XYAX

Hypomanic Daydream is the Chicago solo project of Manic Dream Girl, fusing dissonant avant-garde death metal with dizzying, 16-bit-RPG-battle-theme synth lines, jazz inflections and Rock-in-Opposition unpredictability. Launched in 2022 explicitly inspired by Homeskin's genre-blending, it has moved from raw EPs through a split with Homeskin to 2025's full-length The Yearning, and more recently into an industrial/electronic-leaning 'Hype-O' offshoot. Critics note it 'doesn't really sound like anyone else' in extreme metal, for better and worse.

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Spires of the Lunar Sphere is a two-piece experimental/avant-garde metal and nintendocore act from Daytona Beach, Florida, formed circa 2015 by Michael Smith and Brandon Jolly, blending chiptune/8-bit synths and programming with mathcore and post-hardcore riffing. Cited influences include Horse the Band, Mr. Bungle, The Number Twelve Looks Like You and Genghis Tron. Releases include the EP "Pangaea Ultima" (2015) and full-length "SIREN" (2017).

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Red Ankh is the one-man digital/chiptune metal project of singer-songwriter and producer Shyft, running since 2004 (Denver, Colorado, formerly Minneapolis). Shyft builds each record from vocals, vocal synthesis, chiptune and physical-modeling synths, and sample libraries, cycling through black, death, power, symphonic, thrash, and folk metal alongside chiptune, gabber, gothic, industrial, dance, and trance elements -- a self-described 'industrial folk prog metal core' aimed at 'breaking down genre boundaries.' Early records (Blue, later remastered as Blue Two) were largely instrumental chiptune-metal before later albums like Red (2024) expanded the vocal and stylistic range.

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Gematria is a New Jersey instrumental duo of guitarist Ray Suhy (Six Feet Under, Cannabis Corpse, ex-East of the Wall) and drummer Steve Honoshowsky, formed in 2017 around a shared interest in Qabbalistic numerology and Aleister Crowley. Their Nefarious Industries releases — the 2018 self-titled EP and 2022's Gematria II: The Spindle of Necessity — fuse Adrian Belew-era King Crimson-style prog guitar with jazz-tagged flute solos, ambient soundscapes, and vintage toy-keyboard electronics (Casio PT-1, Realistic Concertmate 200).

Age of Silence is a Norwegian avant-garde progressive metal 'supergroup' formed in Oslo in 2004 by keyboardist Andy Winter of Winds, drawing members from Mayhem, Arcturus, The Kovenant, and Solefald. Their sole album, Acceleration (2004, The End Records), pairs 'aggressive guitar grind' with Winter's gothic, classically-tinged piano and synths, occasionally veering into pure electronic beats, per a Sputnikmusic review. A follow-up EP, Complications – Trilogy of Intricacy (2005), preceded a long hiatus for the project.

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The Black Queen is an American dark synth-pop/electronic supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 2015, growing out of sessions Greg Puciato began in 2011 while fronting The Dillinger Escape Plan. The trio pairs Puciato's crooned vocals with the lush programmed synthwave of Joshua Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv, ex-Nine Inch Nails) and Steven Alexander, a stark departure from Puciato's mathcore roots. They self-released their debut album Fever Daydream (2016) and followed with Infinite Games (2018) on their own Federal Prisoner label.

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A Perfect Circle is an American rock supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel, a former guitar tech for Tool, Nine Inch Nails and the Smashing Pumpkins, and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Fronting a more melodic, art-rock-leaning counterpart to Tool, the band broke through with the platinum debut Mer de Noms (2000) and its David Fincher-directed single "Judith." The rotating lineup has drawn from across alternative rock, with Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, session drummer Josh Freese, and bassist Matt McJunkins among its long-running members. After a long hiatus the group returned with Eat the Elephant (2018).

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Urizen is an electronic-influenced avant-garde metal band from Fort Worth/Denton, Texas, formed in 2003 by brothers Thomas and Daniel Drinnen (previously the black metal act Dunwitch Horror). Best known for chiptune/Nintendo-style synths — culminating in the 2011 remix album 8-Bit Universe — and a highly theatrical live show performed in full armor-style space suits. Critics have compared their avant-metal songwriting to Arcturus, Solefald and electronic-era Ulver.

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Winds are a Norwegian neoclassical progressive-metal band formed in 1998, trading black-metal ferocity for classically-informed composition, clean vocals and duelling piano and guitar. Drummer Jan Axel 'Hellhammer' Blomberg — best known from Mayhem — anchors the group alongside guitarist Carl August Tidemann and pianist Andy Winter across Of Entity and Mind (2001) and Reflections of the I (2002). The result is one of the scene's most overtly 'classical' side-projects, far from its members' extreme-metal roots.

Archangel is an avant-garde/electronic metal band from Venice, Italy, formed in 1994, notable for a groove-metal-rooted early sound that evolved into a symphonic, industrial, and electronically-inflected style incorporating elements as varied as saxophone passages within metal arrangements. Their 1996/97 debut 'In Tears the Angel Falls...' is often cited as a landmark avant-garde metal record and the band has been credited by some (including their own promotion) as the first metal act to tune entirely to the Golden Mean-derived 432 Hz standard. They continued releasing conceptually ambitious albums through 2010's 'The Story of My Immor(t)al Life', with core member Vam Kama Ocean Archangel (vocals/keyboards) present since formation.