Schizoid Lloyd

Pin-Up Went Down is a French experimental band from Rouen, begun in 2006 as multi-instrumentalist Alexis Damien's solo project before vocalist Aurelie 'Asphodel' Raidron joined, followed by Damien's brother Nicolas in 2010. Self-described as blending 'art rock, metal, avant-garde, and pop', their albums 2 Unlimited (2008) and 342 (2010) on Ascendance Records mix gothic, death, funk, and progressive metal beneath Asphodel's famously wide-ranging, theatrical vocal delivery; a planned third album, Perfreaktion, stalled after Asphodel's 2014 departure.

St. Petersburg dark-cabaret metal quartet fronted by vocalist Darya Pavlovich (performing as 'Rorria'), whose voice swings from clownish grotesque chants and animal growls to a crooning contralto over guitar-and-keyboard interplay that critics liken to Diablo Swing Orchestra and Rammstein's Mutter. Built on a tongue-in-cheek conceit of being 'made of tardigrades,' the band leans into horror-circus theatrics with vintage synths, theremins, and kazoos, and is best known publicly for a viral metal cover of the LazyTown novelty hit 'We Are Number One.' Their 2026 album Hush was reviewed as pushing past creature-feature camp toward more sophisticated, psychologically-driven territory.

We Are Number One (LazyTown cover)play in the dock

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Tokyo progressive/avant-garde metal quintet active since 1997, built around keyboardist Masashi Momota's sweeping piano work and vocalist Anoji Matsuoka's genre-hopping delivery, from spitting growls to a more crooned register. The band favors through-composed 'movements' over verse-chorus form, blending death metal weight with jazz and fusion harmony; their 2005 sophomore album Naishikyo-Sekai reached the West via a 2008 Season of Mist reissue. Early drummer Junichi Harashima left the band (replaced by Gaku Yamaguchi around 2006) to become the longtime drummer of fellow Japanese avant-garde metal act Sigh.

無下の人 (Muge No Hito / The Free Man)play in the dock

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Buckethead (Brian Patrick Carroll) is an American guitarist from the San Francisco Bay Area, famous for performing in a white mask and a KFC bucket and for one of the most prolific solo discographies in music, numbering hundreds of albums. His playing spans thrash, fingerpicking, slap and avant-improv, and he conceives much of his output as soundtracks for rides at his imaginary amusement park, Bucketheadland. He released his 1992 debut on John Zorn's Avant label and that same year became the guitarist of Bill Laswell's supergroup Praxis.

Cyrax are a Milan progressive metal band formed in 2012 around Marco Cantoni, whose sound has grown steadily more eclectic across three albums (Reflections 2013, Pictures 2015, Experiences 2020, plus 2021 EP Metamorphosis and 2023's Novo Deus). Bandcamp tags the catalog Electronic/Jazz/Metal/Progressive Metal/Progressive Rock/Folk, and RateYourMusic double-tags 2020's Experiences as Progressive Metal and Avant-Garde Metal; reviewers describe it mixing 'celtic, death metal, thrash, jazz fusion, rock prog, bluegrass and Stravinski influences,' with choir passages, ukulele, ambient electronics/soundscape (courtesy of drummer Lorenzo Beltrami), and carnival-style interludes with flutes sitting alongside death-metal growls.

Dorian Grayplay in the dock

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Shaolin Death Squad are a theatrical progressive/avant-garde metal band from Denton, Texas, formed around 2001-2002, performing under kung-fu-themed stage personas. Their sound is dynamic prog metal with lead vocalist The White Swan frequently compared to Mike Patton, across releases including Intelligent Design (2006) and a 2024 self-titled record on Soman Records.

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.

Red Lionplay in the dock

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Edge of Reality is a Nashville art-metal quintet whose 2019 album In Static packs jazz-inflected saxophone, carnival theatrics, and djent-adjacent riffing into a maximalist, constantly shifting progressive-metal frame. Reviewers place them alongside Native Construct, Thank You Scientist and Haken: dense, technically ambitious, occasionally overstuffed songwriting paired with a comedic, narrative-driven concept. Guitarist Joey Frevola also plays in UK prog act KYROS and LA's An Endless Sporadic, though neither is part of the EMMA atlas.

Puzzle Manplay in the dock

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Celebrity Sex Scandal is an avant-garde metal band from San Antonio, Texas, formed in 2011 by guitarist Greg Combs after the dissolution of Dog Fashion Disco, effectively continuing that band's eclectic funk/ska/metal/pop hybrid with a horn section. Debut album Derivative (2013) was Kickstarter-funded, followed by Integral (2015), The Fundamental (2020) — which featured Dog Fashion Disco alumni John Ensminger and Jeff Siegel — and Convergence of Infinite Sequences (2023) on Razor To Wrist Records.

Unmitigated Worshipplay in the dock

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Acrylazea is a Rochester, NY avant-garde/progressive metal act (formed 2016) built around an interstellar-pirate concept, complete with invented stage personas (The Captain, Sirius J. Axion, The Eye, Professor V.V. Olfenstein, Byron Nova). Debut A Cavalcade of Cosmic Calamity (2021) fuses melodic death metal, folk metal, power metal and neoclassical shred, with guest vocals from Judas Priest's Tim "Ripper" Owens. Reviewers place it in the theatrical/conceptual-metal lineage of Unexpect and Vulture Industries rather than any straightforward extreme-metal subgenre.