Your way in
Avant-garde metal 1993
Metal that imports anything - jazz, cabaret, electronics - and refuses to settle into a shape.
- Heaviness
- 7
- Speed
- 7
- Melody
- 5
- Where from
- Norway / USA
- Tempo
- 60-200 bpm
- Song length
- 4-10 min
- Written about
- Absurdity, Mysticism, Identity and dissolution, Whatever the record decides it is about
- Vocals
- Sung and screamed
Why this one
| You said | Avant-garde metal | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Both, trading off When someone is singing, what should come out? | mixed | 100% | ×3 |
| Quick and driving What pace? | 7 out of 10 | 100% | ×2 |
| The seventies and eighties Does it matter when it was made? | 1993 | 84% | ×1 |
| The inside of a head What should the words be about? | Absurdity, Mysticism, Identity and dissolution, Whatever the record decides it is about | 50% | ×1 |
| Long. Let it go somewhere. How long should a song be? | up to 10 min | 67% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 88% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 5 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, pace 2, era 1, about 1, length 1 out of 8. Avant-garde metal leads the next by 2 points. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1Start one step outside
Opeth, Blackwater Park 2001
Opeth - Blackwater Park. Growls and acoustic guitar in one song, and nothing forced about it.
- 2The one to put on first
Arcturus, La Masquerade Infernale 1997
Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale. Black metal, cabaret and opera on one album.
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5Then
The first is the entry point for Progressive metal, one step outside, so the second record has something to be heard against. After it come Avant-garde metal's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Emo 86%
Hardcore in which the lyrics turn confessional and the voice cracks. The term started as an insult and became an entire decade of fashion.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 8 steps from Avant-garde metal.
The way into Emo -
Atmospheric black metal 84%
Long songs, hypnotic repetition and synth textures. The landscape matters more than the riff.
4 steps from Avant-garde metal, meeting it only at Heavy metal.
The way into Atmospheric black metal
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- Both, trading off put 72 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Alternative rock, Blues rock, Doom metal. Worth 3 of 8.
- The seventies and eighties put 4 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Kawaii metal, New nu metal, Progressive metalcore. Worth 1 of 8.
- The inside of a head put 88 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Black metal. Worth 1 of 8.
- Long. Let it go somewhere. put 40 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Rock and roll. Worth 1 of 8.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.