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Caged Bastard is the solo project of Tunisian multi-instrumentalist Muhammad Oun (Bizerte, Tunisia), formed in 2018 as a blackened hardcore/grindcore act before evolving since 2019 into a broader fusion of black metal, sludge, drone, noise and ambient textures. Oun writes, performs, records, mixes and masters all material himself. Releases include "Inhumane Intentions" (2024), "Solace in Virtue's Absence" and "Mantra of Psychological Violence."

Echo Chamber of Woundsplay in the dock

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Havohej ('Jehovah' backwards) is the long-running solo black metal/noise project of Paul Ledney (Profanatica, ex-Incantation), formed in New York in 1993 after Profanatica's initial breakup. Debut 'Dethrone the Son of God' (Candlelight Records, 1993) re-worked unreleased Profanatica material into raw satanic black metal with grindcore and ambient touches, and reissues plus later albums like 'Kembatinan Premaster' (2009) and 'Table of Uncreation' (2019) have pushed further into industrial black noise and ritual ambient territory via Hells Headbangers.

Locrian are an American experimental trio formed in late 2005 in Chicago by André Foisy and Terence Hannum, with drummer Steven Hess joining permanently in 2010. AllMusic characterizes their sound as an eclectic mixture of black metal, electronics, drone and noise rock, shot through with ambient and industrial textures and dystopic, apocalyptic imagery. In 2012 they made the collaborative album Bless Them That Curse You with Mamiffer, released on Profound Lore alongside Sige and Utech.

Jute Gyte is the prolific solo project of Adam Kalmbach, based in Springfield, Missouri, best known for pioneering microtonal black metal on guitars retuned to 24-tone equal temperament, so that unfamiliar intervals create shimmering, dislocating interference patterns. Kalmbach fuses the black-metal template with classical serialism, dark ambient and industrial textures, and releases a parallel stream of purely electronic/ambient 'synth music in a variety of tunings.' Records himself, doesn't tour, and runs the project as an avowedly antifascist enterprise that channels sales to mutual-aid causes.

Schammasch are a Basel, Switzerland avant-garde black metal band formed in 2009, named for the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash. Beginning in black/death territory, they grew increasingly experimental, peaking with the triple-album Triangle (2016) whose final disc is pure ambient, and Hearts of No Light (2019), which folds clean/post-punk vocals and ritualistic dark-ambient into their black-metal core. Occultism, spirituality and surrealism thread their long-form, atmosphere-first releases on Prosthetic Records.

One-man raw/atmospheric black metal project of Italian artist Staurophagus (Florence), active since 2015. Built around hallucinatory 'cosmic'/space black metal blending droning synths and harsh ambient noise with glitch-adjacent 'sampledelia'; some material is reportedly transmitted through short-wave radio and re-recorded to tape for extra rawness. Note: a distinct, unrelated NYC-based act also uses the name Staurophagia — this entry is for the Italian project matching the RYM avant-garde-metal chart appearances.

Ulveblod is the solo black metal project of Vitriol, formerly guitarist of Dutch black metal band Nihill, launched after the death of Nihill co-founder/vocalist Michiel Eikenaar. The debut full-length 'Omnia Mors Aequat' (Fantoom/Consouling Sounds, April 2020) trades conventional song structure for extended, corrosive drones: reverb-drenched shrieks and 'demonic, sizzling guitars' sit on a single idea for minutes at a stretch (one closing track runs 21 minutes) until, per one review, 'static morphs into beautiful pulses.' The result sits at the abrasive, noise-soaked edge of black metal, with doom-paced riffs breaking through the wall of distortion.

Kyomdarak is a Japanese atmospheric/experimental black metal project from Gifu Prefecture, active since 2007 with a large self-released Bandcamp catalog (kyomdarak.bandcamp.com). Its sound favors drum-machine-driven rhythmic patterns, warbling synth atmospherics, and low-key drones layered under raw black-metal riffing rather than blast-beat aggression. Albums include "mugen" (2016), "Night and Sleep," and "A new ecosystem" (2024).

In their early era Sólstafir, formed in Reykjavík in 1995, played raw, epic Icelandic black/viking metal in the vein of Bathory and Enslaved: cold tremolo riffing, harsh vocals and pagan atmosphere. The debut full-length Í Blóði og Anda ("In Blood and Spirit", 2002) crystallized this sound, and its follow-up Masterpiece of Bitterness (2005, Spinefarm) began folding in the progressive and post-metal textures that would later define the band. This era established Sólstafir as one of Iceland's most distinctive extreme-metal exports before their gradual drift away from black metal orthodoxy.

Í Blóði og Andaplay in the dock

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Project Nefast is a black metal project from Utrecht/Amsterdam, Netherlands, releasing through Tartarus Records, known for an absurdist, nihilism-inflected take on black metal built from 'noise, drone and repetition' rather than straightforward riffing. Key releases include Discomfort (2015), Dogma (2016), Sex Money Power (2017/2018) and NEE (2018); the band has performed at Roadburn Festival. Active as 'Nefast' 2013-2017, renamed 'Project Nefast' 2017 onward.