Thoughts on Myrkur's "Mareridt"

As a dedicated Myrkur apologist, the last few years have been a strange journey for me. Unlike Ghost Bath, I can't actually remember a time when I didn't know the woman behind Myrkur was Amalie Bruun, dismissed by some as a "Danish model and pop singer," but better known to fans of underground rap as the creepy falsetto on the hook of Vinnie Paz's "Nosebleed," released with R.A. the Rugged Man back in 2010. But ever since Myrkur was "outed" for the crime of having a life and job outside of black metal, she's been the most controversial figure in the entire genre. If you ask some of the regulars on r/blackmetal, she's a infiltrator and a hack, putting on black metal like a fake patch jacket at a photo shoot. If you ask the true believers, she's one of the most interesting and original musicians in the scene, integrating folk and post-rock in new and interesting ways. Her first album, M, wasn't very different from her excellent debut EP, and tended simply to reinforce already-existing perceptions: she was either a brilliant new artist or a corporate fake making derivative bubblegum black metal for the masses, depending on who you asked.

Then came Mareridt. Based on the singles, "Maneblot" and "Ulvinde," expectations were that Myrkur's second album would be a continuation of the ideas from her first: more folky and melodic, perhaps, but with roots in the black metal tradition nonetheless. That's not what we got.

If Myrkur's first two releases had a weakness, it was their lack of internal cohesion (a sense that the songs on the album could make just as much sense in any order) and related tendency towards musical non-sequiturs (folky songs that violently switched gears into aggressive black metal riffs, etc.) In Mareridt, Myrkur resolved these issues, but created another one in the process: by crafting songs within the songwriting and musical conventions of a single genre, Myrkur released what often feels like a compilation album. There are post-doom songs ("The Serpent," "Funeral"), dark folk songs ("Kaetteren," "Loven"), black metal songs ("Maneblot," "Elleskudt," "Ulvinde") gothic metal songs ("Gladiatrix"), and even a few alt-pop numbers ("Crown," "Death of Days," "Kvendilil"), but no sense of a concrete musical identity. Songs like "Elleskudt" and "Crown" simply don't belong on the same album; the former is a ripping folk metal track with blackened riffs, the latter is strangely evocative of the music of Lana Del Rey with a hint of Evanescence.

In fact, even on some of  the heavier numbers, I found myself comparing Myrkur's vocal performance with Amy Lee of Evanescence and Chibi of The Birthday Massacre, mainly because Myrkur made the very poor decision to perform many of the songs on Mareridt partially or wholly in English. Like it or not, manufactured mystique is part of black metal: one of the reasons people reacted so negatively to the revelation of Myrkur's identity was that a figure who is already famous outside of black metal can never cultivate the sense of mystery that swirls around figures like Wrest, Niklas Kvarforth, or Otrebor. Myrkur's use of her native Danish on her earlier albums gave listeners a sense of distance from the music that they couldn't get from her person. When she sings in English, that distance evaporates, leaving nothing but Amalie Bruun, a thirty-something from Copenhagen who really likes black metal and nordic folk.

It sounds like I'm criticizing Myrkur for being too much of a real person on Mareridt. I guess I am.

But I would be lying if I didn't also say that I was disappointed by the overall direction of Mareridt as well. Too many of the songs don't have anything in common with the beautiful union of nordic folk melodies and black metal frost that I loved in Myrkur's first extended play. "The Serpent" and "Funeral," for instance, are great Jex Thoth songs, but not really what I wanted or expected to hear from a new Myrkur album. "Kvindelil" and "Death of Days" are outtakes from a really cool Lana Del Rey album, but I'm not stitching a Lana Del Rey patch onto my jacket anytime soon.

I freely acknowledge that none of these complaints are faults with the music itself. All of the scooby-doom and alt-pop songs on Mareridt are well-written and have great atmosphere. The same is true of all the folk songs. In fact, there's only one track on the entire record I don't begrudgingly enjoy: Bornehjem, an interlude which features Myrkur giving a bizarre monologue about demons in a little girl's voice. Like much of the record, it feels like it got lost on its way to being on another album; unlike the rest of the record, that other album was probably trash.

Recommended, I guess.

The Thurible Reviews: Ghost - "Popestar"

Ghost aren't so much a band anymore as an unstoppable, unquestionable cultural force—a sort of bizarro Roman Catholic Church in musical form. I think they'd like that comparison. Ghost have been flirting with blasphemy from the very beginning; heck, they even tried to host a concert the same day Pope Francis visited Boston, only shutting it down after they found that the masses of devoted Catholics longing for a glimpse of Frank would so thoroughly clog the city's public transport that Papa's faithful wouldn't make it to his planned anti-Mass. These Nameless Ghouls are showmen (and trolls) through and through. So when Ghost puts out new material, even a short collection of covers, the whole metal world pauses to take a glance.

Ghost may be a larger-than-life musical carnival, but they're still human as well—human enough for a few missteps on the way to their present superstardom. Their last covers EP, If You Have Ghost, was a mixed bag, to say the least. Produced by Dave Grohl (of Dave Grohl fame), it lacked cohesion and often didn't play to the band's strengths, although opener "If You Have Ghosts" was an exceptionally good cover song in every respect and remains a fan favorite. Popestar is a much stronger work overall, but not without a few of the same mistakes and missteps from Ghost's last mostly-covers effort.

"Squared Hammer," Popestar's only original cut, is sugary even by Ghost's standards. With a tight standard song structure and a sing-along chorus, it's a definite step away from the progressive tendencies Ghost displayed on Meliora. It's a not a bad song, but it's solidly B-side or bonus track material. If "Squared Hammer" is, as many suspect, a leftover track from Meliora that didn't make the cut, Papa and the Ghouls make the right call in saving it for what is, let's be honest, a throwaway EP to tide fans over until Ghost's next full-length.

The next three tracks are much stronger. Ghost thrives on the ominous melodies and triple meter of Echo & The Bunnymen's "Nocturnal Me," transforming the original's gothy waltz into a doomy showcase of Papa's sinister charisma. "I Believe" delivers a stripped-down re-imagining of the 2007 minor house music hit, changing the thumping club song into a haunting hymn that's undeniably Ghost. Once again, Papa's vocals take center stage. "Missionary Man" cleaves closest to the style and feel of the original Eurythmics track, down to the country twang and harmonica solo. It's certainly an odd song for Ghost to put a spin on (and put a spin on it they do), but I guess self-proclaimed sex symbol Papa Emeritus III couldn't pass up on the chance to channel actual sex symbol Annie Lennox.

Closer "Bible" is the weakest number of the bunch. Although Ghost's decision to cover the work of fellow Swedes Imperiet isn't at all surprising, their choice to cover the American version of Imperiet's "Bible" is perplexing to say the least. The original Swedish version of the song is lush alternative anthem—a bit heavy on 80s Europeanisms, but a fine song nonetheless. The American version is an utterly forgettable glam rock power ballad, indistinguishable from hundreds of tracks just like it that vied for radio play in the late 80s and early 90s. Even worse, Ghost's interpretation brings nothing to the track aside from modern studio tricks and a fuller sound. Heck, it's barely recognizable as a Ghost song, apart from Papa's slight accent on the verses. It's a disappointing close to an EP that will probably please both casual listeners and fanatical Ghost fans like me, even with its flaws.

Recommended.

Back To Bandcamp: August 6, 2016

Here's your weekly breakdown of the free Bandcamp releases that caught my attention:


Demon's Bell - Demon's Bell EP
(https://demonsbell.bandcamp.com/album/demons-bell-ep-2016)

Heavy metal is a tradition, and for every band that's pushing at the edges of what's accepted, there's another celebrating and reliving metal golden days of the 1980s. Demon's Bell is such a band. Armed with classic riffs, old-fashioned speed, and a vocalist with a King Diamond-esque croon (and wail), Demon's Bell hearken back to the days when songs called "Hell's Eternal Wheels" still made parents recoil in terror, devil horns weren't a sick joke at a Creed concert, and heavy metal was still deeply rooted in rock n roll. Their riffs are crisp and quick, recapturing the head-bobbing quality that nearly every variety of metal has lost since NWOBHM faded away. The songwriting techniques perfectly emulate the glory years of bands like Mercyful Fate and Iron Maiden, delivering that delightful mix of nostalgia and high-quality metal music you can't help enjoying, even if you (like me) were born too late to have lived them.

Recommended.


Grimirg - Night Be My Grave
(https://grimirg.bandcamp.com/album/night-be-my-grave)

Night Be My Grave is slow, elegant, and sorrowful. Making careful use of baleful guitars, atmospheric synths, sparse drums, and the contrast between Aki Klemm's low, throaty growl and M. Vänskä's operatic soprano, Grimirg craft an exceptional work of haunting funeral doom metal. The tight, minimal compositions demonstrate Grimirg's musical mastery and ability to create a forlorn atmosphere without relying on theatricality or gimmickry. These are lengthy, sedate songs, but they hold your attention, like the slow steps of pallbearers carrying an ornate coffin to its final resting place. They're also heavy as a stone crypt and desolate as the dry bones it contains.

Highly Recommended.


Leviathan Cross - Demo
(https://leviathancross.bandcamp.com/album/demo)

"This town will be ours!" bellows Leviathan Cross's James Herrholz on "Delusions." It's an apt summation of the brashness and boldness of this Florida band's debut demo, a record that takes the sludgy hard rock aggression of bands like Mastodon or Baroness and injects it with occult spookiness. Not that esoteric doom or stoner metal is some sort of novelty; Leviathan Cross simply take what bands have been writing about since the dawn of doom and add a healthy helping of stoner rock's crossover appeal and sense of fun. These tracks are anthemic, energetic, and full of groovy chugs and rolls. They're an invitation to headbang. Honestly, for a band with a professed interest in the macabre, they might be too fun.

Recommended.

Back To Bandcamp: July 30, 2016

Moonglade - Gray Evening
(https://moonglade.bandcamp.com/releases)

Remember when, in a moment of unparalleled condescension and paternalism, I promised to criticize Mire of Despondency's Nokturus until she realized her potential as a musician? Well, I'll eat at least a few of my words. Moonglade, the Pennsylvania musician's new solo project, plays to all of Mire of Despondecy's strengths while dispensing with its weaknesses. Well, most of them. As usual, Nokturnus's shrieks sometimes crowd out the rest of the mix, and the instrumentation is still almost entirely digital. But Nokturnus's melancholy melodies and excellent use of synths and keys brings out the best in her songwriting and highlight just how much she's developed as an artist since her debut. Moonglade's embrace of bittersweet depressive melodies and haunting ambiance on Gray Evening bears all the hallmarks of the best kind of new beginning.

Recommended.


Vermin Lord - VERMINLORD DEMO
(https://verminlord.bandcamp.com/album/verminlord-demo)

Imagine a rat in corpse paint squealing his heart out into a microphone that's as big as he is.

That's about what the vocals on Vermin Lord's first demo sounds like, and I have to admit, I kinda love it. Add some spooky, pseudo-medieval black metal melodies, gothic chanting, and a few chunky death metal riffs and you've got a recipe for one of the most exemplary and original black metal demos I've heard in a long, long time—trve and kvlt as piping hot Per Ohlin stew from start to finish. Did I mention this is just one guy? Yeah, it's just one guy. What have you done with your life recently?

Highly Recommended.


Necrourgica - Further From The Grey
(https://necrourgica.bandcamp.com/album/further-from-the-grey)

These two Pennsylvania black metallers are barely twenty, but Further From The Grey has all the grim sophistication of a veteran release, with solid roots in the best of black metal's second wave. There's a few atmospheric touches and post-black influenced melodies on some tracks, but the riffing and blastbeats have all the thrash and rattle of the classics. That's not to say Necrourgica are deaf to fresh ideas. Ecoas's menacing snarl evokes Attila Csihar throughout the record, but he also employs a gothic croon on "Corrode" and "Appalachian Lake" that sounds more like H.I.M's Ville Valo—weirdly, it works. Most importantly. Further From The Grey is full of catchy, dynamic, meaty, and creative black metal songwriting; the kind that's becoming increasingly rare in a scene dominated by atmospheric releases.

Highly Recommended.

The Thurible Presents: Halfway There, 2016 Edition

I've been gone for a while.

I just emerged from several intensive weeks of my master's program, and I've got a week or so of respite before I plunge back in. That makes this the perfect time for a rundown of the best music of this half of 2016; both the free releases I've reviewed and the mainstream stuff I haven't.

8 Best Metal Albums of 2016 (Halfway There Edition)


1. Vektor - Terminal Redux

These aren't in order, by the way, but if they were this progressive sci-fi thrashterpiece would be right at the top, as I imagine it will be still at the end of the year list. Terminal Redux does everything right: the riffs are heavy and complex, the production is crisp and clear, the drumming is fast and relentless, the solos are insane, and David DiSanto's Dani Filth-esque snarl perfectly compliments the band's high-speed aggression. Though not a single song dips under a five-minute runtime (and most go much longer), Vektor pack so much into every track that you're never left waiting for them to end. If you want to hear the best single piece of guitar music of this year, here it is. Hold on to your spacesuits.


2. ColdWorld - Autumn

ColdWorld's Autumn captures the transcendence of sorrow—the way death brings us closer not only to mortality but also to eternity. The superficial simplicity of ColdWorld's songwriting conceals a mastery of atmosphere and melody and an emotional weight that most depressive black metal albums can only aspire to. The artful and subtle use of clean vocals, acoustic instruments, and ambient synths only underscores Georg Börner's incredible skill as a musician, but the soaring, bittersweet melodies at the heart of every track on Autumn are what really make the album so exceptional.


3. Cobalt - Slow Forever

"Nothing sounds like this" is high praise from me. It's even higher praise when I'm talking about a black metal album. Drawing melodic inspiration from Southern rock, Cobalt crafted a black metal record that drips like molasses and rolls like the Mississippi. It's also as angry as drunk ex-marine and hits like a shotgun. Basically, it's the most American black metal album since Roads to the North and I love it.


4. Blood Ceremony - Lord of Misrule

Call it retro metal, occult rock, or scooby-doom: Blood Ceremony are some of the best in metal's newest niche. Lord of Misrule tones down the heaviness a notch or two, but all the other elements that make a great Blood Ceremony album are still around, including the organ and flute work, folk influences, chunky riffs, earworm hooks, and occult-inspired lyrics. Alia O'Brien vocals are, as usual, the standout attraction in this spooky sideshow.


5. Spellcaster - Night Hides The World

Big hooks, big riffs—Night Hides The World isn't short on the things that made classic metal fun and fantastical. Not that Spellcaster are some sort of nostalgia act—there's plenty of modern polish on Night Hides The World and Tyler Loney's clean, full vocals owe more to modern hard rock than to the raspy metal grandmasters of old. Rather, Spellcaster put a fresh spin on classic metal elements, bringing pop sensibilities and 21st century production to the catchy riffs and soaring hooks of speed metal. Good luck getting these songs out of your head.


6. Lycus - Chasms

Lycus are masters of cavernous, menacing funeral doom. Chasms, like 2013's Tempest, is the Oakland band doing what they do best. The songs are long, atmospheric, and strike the perfect balance between beautiful and terrible (as in Ivan the Terrible, not "The Room is a terrible film"). It's an album that demands patience, but full immersion in this slow doom metal procession will take you to mysterious and unexpected places.


7. Castle - Welcome to the Graveyard

Castle aren't the most original band on this list. They borrow the best bits from classic bands like Black Sabbath and Mercyful Fate, but Castle have a knack for making songs that are simultaneously incredibly familiar and completely new. Welcome to the Graveyard probably won't make the top of any end-year lists, but I bet it will get a fair few more spins than plenty of highly-acclaimed albums will.


8. Eight Bells - Landless

Probably the ultimate band to watch from this year. Near-impossible to categorize—Landless incorporates elements of doom, black metal, prog, and the same layered, ethereal vocals used to great effect by Myrkur—Eight Bells push a lot of boundaries. But like Dead to a Dying World, the eclecticism of Eight Bells' style belies the band's unity of  tone and atmosphere. The bleak seascape on Landless cover isn't just stylistic—it perfectly conveys the isolated melancholy that inhabits every song on this fascinating album.

8 Best "Back To Bandcamp" Releases of 2016 (Halfway There Edition)

These are in order, and you'll notice (who am I kidding, no you won't) that some albums I gave a "highly recommended" to aren't on this list, whereas some that were just "recommended" are. Hindsight is a funny thing. Some albums stick with you more than others.


1. Heretic Rites - In Satan's Claws
(https://hereticrites.bandcamp.com/album/in-satans-claws)

These guys are going to be huge if there is any justice in the world. With such a unique sound already nailed down by their second demo, Heretic Rites have everything going for them. The hour of occult garage rock is nearly at hand. Let the unbelievers tremble.


2. Ghost Witch - Demo
(https://ghostwitchdoom.bandcamp.com/album/demo)

The Thurible ran one of the first (if not the first) reviews of Ghost Witch's debut demo. In that review, I compared them to Windhand—a fair and common enough comparison, but one that doesn't really get to the heart of what makes Ghost Witch so exceptional. Sure, their brand of doom is slow and melodic, but there's also an ethereal, mysterious quality... no, I can't place it. Whatever it is, Ghost Witch have something special, and they're sure to have one hell of a proper debut.


3. Black Mantra - From The Grave of Madness
(https://black-mantra.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-graves-of-madness-ep)

This Brazillian band's blend of doomy heaviness, stoner psychedelia, and gothic theatrics still gets me. It's a really distinct sound done pretty damn well, which is really all I ask of a band. That Black Mantra chose to blend several different elements I already fancied just sweetens the deal. This is one of the rare albums that I went back to discover that, yes, it was just as good as I remembered. Maybe even a little better.


4. Blackend Horizon - Monotonous Solitude Within Cold Forests
(https://blackendhorizon.bandcamp.com/album/monotonous-solitude-within-cold-forests)

Monotonous Solitude Within Cold Forests makes 8-bit black metal seem incredibly obvious. "How," it demands, "has no one thought of this before?" I don't know. We came up with harmonica black metal first, so we're clearly doing something wrong.


5. Necrolytic Goat Converter - Demo MMXVI
(https://necrogoatconverter.bandcamp.com/releases)

Behind Necrolytic Goat Converter, the Childish Gambino of black metal band names, is Chris Voss, a man that somehow took up recording black metal as personal therapy and ended up writing some of the best black metal tunes of 2016. Combining his love of classic black metal riffs with his more than decent songwriting chops, Voss whipped up some of the best, most straightforward bedroom black metal I've ever heard. And if we're lucky, Chris Voss may find that he's an even better songwriter when he's not conjuring up frosty riffs for therapy.


6. Louisiana Sadness - Swale

Also known as Swamp People: The Doom Metal Album, Swale feels murky, mucky and hazy—exactly the way a band called Louisiana Sadness ought to feel. Part Southern gothic, part bayou sludge, this instrumental record may not be perfect, but when it hits that atmosphere just right on tracks like "Southern Hatred," all is forgiven.


7. Pyre of Ash - Scattered Toward The Glens

This single impressed me with its incredible polish, emotional intensity, and Panopticon-esque atmospheric black metal sound. Pyre of Ash has since released a full EP, which I missed (fancy that). If it's anything like this stellar single, it just might make the overall end-year list.


8. Behold Darkness - Unholy Filth
(https://psalm88.bandcamp.com/album/unholy-filth)

There's nothing particularly original about Unholy Filth as a black metal record, except the production. The mix's emphasis on lower tones gives the album an extremely unique feel, transforming what would be a pretty good, slavishly traditional project into a fascinating lofi listen. It helps that I'm a sucker for anything that this devoted to the Norwegian black metal masters. 

Back to Bandcamp: May 1, 2016

Louisiana Sadness - Swale
(https://louisianasadness.bandcamp.com/album/swale)

Louisiana Sadness (guess where they're from) play some of the fuzziest, murkiest doom around. It's droning, repetitive, and dark; the kind of music that requires full headphone immersion to even hear properly. Basically, it's Electric Wizard sinking slowing into the Louisiana bayou. "Southern Hatred" plods along like the soundtrack to an airboat zombie hunt, drowning the listener in waves of muddy riffs. Opener "Answer," on the other hand, feels stiff and mechanical, and the lack of vocals throughout the record emphasizes the music's repetitive quality—sometimes to the individual songs' detriment. But the interesting production and unique Louisiana feel make up for Swale's repetitive song structures (most of the time), and the riffs are thicker and heavier than swamp muck.

Recommended.


BRÆKKE - Indulgence
(https://braekke.bandcamp.com/album/indulgence)

If experimental or progressive metal has a fault, it's that it rarely feels like a sledgehammer to the face the way good death metal or thrash does. It's more likely to make you look bemused than bang your head, and that's fine, but it's always a pleasure to listen to a band that makes you do both.

Minnesota's BRÆKKE certainly induce both bemusement and whiplash: their hardcore roots come through as chugs and screams on aggressive tracks like "Iscariot" and "Indulgence," but never without progressive melodies and unexpected song structures. The album's extensive line-up of vocalists and guest musicians shines throughout: "The Dead Don't Speak" lumbers along forlornly like one of Giant Squid's doomier numbers, complete with female vocals and appropriately harrowing lyrics, while "Skin On Skin" ventures boldly into indie rock territory before morphing into a symphonic post-rock anthem. If Indulgence has a weakness, it's a lack of focus, but the band explores so many interesting sounds and ideas it's hard to fault them for it.

Highly Recommended.


Sunspell - Memento Mori
(https://sunspell.bandcamp.com/album/memento-mori)

Despite the Sunspell's anything-but-average origins (the project is one of Greenland's four active metal bands, according to the Metal Archives), its brand of atmospheric, post-Leviathan black metal doesn't score high on originality. Memento Mori hits all the usual notes for bedroom black metal: fuzzy guitar riffs, throaty and distorted screams, minimalist production, etc. It does work well occasionally. "Pale Angels" adds an ethereal pad and occasional breaks from the wall of guitar fuzz, and "Upon The Altar of Sacrifice" includes clean vocals and chanting—a welcome change from the otherwise forgettable screams. But in all other regards this project is painfully average.

Not Recommended.

The Thurible's How To Metal, Part 3: The Weird Side

So, experimental metal.

As with most other schools of avant-garde music, the only thing that unites the experimental strand of heavy metal music is a delight in playing by another set of rules. That means unexpected instruments, weird time signatures, unorthodox subject matter, and non-intuitive genre cross-pollination. However, perhaps because most avant-garde metal musicians listen to and enjoy non-metal artists and styles, a good portion of experimental metal is pretty accessible stuff to new metal listeners.

Well, as accessible as experimental music ever is.


Giant Squid are the perfect experimental metal band to start with: full of surprises and easy on the ears. Besides working with plenty of non-standard metal instrumentation (cellos, vibraphones, synthesizers), Giant Squid unite proggy, vocal-centric songwriting with a touch of the pagan or kemetic (that means Egyptian, kids) and an unshakable sense of melancholy. Their fascination with all things aquatic takes a new form with every album, from the oceanoarcheology of Minoans to The Ichthyologist's strange tale of isolation and adaptation. Giant Squid certainly aren't the weirdest band on this list, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a band with quite the same sound or feel, or concept albums with such nontraditional subject matter.


Another stalwart of the San Francisco metal scene, Botanist's gimmick is simple enough: experimental, shoegaze/post-rock influenced black metal... played on a hammered dulcimer. Unlike most black metal (even of the experimental variety), Botanist's music is uplifting and dreamlike, driven by ethereal melodies and soaring atmospheres. There's an environmentalism/botany theme or narrative to the whole thing that nobody really gets as well, if you're into bands with esoteric meta-narratives. If not, you're free to close your eyes and enjoy some of the most unique post-black metal for what it is: great music and dynamic, unpredictable songwriting.


Want an experimental band that delivers exactly what it says on the tin? Try Diablo Swing Orchestra; it's absolutely as fun and silly as it sounds. Groovy metal riffs, jazz horns, and folksy melodies make up just a part of this Swedish band's eclectic sound, and the Orchestra put a new spin on themselves with every new track. Annlouice Loegdlund's weird and playful vocal performance evokes everyone from Tarja Turunen to Die Antwoord's Yolandi Visser—sometimes on the same song. If you're looking for experimental metal that's somehow both unpredictable and downright danceable, you can't go wrong with Diablo Swing Orchestra.


I've heard Menace Ruine described as the only band that lives up to the "ritual" descriptor that gets through around in the drone/black/doom metal scene. Considering the band sounds like a hippie cult returning to civilization after decades in exile, it's a fair claim. Maybe Menace Ruine is post-apocalyptic folk played on organs, synths, and drum machines. Maybe they're doom/drone metal with all the heavy riffs stripped out. Either way, they're a one-of-a-kind band and the perfect gateway drug to the netherworld of drone-influenced experimental metal.


If you've heard of any band on this list, it's Faith No More: they found mainstream success in the late 80s and 90s with songs like "Easy" and "Epic" and influenced everyone from Nirvana to Slipknot. They're also the sort of band that gets plenty of radio play without ushering listeners beyond the mainstream rock hits to the real essentials of their discography. The reason is simple enough: Faith No More didn't (and still don't) play by the strict rules of later rap-metal acts like Rage Against the Machine or Limp Bizkit. This means you probably won't find a Faith No More album you like all the way through. But a quick listen to a few of band's lesser known hits just might usher you into the weird world of metal's avant-garde frontlines, where bands like Primus, Fantomas, and Mr. Bungle blur the line between the listenable and the fascinatingly odd. Be careful, though. Stare into this void of musical weirdness long enough and you'll find it staring back at you. In clown makeup.


If you're ready (for some reason) to encounter avant-garde metal's eclectic pantheon, here's some albums to get you started: Primus' Sailing the Seas of Cheese, Faith No More's The Real Thing, Sunn O)))'s Black One, Mr. Bungle's self-titled album, Blut Aus Nord's 777 Trilogy, Neurosis' Times of Grace, maudlin of the Well's Bath, Earth's Earth 2, Arcturus' The Sham Mirrors, and Ephel Duath's The Painter's Palette.


If you want to see what's new in metal's experimental side (you poor, brave soul), here's a list to get to you started: Sunn O)))'s Kannon, Liturgy's The Ark Work, Sigh's Graveward, Blut Aus Nord's Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry, Thy Catafalque's Sgùrr, Kayo Dot's Hubardo, Elagabalus's Damnatio Memoriae, Intronaut's The Direction of Last Things, and Aluk Todolo's Voix.

Neither of these lists are even remotely comprehensive, of course. I've tried to include a representative sampling of a variety of experimental metal styles, but feel free to suggest further listening material for metal newcomers as a comment if you're a more experienced metal fan.