LuminousAether
My name is Distance
I prefer Obscura to From Wisdom to Hate but both are excellent.
And how interesting something is is entirely subjective.
And how interesting something is is entirely subjective.
Avan-Garde Metal?
- Thread starter Cul-Kothoth
- Start date
Wires & Waves
New Metal Member
- Feb 4, 2006
- 2,258
- 27
- 0
thing is while that actually IS avant-garde nobody describes it as such, reserving the term for dross like arcturus @_@
LuminousAether
My name is Distance
Satanstoenail
My Larpstyle determines my Derpstyle
unknown
fuck ftagn
avant garde metal can either be really good or really shitty (such as the case with Unexpect). RIO bands tend to be better at "avant garde" nonsense than metal bands
zabu of nΩd
Free Insultation
- Feb 9, 2007
- 14,620
- 805
- 113
Damn, I was just trying to figure out this question for myself last night. Glad to see other people are confused over this term. 
I do find the term to be useful to describe bands who define themselves largely through experimentation. Of course, once a certain 'experimented-with' style catches on, and becomes emulated by a whole movement of musicians, it ceases to be avant-garde. You could easily have called Black Sabbath avant-garde in 1970, Motorhead avant-garde in '79, Bathory avant-garde in the '80s and early '90s, and so forth, but these bands developed a following which took on its own name.
So, it seems that the term 'avant-garde' is best suited for bands who are either on the cutting edge stylistically, or whose unique style simply hasn't caught on very broadly.
Another thing I've noticed is that the term 'art rock', which is sometimes used to classify bands like King Crimson, Camel, and Queen, is virtually identical in meaning to 'avant-garde metal', just without the 'metal' modifier. Why two separate terms exist between metal and non-metal is beyond me.
What really gets me, though, is this: what makes avant-garde metal different from progressive metal? In the sense of being 'cutting edge' and 'experimental', the terms seem identical. But you hardly ever hear a metal band described as both. Opeth, for example, are progressive, but not avant-garde metal; Arcturus are avant-garde, but not progressive...
I guess such is the drawback of coming up with terms to describe the odd-ones-out. When you start labeling things based on what they don't sound like, your label becomes a difficult one to grasp conceptually.
I do find the term to be useful to describe bands who define themselves largely through experimentation. Of course, once a certain 'experimented-with' style catches on, and becomes emulated by a whole movement of musicians, it ceases to be avant-garde. You could easily have called Black Sabbath avant-garde in 1970, Motorhead avant-garde in '79, Bathory avant-garde in the '80s and early '90s, and so forth, but these bands developed a following which took on its own name.
So, it seems that the term 'avant-garde' is best suited for bands who are either on the cutting edge stylistically, or whose unique style simply hasn't caught on very broadly.
Another thing I've noticed is that the term 'art rock', which is sometimes used to classify bands like King Crimson, Camel, and Queen, is virtually identical in meaning to 'avant-garde metal', just without the 'metal' modifier. Why two separate terms exist between metal and non-metal is beyond me.
What really gets me, though, is this: what makes avant-garde metal different from progressive metal? In the sense of being 'cutting edge' and 'experimental', the terms seem identical. But you hardly ever hear a metal band described as both. Opeth, for example, are progressive, but not avant-garde metal; Arcturus are avant-garde, but not progressive...
I guess such is the drawback of coming up with terms to describe the odd-ones-out. When you start labeling things based on what they don't sound like, your label becomes a difficult one to grasp conceptually.
V.V.V.V.V.
Houses Ov Mercury
Progressive metal is a clear-cut style of metal; it is characterized by Dream Theater/prog rock-like sound (usually) and contains clean vocals, epic song structures with meandering (not insulting here) instrumental sections, lots of tempo/time changes, etc. In a sense, prog metal is not truly progressive...the irony!
Satanstoenail
My Larpstyle determines my Derpstyle
Indeed. I always think of avant-garde as being the weirder, more out there music like Bungle, Naked City, Fantomas etc. I'd love to hear of more metal bands that fit into this niche.
LuminousAether
My name is Distance
Well, I generally define progressive metal by my views on what progressive music is. So if someone were to look through my ipod and scroll through the bands categorized as progressive metal on there, they'd probably argue about every one except for maybe Orphaned Land. Or Green Carnation. I hope at least.
LuminousAether
My name is Distance
zabu of nΩd
Free Insultation
- Feb 9, 2007
- 14,620
- 805
- 113
Yeah, I can't really argue with that. While there may be some overlap between prog and avant-garde, prog has distinctively technical connotations. Avant-garde is a much more open-ended kind of experimentationalism.
Hubster
...
unknown
fuck ftagn
genocide roach
DOOOOOOOOOOM
- Aug 18, 2002
- 9,421
- 16
- 38
while hammers kicks ass. i wouldnt call them avant garde. they dont really expand past normal song structures like a traditional avant garde song would. theyre just unique and awesome.
~gR~
DarkBliss
...And okra for all
Fixed. Aspera has the lifespan of a mosquito that died on its first day from ingesting infected blood. /opinion
Arcturus aren't really avant-garde anyway, more like prog metal with traces of BM.
I heard Arcturus 'the sham mirrors' and do not really get the hype, the first song was really good and then a 1,2 other songs were cool but that's it, garm sounds great and musically the album is not all the impressive. I never really though wow this album is just beyond everything. For something labelled Avant-Garde I expected a lot more.
DarkBliss
...And okra for all
well, yea it's not. The Sham Mirrors is spacey prog metal with one BM-ish track-The Radical Cut and La Masquerade Infernale is more prog weirdness, but Devil Doll-inspired. I still love both albums, mainly because I've been familiar with them for so long and they never got old for me.
Life Sucks
and then you die
Windham hell is the only avant garde metal band I like. For some reason the weirdness of most avant garde metal is off-putting to me.
What do you think of Sideshow Symphonies ?. I found this to be somewhat more interesting than the sham mirrors.
DarkBliss
...And okra for all
Nah, it's their worst,imo. Though, quite frankly I haven't listened to it a lot, but it bored from the very start. I'd say the main reason to to this is that in 2003 I lost interest in this genre altogether and went to explore darker meadows(hehe), got hooked on exteme metal's classics and never looked back. I seriously doubt I would've liked The Sham Mirros and La Masquerade Infernale had I discovered these albums just now(especially LMI, considering how inaccessible and downright bizarre it is).
Similar threads
