SkyThala

Amthrya is an Italian avant-garde death/black metal band founded by guitarist-drummer Barry Yukimura and fronted by vocalist Kasumi Onryō. Their 2022 concept album Passage (Ad Noctem Records/Drakkar Productions), recorded at Black Church studio in Ghemme, Italy, is built around Japanese mythological horror themes of demons and vengeful spirits, rendered through extended, dissonant, depressive-tinged compositions. Guest vocalist Clode of Tethra appears on the title track.

Ebonylake are a UK avant-garde gothic/black/death metal band from Ossett, West Yorkshire, formed in 1997 by vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Ophelius and drummer Sighmon W. Their 1999 debut On the Eve of the Grimly Inventive (Cacophonous Records) fused technical black metal with avant-garde classical influences (Penderecki, Prokofiev) and horror-film scoring. The band went dormant after 2000, reunited around 2009, and released a second album, In Swathes of Brooding Light, in 2011/2012.

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Old Man's Child is a Norwegian symphonic/melodic black metal band formed in Oslo in 1993 (out of the earlier death/thrash outfit Requiem), and effectively the vehicle of sole permanent member Galder (Thomas Rune Andersen), who later also joined Dimmu Borgir. Their sound welds tremolo-driven melodic black metal to early-death-metal influence and symphonic keyboard orchestration, with a classic lineup that included drummer Tjodalv and guitarist Jardar. For the third album, Ill-Natured Spiritual Invasion (1998), Galder brought in American drummer Gene Hoglan as a session player, recording at Sunlight Studio in Sweden with Tomas Skogsberg.

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Angst Skvadron was a Norwegian avant-garde/post-black metal project formed in 2008 by Trond Bråthen (Trondr Nefas, also of Urgehal, Kvist, and In Lingua Mortua), fusing early-90s black metal with 70s progressive rock around a recurring alien-invasion concept. Core collaborator Lars Fredrik Frøislie (drums, keyboards, mellotron, minimoog) helped build the project's spacey, synth-laden atmosphere across the Flukt (2008) and Sweet Poison (2010) full-lengths on Agonia Records, with Octavia Marina Petru contributing vocals, Tibetan singing bowls, and vocoder. Bråthen died in 2012, and the project's status is listed as split-up.

Beannachd Leibh is the Toronto solo project of Alec McKay (formerly recording as Crux), pairing melody-driven black metal in the vein of Blut Aus Nord with the twisting, prog-damaged structures of Kayo Dot and Time of Orchids. Debut full-length Walking in His Works (2025) stretches songs past nine minutes, mixing blasting extremity with symphonic passages and near-hallucinatory melodic detours. It's black metal built for patience — technically dense and unwilling to settle into a single mode for long.

French duo led by multi-instrumentalist Slo (guitars/drums/vocals/keys) with bassist Camille Giraudeau, playing avant-garde/progressive post-black metal descended from Emperor, Ulver, Borknagar and Ved Buens Ende. After a 12-year gap between albums, 2025's Ruina Draconis (I, Voidhanger) piles on 'extremely layered', ambient-electronic interludes between bursts of blackened violence. Giraudeau's parallel work in Dødheimsgard's touring lineup, Doedsmaghird, Stagnant Waters and Void ties Smohalla directly into the same avant-black/noise diaspora.

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Porta Nigra is a German avant-garde black metal band founded in Koblenz in 2010 by Gilles deRais (guitars, bass) and drummer/vocalist O., who recorded the first two albums as a duo before expanding to a full band. Their concept records — Fin de Siècle (2012), Kaiserschnitt (2015), Schöpfungswut (2020) and Weltende (2023), the last inspired by World War I — move between straightforward black metal fury and more psychedelic, spoken-word-laced detours, released through Soulseller Records. Guitarist Gilles deRais has described the project as a way of channeling 'old spirits' through the music.

Dark Fortress were a melodic black metal band from Landshut, Germany, active from 1994 until their May 2023 disbandment, known for atmosphere-heavy concept albums such as Seance (2006) and Eidolon (2008), released through Century Media. Longtime guitarist V. Santura (with the band 2001-2023) also served as Celtic Frost's touring guitarist during that band's 2006-2008 live reunion, before co-founding Tom G. Fischer's post-Celtic Frost band Triptykon. Later lineups included drummer Hannes Grossmann (ex-Obscura, ex-Necrophagist).

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Lengsel are a Norwegian progressive/avant-garde 'unblack' metal band formed in 1995, whose 2000 debut Solace won a following for its atmospheric, experimental take on black metal. The band is tightly bound to Extol: guitarist Tor Magne Glidje joined Extol in 1999 (first on bass, later guitar) and, over time, all three Lengsel members became members of Extol. The overlap left Lengsel a largely studio-bound project.

Ævangelist is a US-based avant-garde black/death metal duo formed in 2010 by Matron Thorn and Ascaris, known for folding saxophone and cello into a nightmarish, dissonant sound. In 2016 the pair released the split EP Codex Obscura Nomina with Blut Aus Nord on Debemur Morti Productions.