I'm looking for bands you can't place in a genre. I can't really give examples but you mustn't be able to say they "they play x metal"

Perhaps it's easier to describe what i'm NOT looking for:
-bands which are a mish-mash of genres
-novelty bands which play a definable style but with weird instruments or ultra long/short songs
-bands which are weird for the sake of weird

Thank you!

only band that comes to mind is amon amarth since it is confusing to decide whether they are viking or melodic death

I suppose "Die Apokalyptischen Reiter" is not what you are looking for. They are in the first group.
Amon Amarth is more melodeath than viking. Viking Death Metal

Painkiller. Jazz-grind kind of.

Agalloch perhaps?

Gigantic Brain. Can't say I'm a big fan of theirs, but I don't think you can actually put them in any concrete genre.

Maybe The Green Evening Requiem? Listed on this site as Doom/Black, but they're more like blackened and dark progressive metal. It is a confusing mix of things.

Lykathea Aflame comes to mind; they are rooted in death metal, but after that things get weird.... you have grindcore-style drumming, the guitars go from melodic to brutal like nothing, all in an incrediably technical and progressive was, the vocals are either spoken word or insanely deep brutal death growls and there are all these little atmospheric parts added in by synths - oh, and of course they also have an 11 minute ambient outro with birds and nature sounds.

It's not so much that they are a mix of genres (though there is that) so much as just utterly intense and so freaking complex that it just boggles the mind and one would have a retarded time trying to define what they are in any sort of meaningful way.

Great band though. HIGHLY recommended.

I know an underground band called FemalePenis that is blend of lots of shit on first couple albums from rap to pornogrind.

Meshuggah,

Sólstafir's Masterpiece of Bitterness, in particular, transcends all genre classifcations. I highly recommend checking it out.

I've been told that Portal are quite odd, but I'm guilty of not having listened to them myself yet

Neurosis. They fit everywhere and nowhere. Also Gnaw Their Tongues. I guess you can call them black ambient but not exactly...

Tombs has to be the most genre defying band I've ever heard. They take influence from shoegaze, post-rock, black metal, hardcore punk, and everything in between.

http://www.myspace.com/tombsbklyn

Meshuggah, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Macabre (unless you wanna say Murder Metal), Wintersun (somewhat), and Faith No More are some examples...

Tombs is great, I own Winterhours and it's a damn good album, very hard to tag as well, but very short. Feels very natural, they are not trying to be something they are not.

are you for real?

Root and Diablo Swing Orchestra are two safe bets. Beyond Twilight are another band who defy pigeonholing but my personal favourite has to be the Japanese "maestro" You Oshima of Kadenzza.

My response would be Voivod and Gorguts... both started as metal and became much stranger...

Although many do not consider them 'metal', I'd say Melt Banana
Simply because they are loud as fuck (especially their old material and live) ...and because fundamentalists do not think of them of 'metal'... reason enough I'd say

And there was Thanatos, since their second album they've never been able to choose between Thrash and Death... (and many morw with'em..)

Cynic and Mr Bungle are both very strange and are hard to classify as a genre. In fact, I can't think of anything that can describe their music. Pan.Thy.Monium too, they are mind blowing. Although deeply rooted in Progressive Death Metal they are very strange.

Lugubrum might be worth a shot. It is straight up Black Metal, but fuck they have so much weird stuff going on that all flows right. I think they fall into the final category though.

A lot of people here are forgetting that the OP did not want a band that simply mish-mashed genres.

Expedience, if you haven't heard of them already, you really need to look into Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. They are not considered to be metal by the archives, but in my opinion, they have a very metallic base for their insanely original sound. Somehow, this band has managed to create a completely unique sound that no one else has even come close to. I really can't describe them, which is all the more reason for you to check them out. Creepy shit.

Ulver's album Blood Inside is completely indescribable. I have had it for over a year, and I still cant completely wrap my mind around it. Although, this is one of Ulver's non-metal albums, so Im not sure if its want you want. But it is really good stuff; one of my favorite albums.

Also, I would like to mention Kayo Dot. Im a bit reluctant to mention them because of the "mish-mash of genres thing": I suppose it would be possible to describe them as a collision of sludge, post-rock, indie rock (maybe?), and classical with some occasional jazzy elements. But even that long-winded description is unable to really capture their sound. So you may want to chekc them out as well.

I agree with Gnaw Their Tongues. I guess they are a mish mash but the finished product doesn't sound much to me like any of the indivudual influencing genres.

I konw this isn't what the OP was looking for but Altar Of Plagues are another suggestion. They ususally get called "Post-Black Metal" but that genre is a bit redundant because all the bands who get called that don't really sound much alike.

Are you insinuating that you believe Melt Banana to be metal? If so, you're clearly insane. Melt Banana, while amazingly awesome, do not even attempt to make their music even remotely metal.



They are, but not "genreless" odd.

Nope, there are NOT metal but as I said they crush about 50% of all standard metal around in terms of uniqueness and loudness, especially live.

And yes, I am insane. else I would not listen to Melt Banana.

Oh yeah.
There are a shitload of bands that come close to metal and beat the ass of many metal bands in heaviness, complexity etc.
Just check out Caspar Brotzmann, Last Exit and Fushitsusha.
Other artists that might be interesting are Glenn Branca, DNA, Borbetomagus, and the more rock-oriented projects of Peter Brotzmann...
And since Neurosis was mentioned... check out early Swans and Cows material, it is pure gold. If you want grind-tinged stuff, some Naked City, The Flying Luttenbachers and other projects including Weasel Walter would fit (that guy is a total nut on drums!)



Nah, they are just death metal with some spazz rock instrumental prowess injected in the blend, but they would not come as genre-defying.

Hmm... as of the now, the only band I can think of is Sigh, though not their early albums (up to Ghastly Funeral Theatre). If some albums are weird for the sake of being weird depends on how you view them, I think not. Except for Gallows Gallery, the vocals are from black metal though don't let this fool you, their first album is but the others nowhere near. Those that are most hard to define would be the aforementioned, Hail Horror Hail and Imaginary Sonicscape. Some say GG is power metal, some a "tribute to the old heavy metal bands" but to me it's not really classifiable, it's just... metal.

I disagree with the Epic Melodic Death Metal label of Wintersun on here
They are a perfect example for a band that combines a lot more genres

I agree 100%. It almost feels criminally short.

I give my vote to Neurosis
Through Silver In Blood is great and I, Personally anyway could never stamp a genre on it.

Agalloch, Lykathea Aflame, The Monolith Deathcult, Bal-Sagoth (maybe), Blood Stain Child (techno metal isn't a genre...), Cephalic Carnage (defined but songs vary a lot).
Maybe even Cradle of Filth?

I guess Ved Buens Ende? Maudlin of the Well? Although MotW do a lot of genre mashing, the also do some stuff I wouldn't be able to describe.

Also, the band Pyramids

Traumatic Voyage

Agalloch comes to my mind too. Green Carnation too, not sure of what kind of style that is, somewhere between rock, gothicmetal, but depending on the song they have also been tagged as doom metal and Progressive by some people., then the use of acoustic guitar in some songs doesnt help that much.

Also, Ive noticed that many people disagree about the genre of Sentenced's album "Amok".

Oh, Perhaps you'll find this interesting, there's a website that has listed the next bands as "oddball bands that throw all sorts of different influences into their music" and therefore its hard to place them in only one genre. Im taking this from the website I really dont know how certain the information is, here's the list:

Carnival In Coal
Dog Fashion Disco
Empalot
Estradasphere
Forgotten Silence
Kekal
Korova
Korovakill
Love History
Manes
Maudlin of the well
MonumentuM
Stolen Babies
Ulver
Unexpect
Virus

try YOB!

Crotchdusters are another example.

Blood Stain Child is Melodic Death Metal with electronica/trance influences.
Cradle of Filth is Extreme Gothic Metal with Symphonic Black Metal influences...

First thing that comes to mind is Primus, you might know em because they made the tune to southpark.. Some will describe it as funk metal with country vocals so it may not be what your looking for because of the whole mish mosh thing. Anyway it sounds pretty unique and their bassplayer is a freaking God..

+1
Primus = God
Les Claypool = Genius

Especially the Brown album and Frizzle Fry
Unequalled videos as well by the way.

I'd say maybe Soundgarden, they have a sound that isn't easy to consider one genre.

Devin Townsend - Ziltoid the Omniscient

I guess you could call it heavy/prog/space/musical-metal. And it's excellent.