) folded in atonal harmonics and folk elements, and Department of Apocalyptic Affairs (2000) - produced by Ulver's Kristoffer Rygg - spans metal, jazz, trip-hop and electronica. Both records leaned heavily on the Norwegian avant-garde scene for guest performers, pulling in Mayhem's Hellhammer and Maniac, Ulver's Rygg (as vocalist "G. Playa") and Tore Ylwizaker on programming, Arcturus/Winds' Steinar "Sverd" Johnsen, and Borknagar's Knut Magne Valle; a later 2009 EP brought in Mayhem's Hellhammer and Necrobutcher again alongside Thorr's Hammer vocalist Runhild Gammelsæter.

Vaina is an active Finnish avant-garde black metal project (formed by siblings in 2014) whose records braid raw black-metal riffing and shrieked/growled vocals with flute, horns, strings, choral and clean singing, and dense ambient/noise passages — critics have compared the effect to Dead Can Dance colliding with black metal. Sung entirely in Finnish, releases run from the 2017 EP Viisikärki through 2024's Unio Mystica (Aesthetic Death, UK).

Alkuharmonian Kantaja are an avant-garde black metal quartet from Oulu, Finland, founded in 2020 by J. Usurper with S. Redeemer (drums) and Swiss-based D. Harbinger (keys). Their I, Voidhanger-released debut Shadowy Peripherals (2021) draws critical comparisons to 1990s Norwegian avant-prog black metal acts like Ved Buens Ende, splicing jazz, folk, and classical fragments into spitfire riffing and clean-toned synth melancholy.

Shadowy Peripherals (full album)play in the dock

BandcampSpotify

compare profiles →

Fleshvessel is a New Orleans-based avant-garde death metal project led by multi-instrumentalist Alexander Torres, active since 2019 and signed to I, Voidhanger Records (with Xenoglossy Productions handling physical releases). Their sound folds death and blackened extremity together with progressive-rock detours, gypsy-folk passages, jazz basslines, and cabaret-styled piano, using an expanded instrumental palette (viola, flute, ocarina, Puerto Rican cuatro/tres, glockenspiel, trumpet). Debut LP Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed (2023) and follow-up Obstinacy: Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded (2025) cite Phlebotomized, Demilich, Kayo Dot and Maudlin of the Well as influences — though no direct member or label ties to those acts were found, so no edges were added on that basis.

Dawn of a Dark Age is the main vehicle of Italian multi-instrumentalist Vittorio Sabelli (aka Eurynomos), formed in 2014 and joined on vocals/drums by Emanuele Prandoni (also of Progenie Terrestre Pura) from 2020. A trained classical and jazz musician, Sabelli gives the clarinet and acoustic guitar a leading role within an avant-garde black metal framework, layering in saxophone, choral chant, spoken word, and Italian folk melody. The catalogue includes the five-part The Six Elements series (2014-2017) and the Samnite-history-themed La Tavola Osca (2020) and Le Forche Caudine (2021).

I Regi Tratturiplay in the dock

Bandcamp

compare profiles →

Henget is a Finnish avant-garde black metal project founded in late 2021 by guitarist Jesse J. Heikkinen (also of The Abbey and Iterum Nata) and vocalist King Aleijster de Satan (of Saturnian Mist), signing to Season of Mist in September 2022. Their debut album Beyond North Star (May 2023) pursues a violent hallucinatory journey rooted in psychedelia, the occult, and ancient shamanism.

Henkivallatplay in the dock

BandcampSpotify

compare profiles →

Sigh is a Japanese avant-garde/experimental metal band formed in Tokyo in 1989, led throughout by multi-instrumentalist Mirai Kawashima. Their 1993 debut Scorn Defeat, released by Euronymous's Deathlike Silence Productions, helped pioneer a surrealist take on black metal before the band expanded into symphonic, orchestral, jazzy and world-music territory, adding saxophone, keyboards and traditional Japanese instruments. They remain one of Japan's most revered and eclectic extreme-metal exports.

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.'

Neon Scaffold is a Russian avant-garde/blackened metal project from Sergiyev Posad, Moscow Oblast, formed in 2018 by musicians drawn from Cage of Creation, Zatemno, and Licho. Their sound mixes jazz-inflected walking bass and saxophone with dissonant, folk-rooted black metal riffing; their 2025 album Noir (Pest Productions) followed a 2020 split, Konflikt, with Polish band Gruzja.