Mr. Bungle? Meshuggah? Avant-Garde Metal!
 

I know there are plenty of people here that enjoy the stranger side of metal, myself one of them. I'm relatively new to the genre, but I know others here have an extensive knowledge of the subject. I figured one thread would be enough to justify the following we have here, and I urge people that know about it to throw out their favorites.

To me, avant-garde metal encompasses everything I love about metal: its staccato rhythm, instrumental depth and sheer nature of unpredictability. While it's sometimes overlooked for traditional genres which have more of a cult following, there aren't any snobs or stupid genre arguments to go with avant-garde metal. I don't mind getting berated every so often for its sheer absurdity when there's so many great compositions to throw around.

I'd throw out a review for one of my favorite records (Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion) but I'm dead tired now.

Mr. Bungle, YES! Love the Bungle.

I will try and chip in with whatever I know, but be advised though, that even the wildest, most adventurous person might end up hating some of these as metal can be such a polarizing genre :p:. Lets see how this goes anyways.

Mr.Bungle <3

I much prefer Into The Pandemonium as per Avant Garde tendencies and that album has never really got the kudos it deserves, it's an imaganitive album.

I may chime in with a couple of reviews myself sometime.

If you liked Therion and Meshuggah then you'll love Arcturus. I can shoot you the album in an hour or two if you like.

Are Meshuggah classed as avant garde? anyhow I don't like them much :(

Well they call themselves experimental metal and I'm not one to bandy about genre definitions. It's alright, personally I really don't like Mr. Bungle that much but I figured those were the two biggest names to get people's attention. I think it's just better to have an umbrella thread to store all these bands; I must have started three threads on separate bands already and I can't see people lingering in those much.

I have heard of Arcturus but I thought they were one of those Mayhem offshoots (who I find repulsive) so I didn't look into them before. I'll give 'em a shot.

Alright, give me like an hour or two to get "The Sham Mirrors" up on mediafire, I'll send you a PM.

Aready got it, but thanks. :)

Alright cool, I'm still gonna upload it so if anyone else is interested, just send me a PM.

Mr. Bungle was the first band that got me into experimental music in general. One of my favorite bands.

i guess i'll be the first to say something about bungle besides OMG! BUNGLE!!!

mr. bungle is great and all but i really don't get how so many people classify them as any kind of metal. i suppose if you only listened to their demos and first album and skipped most of the 2nd you could but by the time the band was done they were very much their own style. the band proved this without any shadow of a doubt on 'california'.

i find that the bulk of bands who name drop bungle generally 'try' rehashing the apparent chaos of 'disco volante' without ever seeming to be capable of writing a complete song in just one style. that's what really set bungle apart for me, they were capable of pulling from all sorts of styles at the drop of a hat, AND they were also able to stick to one style for the duration of a whole song. a track like 'sweet charity' doesn't need a big metal breakdown in the middle for example.

i've yet to hear a bungle baby take that step, all i hear is a bunch of bits and pieces of stuff thrown together without any evidence there was anything else to the selections. conversely, most of the time those musical mosaics come across as glued together, there's no underlying sensation of the chaos just happening. it's calculated and at that point, no longer chaotic. i get the impression that more often than not the multitude of styles in most of the followers becomes more of a musical masturbatory measuring stick than anything necessary to propagate the musical piece.

Arcturus is cool - check out La Masquerade Infernale.

I wrote a review/commentary for it here, but it's kinda crap as it was one of my first.

I may well be able to contribute to this thread to some extent but that would involve finding out whats classed as Avant-Garde metal first :D

I get so lost in genres and especially crossovers.

fantomas anyone?

Ah, yes the other side oh Mr. Patton's multi- faceted genius. Tomahawk is awesome too.
I think for me the Voivod would be the godfathers of avante guard/experimental metal. Their cover of Floyd's Astronomy Dominae is amazing.

I only have Nothingface by Voivod but I've never liked it. Is it worth bothering with the rest?

If you can't get on with nothing face then I would doubt if you could get into anything else. I love Voivod personally and have done for years.

A few of my mates with similar music tastes love Voivod too. I've just never been able to get away with Nothingface. I may check out some of their earlier output sometime anyway as I know Nothingface was their fifth record and rarely do I not start from the beginning of bands discographies. I keep trying it again every now and then hoping its just a grower but so far no such joy.

Dimension Hatross is your next best bet then. Their first album is not great at all!

Cool cheers! I may get round to that at some point.

Anyone here listen to Today Is The Day? I'd say they definitely fit in the Avant-Garde Metal category. For me they're one of those bands that I like more in theory than in execution. I have Sadness Will Prevail by them and I have to admit I rarely listen to it. I always think I'll enjoy it so I throw it on and then remember that I don't like the guy's voice and the production kind of bothers me. If anyone on here is a fan of them and thinks there's another album by them that I should give a listen I'd be more than happy to check it out though.

Also don't forget Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Abruptum.

While I won't pretend I'm a huge fan of theirs I have Killing Technology and I enjoy it immensely. Even if the vocals are a little off putting at first the rhythm section is challenging enough to keep the music intriguing.

The vocals have a lot to do with my inability to get into them. I havent heard that record though.

A well-written and thoughtful post. I confess I don't have much patience for Mr. Bungle because by the time that I listened to Disco Volante I already had the misfortune of running across California, which I absolutely hate through and through; it forcibly reminded me of the latter years of FNM and everything that they turned into.

There ARE others like Mr. Bungle though. A clone through most of their work Dog Fashion Disco always caught the inevitable comparison to Mr. Bungle. It was only until their last album Adultery that they really put their songwriting shoes on, but I will swear by it until the day they cart me off to the nursing home that it is an awesome fucking record. Of course Todd Smith went off and started some new shit two man project but I will always have this to comfort me when things feel a little too normal.

Here's a review I wrote a little while ago...

http://www.musicbanter.com/album-rev...-adultery.html

Damn man, California is my favorite Bungle album. I first got into Mr. Bungle with their self-titled album. I loved that one but honestly I was a little let down by Disco Volante. Don't get me wrong, I liked the fact that Disco Volante was weirder and more experimental than its predecessor but some of it has always felt a little too much like them just farting around. After that I fully expected their next album to be even stranger but lo and behold they surprised the hell out of me with California which is basically their take on a pop album. I think I was little taken aback the first time I heard it but it quickly became my favorite.

Dog Fashion Disco, and Shaolin Death Squad are my two favourite Patton-worshipping bands, with SDS taking the lead due to their vastly superior song-writing skills.

But the expiremental/avant-garde scene certainly is something I have gotten into.

Melt Banana, the Boredoms, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Behold...the Arctopus, Sir Davinda ****alot and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum are the ones with which I am most familiar.

Other projects, like Boris, Merzbow, Sunn0))) and so on have been floating around the edges of my awareness for the last little while.

we're going to have to agree to disagree but where you present valid reasons for your opinions i don't think it's going to be an issue. then again i'm torn between 'angel dust' and 'album of the year' when it comes to FNM.

like janzoon i prefer 'California' over everything else released by bungle. i don't see it as so much of a pop album but their chaos was applied to a different level. with DV the chaos is applied to each song, you never know where they're going or how long they're going for.

on the other hand California's tracks are more refined and cohesive but you never know what the next one is going to be like. when you look at the album as a whole the collection of its songs shows the chaos of the band at work.

i don't mind clones and worshippers but ultimately they sound weak to my ears since they're forever trying to sound like someone else and never actually doing their own thing.

Might I recommend checking out Shaolin Death Squad then, for while their Patton love is evident (especially in the vocals) they are most certainly doing their own thing.

I can understand people having trouble with Mr Bungle, like most of the 'genre' it is an aquired taste for the most part, one that tends to attract the truly eclectic fanbase.

Maudlin Of The Well definitely need a mention in here. I think they are truly experimental in regards to the progression in the music. What they play is not neccessarily outlandish and it is easy on the ear. However the arrangements and juxtaposition of genres are fully realised and are not 'cobbled' together for the sake of being different.

Trey Spruance! :yeah:

Oh, and I would probably put a lot of Les Claypool's side projects and solo work into this category as well...

I would hardly call Sausage Avant garde to be honest.

Okay, well not all of it. You don't have to be a smart ass though, because you know what I meant...

Which of his projects would you consider avant-metal though? Not Oysterhead, not The Les Claypool Frog Brigade...

I guess I would put both in that group, but maybe I'm not familiar enough with this genre. I only have a lot of experience with Bungle, and I hear many similarities. His last two solo projects are certainly experimental in my eyes...

Honestly there's not much Bungle I'd consider avant-metal either.

Oysterhead is definitely not metal, but it does have a dark quality to it and its pretty avant guard so I would say it fits in, oddly, with everything else. Its a worthy suggestion.

I just listened to Mr.Bungle's 'California' yesterday. I haven't listened to it for a while now. Brought back some good memories.