Metalcatto
Let’s say you’re ready to leave the peasantry behind. You’re fed up with all those 4×4 drums and predictable lyrics. You dread the chorus, you don’t want anything to rim. Yet you desperately crave something that surprises you in this world devoid of fun — or at least fun that doesn’t end with an HR complaint. Even after this ominous intro, you’re still on the fence about everything Avant-Garde. You just don’t know where to start, and you want a human touch, not just a machine showing the light — preferably a human who hasn’t been replaced by AI yet. Alright, let’s get to it then!
Pan.Thy.Monium – Khaooohs and Kon-Fus-Ion (1996): I’m going to take an almost historical approach to this list. Pan.Thy.Monium is one of the most underrated bands in Metal history. A band so ahead of its time that even now, almost 30 years later, it could still surprise you — like finding out your cat has been secretly running a Ponzi scheme in the kitchen. It’s not the first time I talk about it at MER, but this album is a mix of Death/Black Metal, Jazz, Blues, and outright insanity that has never been replicated. No other album has tried to embody the death of the God of Chaos so well. If you ever wondered what old-school 90s production could offer if the musicians were elite, this is your answer. Even the singer functions purely as an instrument — there are no lyrics. It couldn’t get more Avant-Garde than that, short of hiring Cthulhu to guest growl.
maudlin of the Well – Bath (2001): Now, something maybe more digestible. Prog Death was becoming a thing back then, but Bath takes it in a different direction — imagine what would happen if Kayo Dot met Opeth after an existential crisis at IKEA. The result is maudlin of the Well, a project that embodies mystery. Despite its calm and peaceful demeanor, at least at first, the album quickly transitions into properly horrifying territory with long, complex tracks that remind you what Dream Theater could do if it decided to go abstract instead of going for a world record in technicality. Even if Bath is easier to listen to than our previous entry, it’s still a beautiful and strange work that anyone getting into Avant-Garde Metal should start with.
Ihsahn – Arktis. (2016): 2016 was, in my opinion, one of the best years for extreme Metal music — and not just because nobody really knew what Tiktok was back then. So of course, we needed something that mixed Norwegian Black Metal with Prog/Avant-Garde tendencies. What better album than Arktis.? This is an album where the songwriting jumps between all styles of Metal, and even when it gets unfathomably weird, Ihsahn’s writing still impresses. I’d dare say this is his best solo album, but that’s controversial — like telling a vegan they’re missing the joy of a perfectly burnt steak. If you want to get into one of the most important projects in this odd corner of the Metalsphere, Ihsahn is a must. It’ll help you understand many Scandinavian bands who play in a similar style. Besides, his tracks are concise and full of flashy moves, so even those with little patience can start here.
Thy Catafalque – Naiv (2020): I don’t think I need to say much about the absolute mess of a year that 2020 was, but one thing it left behind was Naiv. Thy Catafalque is an unpredictable project, and this is perhaps one of its most accessible works. Sometimes it almost feels like Prog/Folk music with fancy sequences — like if your grandma joined your Black Metal band and refused to leave. I’d highly recommend this work for anyone coming from the less brutal parts of the Metal world. It’s not because the vocals and riffs aren’t punishing, but more because Naiv is, at its core, an album that aims to throw catchy patterns at you. The level of abstraction isn’t as ridiculous as in Ulcerate or other Disso-Death bands, but the simplicity also doesn’t reach Windir levels (not that there’s anything wrong with that). So if you’re a scared noob, this is a great place to start — even if your comfort zone is hiding under the bed.
So, let me know what you think of this kind of random recommendation! There are tons of snobbish albums out there, and I can already hear you writing comments like, “Oh, but this one is so much more important and insane!” To which I say, sure, but we want people to get into the genre, not write it off the way most people treat modern classical music. And we already know you’re a snob for reading this — welcome to the club, grab a chair, and maybe sob a little bit.
Metal Eclipse Reviews 