The Avant-Garde Metal Thread
For this week's top ten I decided to tackle my Top Ten Avant-Garde Metal Releases Of All-Time. There are a few included that probably have another subgenre as their primary one but I aimed to minimize that as much as possible by prioritizing the ones that were genuinely avant-garde & will work the others out of the list as I review more avant-garde releases over time. See what you think:
01. Oranssi Pazuzu – “Mestarin kynsi” (2020)
02. Kayo Dot – “Choirs Of The Eye” (2003)
03. Ad Nauseam – “Imperative Imperceptible Impulse” (2021)
04. Kayo Dot – “Moss Grew On The Swords & Plowshares Alike” (2021)
05. maudlin of the Well – “Leaving Your Body Map” (2001)
06. maudlin of the Well – “Bath” (2001)
07. Gorguts – “Obscura” (2000)
08. Ved Buens Ende….. – “Written In Waters” (1995)
09. Mr. Bungle – “Mr. Bungle” (1991)
10. Warning (GER) – “Warning” (1982)
Like Andi, I don't listen to a lot of avant-garde metal (a lot of it just gives me a headache) so I'll go with a top 5 also:
1. Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin kynsi (2020)
2. Deathspell Omega - Paracletus (2010)
3. Jute Gyte - Perdurance (2016)
4. Thy Catafalque - Naiv (2020)
5. Jute Gyte - The Sparrow (2017)
I gotta listen to more avant-garde metal, there's some great stuff but I'm not always in the mood to listen.
Anyway here's my top 10:
1. Mutyumu - I l y a
2. A Forest of Stars - Grave Mounds and Grave Mistakes
3. Devin Townsend - Empath
4. Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora's Pinata
5. La Torture des ténèbres - Civilization Is the Tomb of Our Noble Gods
6. Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit
7. Bubblegum Octopus - Perfect Life & Other Stuff
8. öOoOoOoOoOo - Samen
9. Grandmother is Dead - Trust Christ Today
10. Mamaleek - Come & See
That’s a seriously interesting list Scarecrow. Well done!
I gotta listen to more avant-garde metal, there's some great stuff but I'm not always in the mood to listen.
Anyway here's my top 10:
1. Mutyumu - I l y a
2. A Forest of Stars - Grave Mounds and Grave Mistakes
3. Devin Townsend - Empath
4. Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora's Pinata
5. La Torture des ténèbres - Civilization Is the Tomb of Our Noble Gods
6. Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit
7. Bubblegum Octopus - Perfect Life & Other Stuff
8. öOoOoOoOoOo - Samen
9. Grandmother is Dead - Trust Christ Today
10. Mamaleek - Come & See
Cool list, Scarecrow! Empath has some avant-garde experimentation going on, but it's mostly a progressive metal album. If you're looking for some avant-garde progressive metal action from Devin Townsend, may I suggest one of his Project albums, Deconstruction?
Updated my list following Deathspell Omega's "Fas – Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum" successful Hall nomination finally giving it entry into the Avant-Garde Metal genre:
01. Oranssi Pazuzu – “Mestarin kynsi” (2020)
02. Deathspell Omega - "Paracletus" (2010)
03. Kayo Dot – “Choirs Of The Eye” (2003)
04. Ad Nauseam – “Imperative Imperceptible Impulse” (2021)
05. Blut aus Nord - "777 - Cosmosophy" (2012)
06. Kayo Dot – “Moss Grew On The Swords & Plowshares Alike” (2021)
07. maudlin of the Well – “Leaving Your Body Map” (2001)
08. Deathspell Omega - "Fas – Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum" (2007)
09. maudlin of the Well – “Bath” (2001)
10. Dog Fashion Disco - "Adultery" (2006)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/156
Ved Buens Ende..... - "Written In Waters" (1995)
It's been many years since I revisited this seminal & quite bizarre one-off record from Norwegian avant-garde progressive metal outfit Ved Buens Ende..... & that really needed to be rectified because it's a truly confounding & resoundingly original piece of work from a band that were far too young to achieve such a feat. I first encountered Ved Buens Ende..... through the 1996 Blackend Records compilation "Blackend: The Black Metal Compilation Vol. 1" via one of the highlight tracks in "Carrier of Wounds" & immediately found myself captivated but it took time for the full effects to take hold because there's simply far too much going to be able to grasp it in one or two sittings. There are enough common traits to comfortably determine that Ved Buens Ende..... hail from the Norwegian black metal scene of the early 90's & you'll see plenty of evidence of that across the tracklisting however to describe them as a black metal band is far too limiting. You can expect to hear dissonant & completely atonal open-string guitar work that wouldn't seem out of place on Voivod's more ambitious records mixed in with jazzy experimental drumming & unusual & quite powerful clean vocals that somehow seem to draw upon dark melodies that perfectly compliment the tense atmosphere. Then a simplistic & consciously grim old school black metal section will appear out of nowhere & the snarliest, croakiest blackened vocals this side of Darkthrone will leap forth to penetrate your calmed state & remind you that this is still a release that has been born from the darkest pits of extreme metal territory.
For all those positives, Ved Buens Ende..... don't get it all right here. I rarely find an entire track to ticks all of my creative boxes with only the lengthy "Remembrance of Things Past/To Swarm Deserted Away" doing enough to qualify as a genuine metal classic in my opinion. There are also a couple of pretty ordinary atmospheric pieces included in "Autumn Leaves" & the hidden track that closes the album, both of which suffer from being too loose & wishy washy. Thankfully though those are the exception rather than the rule with the more substantial works being much more successful in their realization of an ambition that's stood out amongst its peers ever since. The best moments occur when the clean vocals manage to penetrate my soul in a way that leaves their eery melodies still easily recalled by my brain all these years later. More often than not these melodies are accompanied by a majestic & often dissonant guitar arpeggio that could only have been drawn from the Norwegian black metal scene yet somehow doesn't feel like black metal at all & it's this sort of contradiction that makes "Written In Waters" an enthralling ride, despite all of its imperfections.
For fans of Dødheimsgard, Fleurety & In the Woods...
4/5
Liturgy - "H.A.Q.Q." (2019)
This is some fucking weird-assed shit from this Brooklyn outfit. I wasn't much of a fan of Liturgy prior to this record but they managed to get my attention with this fourth album. What we get here is a swirling mass of avant-garde dissonant black metal noise & screaming combined with glitchy electronic sound manipulation, cinematic orchestration that sounds like it could have been the soundtrack to "The Wizard of Oz" & several stripped back interludes that remind me of the totalism branch of the minimalism movement. Does it all work? Well, in a word no but the majority of it does & when they get it right it's hard not to be impressed by how much sense can be made from such chaotic components. The interludes are pretty boring & don't add a lot to the album in my opinion but the majority of the black metal oriented material is quite entertaining. I'm just not sure I'll ever find all of my metal boxes being ticked by such obscure sounds unless it can achieve some catchier melodic ideas.
For fans of Krallice, Jute Gyte & Mastery.
3.5/5
Effluence - "Liquefied" E.P. (2022)
I really struggled with unusual American solo-act Effluence's 2021 debut album "Psychocephalic Spawning" as it just seemed to hold nothing of musical value so I've been very hesitant to return for another helping, despite the continuous stream of praise being heaped on them from my beloved underground death metal scene. However, the fact that Effluence's "Liquefied" E.P. is one of the top rated BDM releases of 2022 has seen me feeling that I simply had to give it a crack but unfortunately I'm now regretting that decision because this little release is right up there with the worst metal records I've ever encountered. It's essentially an attempt to make as much of a cacophony of silly noises as it's humanly possible to achieve & I've never been one that appreciated humor in my extreme metal.
The death metal component brings to mind bands like Defeated Sanity, 7.H Target & Dripping with the over the top blast-beats & super-deep, unintelligible vocals but every track might as well be the same because there aren't any themes or differences in atmosphere to grab onto. As absurd as it sounds for a death metal record, there seem to be several references to the kitchen here with the inclusion of blender sounds & the cover art & track titles being angled towards food preparation themes. I find it all so hard to tolerate to be honest & I also struggle to think of who the target demographic for a release like "Liquefied" might be. Perhaps they're not even metalheads but teenage stoners looking for a laugh? Certainly not any of our Metal Academy regulars & I'd encourage everyone to give Effluence a wide birth.
1/5
Liturgy - "93696" (2023)
So I thought it was about time that I checked out the most heavily hyped black metal-related release of the year so far in the sixth full-length album from unusual Brooklyn outfit Liturgy. I've found their career to be a little hit & miss over the years since first drawing my attention back in 2009 but there's no question that records like 2019's "H.A.Q.Q." & 2011's "Aesthethica" (my personal favourite) are interesting takes on the extreme metal medium that push the boundaries of what the scene was originally intended to cover.
"93696" sees Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix & co. taking their creativity to a number of weird & wonderful places with a sound that may utilize black metal tools but in reality is in direct opposition to the very ethos of what black metal stands for. I mean, I believe that this release is intended as a soundtrack for the process of ascending to Heaven for fuck's sake which is hardly common-place black metal territory now, is it? Here we find Liturgy drawing upon "Lawrence of Arabia" style cinematic sounds, quirky Frank Zappa-esque jazz rock, Tool-ish progressive metal & full-blown experimental music for inspiration & they pull it all together in a way that leaves the listener consistently on edge. Despite the use of tremolo-picking & blast-beats, the only genuine trace of black metal left in Liturgy's sound can be found in Hunt-Hendrix's shrieking vocal delivery to be honest as the atmosphere simply doesn't feel like black metal any more.
The album is certainly built around two 14+ minute epics but there are a number of other lengthy tracks that take the listener on a mini-journey as well. Interestingly though, I find many of the short interludes to be nothing short of outstanding & some of the most rewarding pieces on offer while there's really only one failure amongst the fifteen tracks in the loose & pointless "Red Crown II". The hugely ambitious 82 minute run time probably needed a fair bit of risk-taking & adventure in order to maintain the listener's interest in all honesty though so you can forgive the odd misstep, especially when the holistic package represents Liturgy's best work in more than a decade. The more hardened black metal disciples should take a look within deep themselves before attempting "93696" as it definitely requires an open mind but fans of more expansive artists like Krallice, Victory Over The Sun & Jute Gyte shouldn't hesitate to check it out.
3.5/5
Mr. Bungle - "Mr. Bungle" (1991)
While I was the source for Ben picking up so many of the extreme metal game-changers that would stay with us for most of our lives, he would also open my eyes to exciting new bands at times too with bizarre Californian outfit Mr. Bungle being one of the more significant of them. Faith No More was a REALLY big band for Ben & his best mate Matt during the early 1990's with Mike Patton becoming nothing short of an obsession for Matt so I think it might have been him that initially brought Mr. Bungle's self-titled debut album to our attention before Ben purchased the CD. While I also loved me some Faith No More, Mr. Bungle sounded like none of my business on paper. I mean it's quirky, it's funky & it's consciously weird, none of which are characteristics I would usually be open to in my metal. But that's the true genius in this artist really i.e. the ability to do something so unusual but still achieve timeless hooks & eternal laughs that manage to immediately recall a time in my life with an effortless ease that few acts can achieve. It's been a while since I've revisited "Mr. Bungle" though & I really didn't have any idea how I might end up rating it in the modern day so it was with much anticipation that I pressed play on my long drive into work this week. What I found was that my passion for Mr. Bungle's freakish circus sideshow took very little time to rekindle too.
"Mr. Bungle" is very much a mishmash of disparate genres & ideas that somehow manages to sound cohesive & vital. Other websites will tell you that it's a blend of experimental rock, avant-garde metal & funk metal but I don't think that's quite right. I mean, there's very little actual rock on this album so calling it experimental rock is a little misleading in my opinion. There's certainly a lot more metal than there is rock here but even metal is just one of many tools that are used within a wider range of sounds & styles that include funk, ska, experimental, psychedelia, deep jazz, field recordings, circus-themed music & an array of other subgenres. Still... I think there's enough metal on offer to warrant the avant-garde metal tag given that metal provides somewhat of a platform for which to present the other quirkier sounds. Funk metal is a little bit more of a stretch in my opinion though as the funk & the metal rarely appear together & there's a lot more to "Mr. Bungle" than just funk. Regardless of these concerns, it's fair to say that "Mr. Bungle" sounds like nothing you've ever heard before so traditional tags are ineffective in preparing you for what's in store for you anyway.
The hero of the day is certainly Faith No More/Dead Cross/Fantômas front man Mike Patton as this record provides him with the ultimate showcase for his extraordinarily wide range of psychotic vocal techniques & noises. In fact, I find it entirely captivating to simply follow him through the record & observe just how fucking nuts he can be. Anyone that hasn't heard the extended "No Place Like Home" section on "Egg" or the "Redundant" part of "My Ass Is on Fire" really owe it to themselves to experience it & I challenge you to not let out at least the odd giggle (if not uncontrollable laughter) which is really saying something all these years later. Mr. Bungle are a seriously talents group of musicians too though & the way they manage to bring all of the whacked-out insanity together as a cohesive whole is really quite something. I tend to love the opposite extremes the most with the deeper psychedelic moments & the heavier metallic sections giving me the most joy but there's not a weak track to be found amongst the ten on offer with opener "Quote Unquote" & the previously mentioned "My Ass Is on Fire" both playing pivotal roles in my youth. Fantômas bassist Trevor Dunn's contribution is worth mentioning as he shows himself to possess some pretty impressive chops with some of the funky bass lines he manages to pull off. The way that Faith No More/Asva/Faxed Head guitarist Trey Spruance manages to swap from the funkiest of clean ska or funk riff to the heaviest of metal dirge is quite an eye opener too.
"Mr. Bungle" is certainly not the sort of thing that you'll find me listening to all that often as I tend to take my metal music pretty seriously at times but it's refreshing to take a musical u-turn like this every now & then, particularly when it summons up so many memories of Ben & I rolling on his bedroom floor laughing until tears streamed down our faces. Mr. Bungle serve a very clear purpose in reminding me that I don't have to be quite so intense all the time &, for that reason alone, I think everyone should experience their debut at some point in their lives, particularly where weed is involved. Fans of the more avant-garde end of metal will almost inevitably see the genius in this record while those with a strong penchant for artists like Fantômas, Buckethead & Diablo Swing Orchestra may just rank it amongst their more elite releases of the time.
4/5
This experience has led me to update my Top Ten Avant-Garde Metal Releases of All Time list too with Dog Fashion Disco's "Adultery" album dropping out to make way for "Mr. Bungle":
01. Oranssi Pazuzu – “Mestarin kynsi” (2020)
02. Deathspell Omega - "Paracletus" (2010)
03. Kayo Dot – “Choirs Of The Eye” (2003)
04. Ad Nauseam – “Imperative Imperceptible Impulse” (2021)
05. Blut aus Nord - "777 - Cosmosophy" (2012)
06. Kayo Dot – “Moss Grew On The Swords & Plowshares Alike” (2021)
07. maudlin of the Well – “Leaving Your Body Map” (2001)
08. Deathspell Omega - "Fas – Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum" (2007)
09. maudlin of the Well – “Bath” (2001)
10. Mr. Bungle - "Mr. Bungle" (1991)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/156
PainKiller - "Buried Secrets" (1992)
My initiation to bizarre New York free jazz/grindcore hybrid act PainKiller came through late-night underground metal radio programming back in the early 1990's with one show in particular seeming to take quite a shining to them. At the time I found the material to be grating at best as I had no points of reference for this sort of thing. I found myself to be more than a little bit fascinated though so would end up exploring all of PainKiller's full-lengths over the next few years. Admittedly, I really struggled with all of three of them but I did find myself liking them more with each successive release. Whether that was because I was slowly coming around to the whole concept & expanding my musical repertoire or not is probably a question that needs to be asked but I also wonder whether I ever gave myself the time & attention required to see me gaining any real sort of understanding of what was going on with records like these. You see, they're just so different to anything else I'd heard to the time but I feel a little better equipped to handle an album like PainKiller's 1992 sophomore record "Buried Secrets" now so I thought I'd challenge myself this week.
PainKiller were a side project of avant-garde jazz legend John Zorn of Naked City fame, ambient dub stalwart bass guitarist Bill Laswell & our much beloved blast-beat master Mick Harris who you'll no doubt be familiar with from his time with artists like Napalm Death, Scorn, Extreme Noise Terror & Unseen Terror. Sound like a strange combination? Well, it sure fucking is. The trio go about their craft with a reckless abandon that sees the stylistic approaches changing rapidly between songs but with the one consistent element being Zorn's psychotic free jazz alto saxophone assault. If you've ever heard Naked City before then you'll have some idea of what to expect from Zorn as his contribution is fairly similar with his penchant for making loud, obnoxious honks & squeals taking priority over anything of genuine musical merit. Laswell & Harris provide an assortment of backing tracks that range from very short, lightspeed grindcore blasts to a more measured & heavy sludge metal cesspool to deep, warm & trippy dub excursions. You'll even find some Godfleshy industrial metal on the title track while the lengthy closer & album highlight "The Toll" is nothing a short of drone metal masterpiece. When you combine all of these disparate sounds together it creates an entirely new world that borders on not being music at all at times & that I'd suggest fits best under the avant-garde jazz metal tag. It's certainly a little short-sighted to call "Buried Secrets" a grindcore album because the grind component takes up only a very small percentage of the overall run time.
The quality of the record as a single piece of art is open for interpretation as I find it to be very inconsistent in its ability to successfully keep me engaged but thankfully the highlights come in the form of the longer pieces while the silly novelty tracks only make up a relatively small portion of the release. In fact, I'd suggest that I can do without all of the grindcore & avant-garde metal material because it contains next to no musical value. The true gold to be found on "Buried Secrets" comes in the form of the remainder of the album with the Laswell-inspired dub tracks "Blackhole Dub" & "Black Chamber" containing lush, trance-inducing bass lines, the title track creating scenes of a cold industrial wasteland & "One-Eyed Pessary" taking me down into a pit of angry & abrasive sludge. "The Toll" has struck me with the power of a thousand atom bombs too & leaves me feeling nothing short of devastated at its completion. These moments are both intriguing & musically rewarding, despite the inevitably spasmodic contribution of Zorn, & I've ended up finding myself strangely attracted to the whole experience even if I'm not sure I'll ever feel the need to return to it again.
So where does "Buried Secrets" sit in the grand scheme of PainKiller's back catalogue then? Well, it's a little hard to remember the other releases now given how little time I gave them to win me over back in the day & the fact that my feelings on this record have changed so dramatically since my first experiences with it tell me that they're likely to do the same with 1991's "Guts of a Virgin" debut album & 1994's "Execution Ground" third record. Perhaps it's time that I revisited those two releases so as to give myself a little more of a grounded opinion on the matter. In the meantime though, you're right to feel a little suspicious about "Buried Secrets" as it certainly isn't for everyone but those with an open mind & an adventurous heart may find themselves being taken to some of the more interesting & unusual places known to man.
3.5/5
Alchemist - "Demo '91" (1991)
I picked an original copy of this obscure demo tape directly from the band from memory. Alchemist were an absolute icon of the Australian metal scene during the 1990's & Ben & I would become deeply involved with their first couple of albums. I think I might have seen them play live more times than any other band in the world too as they were always making the trek up to Sydney from the nation's capital city of Canberra & were a good bunch of blokes too. This demo shows Alchemist still in a transitional phase, sitting kinda halfway between the technical thrash metal of their earlier two demos & the avant-garde psychedelic metal sound of their full-lengths. Pay no attention to the progressive metal & death metal tags that seem to float around this release as there's very little of either genre to be found here & I'd suggest that a Voivod meets Mr.Bungle comparison wouldn't be all that far off the mark.
The opening track "Enhancing Enigma" would go on to be re-recorded for their debut album "Jar of Kingdom" a couple of years later & is clearly the most accomplished piece included here. In fact, I'd suggest that it's the only one that I get all that much enjoyment out of to be honest. The A side is where you'll find their more recent material with the B side having a stronger tech thrash (& occasionally crossover thrash) component. I don't remember this demo making much of an impact on me back in the day & nothing much has changed there with records like "Jar of Kingdom" & Alchemist's wonderful 1995 sophomore album "Lunasphere" being much more accomplished affairs & sitting amongst the true pillars of the Aussie metal scene.
3/5
PainKiller - "Guts Of A Virgin" (1991)
Earlier this week I went about the process of revisiting the 1992 sophomore album “Buried Secrets” from unusual New York avant-garde jazz metal trio PainKiller. It had literally been decades since I last heard the three PainKiller full-lengths but I was really surprised to find that their second album offered me a level of appeal that I’d not received from it before. I guess I’m just a lot more open-minded with my music these days. That’s not to say that it wasn’t inconsistent because it most certainly was with the short grindcore sections adding no value to anyone’s life whatsoever. It was the lengthier, more restrained & slightly less consciously abstract material that floated my boat with all of the more significant tracks hitting the mark. From memory, I think I devoured all of PainKiller’s albums within about a week & I recall them getting better with each release so I had visions of their 1991 debut album “Guts of a Virgin” being an absolute abomination (& not the good type either). Given my newly found positivity for “Buried Secrets” though, I thought I’d challenge myself by giving it a few spins too.
There are similarities & differences between PainKiller’s first two albums. They both contain the screeching alto saxophone of John Zorn over almost every track, there’s a grindcore component to many of the tracks that pops up & disappears as quickly as it came & the band explores a number of different styles & genres around those core elements. There’s no doubt that “Guts of a Virgin” is the more extreme of the two records though. It’s twelve songs clock in at just 24 minutes in duration with the grindcore elements being drawn upon a little more readily. I still wouldn’t call this a grindcore record though as the combined length of those sections is really quite short with the remainder of the album feeling better suited to a few alternate genre tags in avant-garde jazz, avant-garde & experimental rock, the last of which is a little different from “Buried Secrets” which tended to explore more metallic genres like sludge metal & industrial metal whereas “Guts of a Virgin” dips its toes into rockier & jazzier sounds at times. The debut also includes some psychotic vocal screams from former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris which are pretty harsh & abrasive on the ears to be frank. As with “Buried Secrets”, the album finishes with a pretty decent drone metal number too although this one sits quite a distance beneath the classic “The Toll” in terms of being a truly transcendental experience.
Both albums certainly contain their fair share of absolute rubbish. The difference between them is that “Buried Secrets” has a lot more meat on its bones & the crap on “Guts of a Virgin” tends to be… well… crappier. In fact, there are really only three songs that I enjoy here & I don’t think it’s any surprise to find them corresponding with the more traditional sounding pieces on the tracklisting because I’m simply not the guy for intentionally whacky music that offers more in the way of novelty value than it does from a musical standpoint. I really enjoyed Bill Laswell’s dubbier influence on a couple of tracks from “Buried Secrets” too but it’s nowhere to be found on “Guts of a Virgin”.
Perhaps I’m not the target audience for a record like this one but I have to ask… is there really one & are they actually music fans? Look… “Guts of a Virgin” is nowhere near as bad as I first thought it was but it’s a long way from an enjoyable listen either. In saying that, I get the distinct feeling that PainKiller’s third album “Execution Ground” might be the one to offer me the most appeal based purely on my past scores & its general genre-tagging which sees dark ambient & ambient dub playing a strong role at the expense of grindcore. Perhaps I should hook myself up with some of them apples shortly, huh?
2.5/5