Selcouth
Selcouth is a multinational avant-garde progressive metal collective founded in Oulu, Finland in 2013, drawing an ever-rotating cast of musicians from Finland, France, Spain, Russia, and Argentina — many also active in Stagnant Waters and Pryapisme. Their sole full-length, 'Heart Is The Star Of Chaos' (2017, I, Voidhanger Records), fuses jazz-fusion, prog, and metal with operatic multi-vocalist arrangements, drawing critical comparisons to Arcturus, Ved Buens Ende, Magma, and Weather Report.
SCORE PROFILE
Accent numbers counted towards the index. Hover an axis — or hold it on a phone — for what it means.
WHY THOSE SCORES
- Jazzy 7 — Described by the label as blending 'progressive, jazz-fusion and avant-garde music,' with direct comparisons to Magma and Weather Report.
- Black 4 — Style compared to Norwegian avant-garde black metal masters Arcturus and Ved Buens Ende.
- Technical 8 — 'Creative rhythms... slanted yet memorable melodies, and truly unpredictable songwriting' across a multi-vocalist arrangement.
- Theatrical 6 — Six credited vocalists (soprano/mezzo, multiple male leads, spoken word) create an operatic, multi-character arrangement.
MEMBERS
- Joonas Juntunenrhythm guitar, bass guitar, spoken vocals
- Juuso Juntunenmale vocals
- Markus Liimatainenkeyboards
- Aymeric Thomasdrums, percussion· also in Pryapisme, Stagnant Waters
- Mikko Nuoralalead guitar
- Meltiissoprano/mezzo vocals
CONNECTIONS
- Midnight Odysseypath →
I, Voidhanger Records artist (Heart Is the Star of Chaos, 2017) — anchored at Midnight Odyssey, the label's longest-running signing. source ↗
FURTHER LISTENING
Nearest score profiles in the atlas.
- UnaffiliatedEI 16Abstrusa UndeTheatricalTechnicalJazzy
A Paris-based avant-garde black metal collective built around composer Thibault Schwartz, integrating 'electro-jazz to black metal' across a large ensemble with violin, cello, clarinet, keyboards and dual male/female vocalists. Fans have described the sound as 'avant-garde black with circus metal and symphonic elements' — a baroque, maximalist take on black metal rather than a straight genre exercise. Dormant since its sole full-length, Introspection (2012).
- UnaffiliatedEI 19HengetTechnicalTheatricalJazzy
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.
- UnaffiliatedEI 13Electrocution 250TechnicalJazzyTheatrical
Electrocution 250 was a short-lived instrumental trio from Minnesota — guitarist Todd Duane, keyboardist Lalle Larsson, and drummer Peter Wildoer — who recorded a single album, 'Electric Cartoon Music From Hell' (2003/2004), fusing jazz-fusion virtuosity with Carl Stalling-style cartoon-music motifs and occasional thrash-metal bombast. Larsson and Wildoer are separately known for progressive/metal session and band work (Karmakanic, Darkane, among others), but this project stands as a standalone one-off. It is unrelated to the atlas's Ulver electronic era.
- UnaffiliatedEI 18Neon ScaffoldTechnicalJazzyBlack
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.
- UnaffiliatedEI 15Anthurus d'ArcherTechnicalJazzyTheatrical
Anthurus d'Archer is a five-piece experimental metal-jazz fusion outfit from Poitiers, France, blending free jazz, industrial textures and avant-garde rock with saxophone, flute, brass, percussion and samples. Their releases lean into absurdist song titles and elaborate visual/theatrical presentation, including a trilogy culminating in the stage-based piece "Le voyage d'André" (2008). The project has self-released steadily since the debut album Plastofilène (2004), often partnering with visual artist Patrice Le Garrec and percussionist Frank Quintard.
- Estradasphere / MimicryEI 18miRthkonTechnicalJazzyTheatrical
miRthkon are an Oakland sextet of two guitars, two woodwinds, bass and drums, self-described as 'an amplified chamber ensemble masquerading as a rock band,' with material fully scored down to the drum parts. Across Vehicle (2009) and Snack(s) (2013) on the Italian AltrOck label, critics describe a satirical, Zappa-inflected collision of thrash riffing, big-band horns, and jazz harmony staged with circus-like theatrical framing. Keyboardist/bassist Matt Lebofsky doubles as keyboardist in Secret Chiefs 3, giving the band a direct, sourced line into the Estradasphere/Secret Chiefs 3 orbit already on the atlas.
- UnaffiliatedEI 14AenaonTechnicalJazzyBlack
Aenaon is a Greek avant-garde/progressive black metal band from Ioannina, formed in 2005 and signed to Agonia Records. Mastermind Achilleas C. (also of Varathron and Katavasia) leads the band with drummer Haris (Varathron), vocalist Astrous (Katavasia) and saxophonist Orestis Zyrinis, whose horn work gives their dark, noir-tinged black metal a distinctive jazz-inflected edge, as heard on 2022's 'Mnemosyne.'
- UnaffiliatedEI 11ArkhethJazzyTechnicalBlack
Arkheth is the long-running (2001-present) Australian project of Tyrone 'Tyraenos' Kostitch, now a one-man vehicle for symphonic-turned-experimental black metal after growing out of the Orange, NSW band Eternal Dark. Its 2018 high point, 12 Winter Moons Comes the Witches Brew, folds saxophonist Glen Wholohan's honking, Contortions-indebted jazz lines into black-metal songwriting critics have dubbed 'an inverted Shining' -- black metal wading into jazz rather than the reverse. It is one of the more distinctive jazz/black-metal hybrids operating outside the Norwegian axis the label comparison implies.
- UnaffiliatedEI 15Edge of RealityTechnicalTheatricalJazzy
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.
- UnaffiliatedEI 12AshenspireJazzyTheatricalTechnical
Ashenspire is a Glasgow avant-garde/progressive black metal act formed in 2015, one of Scotland's most distinctive experimental metal bands. Their acclaimed 2022 album 'Hostile Architecture' (Code666) welds black-metal dissonance to avant-garde jazz, weaving saxophone, violin, Rhodes and prepared piano beneath vocalist Alasdair Dunn's Sprechstimme delivery. Lyrically it is a scathing, class-conscious critique of late capitalism, gentrification and urban design.