The term “Avant-Garde” seems to elicit very different reactions when heard by different Metalheads. Upon hearing the phrase associated with a new band, some will begin to salivate, embracing the forward-thinking attitude of that band and praising their musical innovation. Others will often dismiss Avant-Garde bands, writing the music off as noise or pointless noodling and experimentation. There is a polarization - Metalheads seem to either love or hate the Avant-Garde side of their own genre.

ARCTURUS, DIVINA ENIMA, FANTÔMAS, MAUDLIN OF THE WELL and THE MELVINS all stand as great examples of Avant-Garde Metal music and all of these bands are very much distinct from one another. For example, compare ARCTURUS to FANTÔMAS. The former is at times melodic, at times operatic and firmly rooted in Black Metal with lots of experimentations in electronics, while the latter is rooted in extra-musical concepts, strange vocal delivery and off-time start/stop riffs and rhythms. Really, the two bands share next to nothing in common except for the traditional Metal instrumentation and the forward-thinking attitude toward composition. If they are so dissimilar, why is it then that so many would write both off due to the two bands’ connection to the Avant-Garde?

When looking at different Avant-Garde bands, similarities may be few and far between while drastic differences abound. If a Metalhead hears one band labeled as Avant-Garde and bases all of his or her judgments of other Avant-Garde bands off of the reaction to that band, that Metalhead is doing him/herself a great injustice. You may hate the first dozen Avant-Garde bands you hear, but that thirteenth one might just be right up your alley and you wouldn’t want to miss out. In this sense, Avant-Garde Metal cannot be treated like other genres, such as Black, Death, Doom, Thrash, etc. Those genres are rooted in similar aesthetics and ideologies, leading to strong commonalities amongst bands united under one genre. With the Avant-Garde, on the other hand, there really is no common aesthetic or ideology. The bands have to be taken on a one-by-one basis, evaluated individually rather than on genre aesthetics.

So, if you’ve written off Avant-Garde Metal in the past, give it another shot. Even if you checked out a band and thought it was terrible, maybe try that band’s other albums – often times Avant-Garde bands record drastically different albums. Compare “Gluey Porch Treatments” and “The Bootlicker” by the MELVINS, for example – the first is rough, punk-influenced dirgy Sludge Metal while the second is slick, bass-centered psychedelica. There are a thousand gems out there, hiding in that huge pile of Avant-Garde music and they’re just waiting to be found.