Another description I hear of them a lot is 'Math-Rock'.
I agree they are very experimental and its always interesting to hear.

How about Behold... The Arctopus?
Anyone?

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum?
Anyone?

Car Bomb?
Anyone?

i like Behold....The Arctopus, but the other two i haven't heard

Maybe I missed 'em, but I'm surprised some of these haven't been mentioned:

Earth - Earth 2
SUNN O))) - White 1/White 2
Khanate - Things Viral
Boris - Absolutego
Gorguts - Obscura
Fleurety - Min Tid Skal Komme

I'd also throw in Orthrelm and The Flying Luttenbachers.

Very good album.

Mr. Bungle is my favorite in this topic though, and one of my favorite bands in general. Disco Volante is an absolute classic.

I find it strange that Mr. Bungle and Meshuggah are being so closely related. I don't know if its just me, but I wouldn't even try to classify Mr. Bungle's sound, much less pigeonhole them into a Metal category. Maybe it was their Metal beginnings with their first few EPs. It just seems like nobody knew what else to make of them. And all a band really needs to do is use unorthodox instruments in relation to their respective genres in order to be termed "Avant-Garde".
...Or maybe I'm just sounding too much like a prick...
But it's like trying to classify Tom Waits.. It's just not gonna happen. Because they (Mr. Bungle) mastered what I like to call "genre-hopping". Metal now, funk next, jazz later, and bring it home with Beach music - hopping from genre to genre, but making it sound good.
That being said, California is easily my favorite album by Bungle. Maybe its because it was their swan song, and I didn't really discover them until after they had broken up, although I did see them when I was 13.
But something else I like about Mr. Bungle is how each of their three LPs stand on their own merits, but sound absolutely nothing alike.

Ephel Duath, anyone?

Yakuza, anyone?

I only have The Painter's Palette (or whatever it's called), which I like. I listened to part of the followup to that and wasn't feeling it. Not sure I'd classify them as avant-garde, unless we're defining avant-garde as anything atypical to a genre's strictest definition.

Love 'em. Probably closer to avant-garde than ED and some of the other bands mentioned in this thread, if only for their occasional free jazz elements.

Man they are like math metal meets Tim burton

I love it.

The only album I've heard from Ephel Duath is Pain Necessary to Know. I think it's a great album. And actually, I think what might define ED as Avant-Garde would be their own moments of free jazz along with an underlying current of jazz with some strange electronic instrumentation enveloped.

Yakuza, yeah. Those guys are ****in' explosive live, and their use of saxophone-heavy slow jazz parts really remind me of David Lynch films.

Jackhammer was the one to introduce me to Ephel Duath with Pain Necessary To Know and yeah I'm with you, it's an absolute stellar album. I still think Arcturus created one of the best Avant-Garde metal albums with The Sham Mirrors

Has anybody here heard a band called Naked City? They were recommended to me by a guy who caught one of my band's live shows. I still haven't gotten around to finding their stuff, and the speakers on my computer are dead. I'm just fishing for opinions.

it's john zorn's most famous group. hella good sh!t.

Hahaha, yep, precisely! That band is damn awesome. I really want to see 'em again, the 7 of them ripping it up is a sight to see, especially on a small stage.


On Ephel Duath - I loved that band, until the latest album came out. I'll always be into their earlier work, but I just like to pretend that Through My Dog's Eyes doesn't exist.

Anything Mike Patton touches is gold. Mr. Bungle was amazing.

I've always liked Ephel Duath's The Painter's Palette. Praha is all kinds of genius.

I love me some Ephel Duath. Their newest album is pretty nice.