Avant-Garde Metal

Avant-garde metal is the experimental fringe of metal, defined by unconventional song structures, unusual instruments and sounds, strange vocals, and a restless urge to break the rules. Growing from extreme and progressive metal, acts like Norway’s Arcturus, Japan’s Sigh, and Canada’s Devin Townsend fold in jazz, classical, electronics, psychedelia, and theatrical drama. Often called the hardest metal genre to define, it prizes surprise and imagination over any fixed template. Expect the phantasmagoric and the surreal.