These Arms Are Snakes

Dead Cross is a Southern California crossover-thrash/hardcore supergroup formed in late 2015, uniting drummer Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Fantômas, Mr. Bungle), bassist Justin Pearson (The Locust, Retox), and guitarist Michael Crain (Retox). The Locust's Gabe Serbian was the original vocalist but left after the debut was recorded; Mike Patton replaced him in December 2016, rewriting the vocals over the existing instrumentals. The band has released two albums via Patton's Ipecac Recordings — the self-titled debut (2017) and II (2022) — delivering short, violent blasts of thrash and hardcore punk.

Grave Slaveplay in the dock

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Formed in Austin in 1987 and relocated to Chicago in 1989, The Jesus Lizard perfected a blueprint of noise-rock menace: David Wm. Sims and Mac McNeilly's lurching, hydraulic rhythm section, Duane Denison's wiry precision guitar, and David Yow howling from deep in the mix like, in one critic's words, 'a kidnap victim trying to howl through the duct tape over his mouth.' Their Steve Albini-recorded Touch and Go albums Goat (1991) and Liar (1992) stand among the most significant noise rock records of the era, and a split single with Nirvana briefly brushed them against the mainstream. After disbanding in 1999 and reuniting for tours from 2009 onward, they released Rack in 2024, their first album in 26 years.

Pussplay in the dock

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SikTh are a British progressive/technical metal band formed in Watford, Hertfordshire in 1999, known for their dual-vocalist attack, dissonant mathcore-adjacent riffing, and unorthodox compositions. They are widely cited as pioneers of the djent and tech-metal movement, breaking through with their debut album The Trees Are Dead & Dried Out Wait for Something Wild (2003), followed by Death of a Dead Day (2006) and, after a reunion, The Future in Whose Eyes? (2017).

If You Weren't So Perfectplay in the dock

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Free Salamander Exhibit is an avant-rock band from Oakland, California, formed by former members of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Comprising roughly four-fifths of that group's lineup plus additional players, the band pursues an art-prog / rock-in-opposition sound built around an arsenal of homemade instruments alongside guitars, bass, and drums. Their debut album, Undestroyed, was released December 13, 2016 on the Web of Mimicry label.

Mutoid Man is an American heavy metal band formed in 2012 in Brooklyn, New York City by Cave In vocalist/guitarist Stephen Brodsky and Converge drummer Ben Koller. The project began as a two-piece before adding bassist Nick Cageao, who was replaced in August 2021 by Jeff Matz of High on Fire. Their sound has been described as metalcore that engages hardcore punk, rock and roll, math rock, progressive rock, and psychedelic music.

Micro Aggressionplay in the dock

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Better Lovers is an American metalcore and chaotic hardcore band formed in 2023 in Buffalo, New York, uniting three former members of Every Time I Die (Jordan Buckley, Steve Micciche, Clayton Holyoak) with guitarist/producer Will Putney and vocalist Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan. The group released the EP God Made Me an Animal (2023) and its debut full-length Highly Irresponsible in October 2024 through SharpTone Records. Puciato fronted the band from its formation until the two parties amicably parted ways in February 2026.

The Floweringplay in the dock

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Today Is the Day is an American noise-rock and experimental-metal band led by guitarist/vocalist and producer Steve Austin, formed in Nashville in the early 1990s. Blending grindcore, hardcore and avant-garde metal with heavy sampling and unhinged, erratic arrangements, the group became a touchstone for the noisecore and mathcore underground. Their 1999 Relapse album In the Eyes of God featured a young rhythm section of bassist Bill Kelliher and drummer Brann Dailor, both formerly of Lethargy, who soon left to co-found Mastodon.

Retox was formed in San Diego in 2011 by vocalist Justin Pearson and drummer Gabe Serbian, who had already spent years detonating grindcore convention together in The Locust. Trading that band's sci-fi costumes for stripped-down nihilist hardcore, Retox specialized in short, sharp blasts of noise-punk — their Ipecac debut Ugly Animals burns through eleven tracks in about thirteen minutes. Two further albums, YPLL (2013) and Beneath California (2015), followed on Epitaph before Pearson and guitarist Michael Crain carried the lineage into Dead Cross with Dave Lombardo and Mike Patton.

Boredom is Counter-Revolutionaryplay in the dock

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Helium Horse Fly are a Liège, Belgium avant-garde/experimental-rock act formed in 2009, fronted by vocalist/keyboardist Marie Billy alongside guitarist Stéphane Dupont, bassist Dimitri Iannello and drummer Gil Chevigné (who replaced founding drummer Bastien Dupont in 2014). Critics have described their sound as 'progressive baroque hardcore' and compared its dark, brooding intensity to Kayo Dot, spanning EPs A Dispute to Redefine Clearly Frontiers Between Devils and Angels (2010) and Fishing for Ghosts (2011) through the albums Helium Horse Fly (2013) and Hollowed (2019). Reviewers place them across post-metal, art rock and experimental-rock tags.

Happinessplay in the dock

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Girth is a Seattle instrumental trio — guitarist Dave Webb and drummer Peijman Kouretchian expanding to triple-guitar with Blane Patnode and Mark Corier of Swarming Hordes — playing dense, through-composed 'tech hardcore' described by one zine as splitting the difference between Orthrelm and Guapo with oddball electronic and jazz detours. Their breakthrough 2006 EP 'Sleeper, Awaken!' is a single 19-minute, four-movement piece recorded with engineer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth) and released on Trey Spruance's Web of Mimicry label, directly tying the band into the Mr. Bungle/Secret Chiefs 3-adjacent avant-metal underground. The project wound down after 2009's 'deconstruction.', with members moving on to Wah Wah Exit Wound and Satya Sena.