Avant-garde Metal

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Einvera – In Your Image (2011)

    cover

    With the hundreds of self-released albums we have these days; it is very hard to find one that we actually want to keep listening to for more than 2 hours. Einvera’s “In Your Image” is one of those albums that has commanded more play time in order to fully digest what the band is proposing with their very unique sound.

    Hailing from Los Angeles, California, Einvera is the real deal when it comes to musicianship and interesting combination of genres. The band goes from Melodic Death/Black Metal to weirder Folk/Progressive/Avant-garde influences that will have you scratching your head in moments, but will make you impatiently wait to hear what they come up with next.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Transcending Bizarre? - The Misanthrope's Fable (2010)

    cover

    Being huge fans of bands that push the envelope, we have been greatly surprised by Transcending Bizarre? and their latest masterpiece: “The Misanthrope's Fable”. In this release the band takes us on a magical journey through their demented collective brain and for 46 minutes be prepared to be blown away by such an intricate and dark creation.

    In a time when most bands stick to their styles or play it safe and try to emulate what everybody else is doing, bands like Transcending are clear outliers in a very conformist music scene. Evocating comparisons to the great Arcturus, Solefald, Vulture Industries, Dodheimsgard, etc, Transcending Bizarre? excels at creating truly haunting and creepy songs that have so many layers and textures, making this songs have high replay value. Just by telling you that the album features a full children choir, you can imagine how terrible deranged and beautifully chaotic such a release can be.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    11 as in Adversaries - The Full Intrepid Experience of Light (2010)

    cover

    Featuring two members of Glorior Belli, 11 as in Adversaries is another great addition to the ATMF roster, and with their debut full-length album “The Full Intrepid Experience of Light” they will surely get their name on the map. As the main selling point of 11 as in Adversaries, we have that their sound is very unique since they mix a blend of Post-Rock/Metal with Extreme Metal and Progressive Metal, creating a very rich spectrum of sounds unlike other band in the scene these days.

    Getting things moving with the 15 minute epic “The Full Intrepid Experience of Light”, the band sets their sound apart for the rest immediately with the different textures presented in this song. Immediately the melodic and yet powerful guitar work stands out shifting from a Post-Rock/Metal approach to darker corners of Extreme Metal. The typical Progressive Metal tempo changes also add to the overall richness of this track and work wonders with the intricate Blues-infused bass guitar presented.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Dakrya - Crime Scene (2010)

    cover

    With a very similar style to Unexpect, Dreams of Sanity, and Diablo Swing Orchestra, today we have Dakrya, a band from Greece that is ready to turn heads with their sophomore release “Crime Scene”.  After their very decent debut album “Monumento”, the band seems to have refined their style and exploit their strengths on “Crime Scene”.

    While many bands are running around trying to copy DSO these days, Dakrya never gives you that feeling since the band’s music is a bit less jazzy and a bit darker than anything DSO has released, but on songs like “The Urban Tribe” the similarities cannot be contained. You still get the theatrical feeling on this release and while the band’s music is less elaborated than DSO or Unexpect, we still get nine very solid tracks of madness.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Diablo Swing Orchestra – Sing-Along Songs For The Damned & Delirious (2009)

    cover

    When I first heard “The Butcher's Ballroom” back in 2006, I was blown away by the very interesting and at the same time very bizarre combination of musical genres that this album presents. The overall atmosphere created by that album is heavily intoxicating like a siren’s chant or the devil’s whisper.

    Fast-forward three years into the future and the Swedes behind the Diablo Swing Orchestra are back with their second album that will surely establish them as one of the premiere Avant-garde Metal bands of all time. “Sing-Along Songs…” is a brilliant album that had me hooked on it since the first time I heard the CD.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Hypno5e - Des Deux L'une Est L'autre (2007)

    cover

    Hypno5e is a French band that plays avant-garde / experimental metal. I get plenty of albums to review each month and I have not heard anything like this album in quite a while, and I don’t mean this in a bad way “Des Deux L'une Est L'autre” is a very interesting album from start to end.

    Since the first track Hypno5e sets the stage for a psychedelic voyage that the listeners are about to take. This album features a very good balance of ‘heavy’ metal parts with nice ambient passages that complement each other to perfection; the band has achieved a very unique balance of musical elements.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Kekal - Audible Minority (2008)

    cover

    I've been listening to Kekal since their early Black Metal origins to their transformation into Avant-Garde Metal. I've never been a big fan of their newer releases, however you can see some brilliance behind their music. "Audible Minority" was released on-line for free, and an official label release came to light in December 2008. I'm not an expert in Avangarde Music, but I can still find releases that I like and ones that I don’t.

    Kekal's latest release is one that after listening for several times, I'm not able to get into it. There are many elements floating around that do not fit well as a whole. Many of the samples are just annoying in my opinion, and the vocals just make them worse. While there are some nice jazzy parts, they just suddenly transform into a drone noises and the magic is lost. The only song I liked was "Against", all the rest have nice parts but nothing else.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Cantata Sangui - On Rituals And Correspondence in Constructed Realities (2009)

    This is one of the most interesting bands I’ve found recently, apparently they have been around for a while releasing several demos in a span of several years, and just now released their debut album through Seasons Of Mist.

    This band hails from Finland and features members from Enochian Crescent, and their musical style is very unique I must say, they mix death/black and gothic metal in a very weird way.
    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Dol Theeta - The Universe Expands (2008)

    I have to say that this album is something very interesting, at first I thought I had the wrong band and I was reviewing some weird DJ shit, but nope, this Greek band plays some type of weird progressive / electro music with metal influences so I would just put it in on the category that everything weird goes into: Avant-garde Metal.

    Let me tell you the production of this album is amazing since you can hear every single detail in the music with perfect clarity. They do tend to emphasize the synthesizers too much, but this is the main core of the bands sound.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Ephel Duath - Through My Dog's Eyes (2009)

    Well what can I say about this Italian, every time I pop in their music I’m in for an acid trip, or what I imagine one would be like. Through My Dog’s Eyes is yet in their crazy musical direction, now they sound more like Avant-garde jazz/metal than their earlier more ‘black metalish’ releases.

    The whole concept of the album is clearly described in the title, and it perfectly matches the weird and chaotic sound of the band. While they are refining their instrument mixing skill, sometimes stuff just seems very out of place.

Pages

Recent Image Galleries