Experimental black metal shatters the genre's foundational pillars—tremolo riffs, blast beats, corpse paint aesthetics—through radical sonic interrogation. Emerging in the late 1990s as artists grew restless with orthodoxy, it absorbs industrial clangor, drone minimalism, free jazz chaos, and avant-garde composition techniques that black metal purists consider heretical. Where atmospheric black metal adds ambience and post-black metal borrows from shoegaze or post-rock, experimental acts fundamentally deconstruct the template: dulcimers replace guitars (Botanist), microtonal dissonance replaces melody (Jute Gyte), or ritualistic repetition eclipses song structure entirely (Urfaust). This is black metal as laboratory, prioritizing innovation over tradition.
The territory spans vast extremes. Master's Hammer pioneered operatic absurdism in the early '90s Czech scene; Lurker of Chalice drowned aggression in opaque abstraction; Liturgy introduced transcendental philosophy and polyrhythmic ecstasy to American audiences; Mamaleek filters everything through lo-fi jazz and blues ghosts. Unlike post-black metal's embrace of beauty, experimental practitioners often intensify discomfort—through ugliness, alienation, or conceptual severity. The result is less a subgenre than an ethos: black metal's vocabulary weaponized against its own conventions.
This is music for listeners who demand black metal evolve beyond its established boundaries. If the genre's second wave codified a language, experimentalists are rewriting grammar itself—sometimes achieving transcendence, sometimes collapsing into fascinating failure. Essential for those who hear black metal not as doctrine but as raw material awaiting transformation.
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List updated:
| #33 | ByThe Meads of Asphodel | Released:1998 | experimental black metal | ||
| #38 | ByCold Deck | Released:1998 | hardcore punkexperimental black metal | ||
| #45 | ByThe Meads of Asphodel | Released:1999 | experimental black metal | ||
| #75 | ByBael | Released:1999 | experimental black metal | ||
| #43 | ByAbgott | Released:2003-05 | |||
| #17 | ByPeccatum | Released:2004-04-19 | |||
| #57 | ByWinter Of Apokalypse | Released:2004 | |||
| #74 | ByWrnlrd | Released:2005 | |||
| #79 | ByStrevlosh Zvezda | Released:2005 | |||
| #73 | ByEwigkeit | Released:2006-11-28 | experimental black metal | ||
| #97 | ByDark Procession | Released:2006-12 | |||
| #32 | ByCircle of Ouroborus | Released:2007-03-21 | |||
| #99 | ByIblis | Released:2007 | |||
| #40 | ByAasdgoihasdghexekul | Released:2008-03-29 | |||
| #36 | ByVediog Svaor | Released:2008-09-01 | |||
| #95 | ByWormsblood | Released:2008 | |||
| #71 | ByWormsblood | Released:2009-04-27 | |||
| #53 | ByDamned Spirits' Dance | Released:2009-04 | |||
| #81 | ByShardborn | Released:2009-05-04 | black metalexperimental black metal | ||
| #5 | ByLiturgy | Released:2009-08-25 | |||
| #34 | ByMaster's Hammer | Released:2009-09-03 | |||
| #50 | ByHorde of Hel | Released:2009 | |||
| #51 | ByCSSABA | Released:2009 | |||
| #41 | ByHorseback | Released:2009 | experimental black metal | ||
| #68 | ByKoester | Released:2010-01-13 | experimental black metal | ||
| #14 | ByMurmuüre | Released:2010-03 | |||
| #25 | ByDuszę Wypuścił | Released:2010-04-17 | |||
| #66 | ByMiasme | Released:2010-04-18 | |||
| #2 | ByDeafheaven | Released:2010-06-01 | |||
| #78 | ByWar for War | Released:2010-08-30 | |||
| #72 | ByBeyond Light | Released:2010-09-05 | |||
| #49 | ByImperial Triumphant | Released:2010-09-11 | |||
| #20 | ByJumalhämärä | Released:2010-10-18 | experimental black metal | ||
| #28 | ByFurze | Released:2010-10-26 | |||
| #65 | ByChronaexus | Released:2010 | |||
| #29 | ByDeafheaven | Released:2011-01-21 | |||
| #3 | ByMamaleek | Released:2011-02-03 | |||
| #87 | ByMiasme | Released:2011-05-03 | |||
| #8 | ByPyramids | Released:2011-11-01 | experimental black metal | ||
| #15 | ByHorseback | Released:2011-11-01 | experimental black metal | ||
| #35 | ByCara Neir | Released:2011-11-11 | experimental black metalblackened crust | ||
| #77 | ByXerbittert | Released:2011 | |||
| #58 | ByMiasme | Released:2012-02-01 | |||
| #1 | ByUrfaust | Released:2012-04-15 | |||
| #24 | ByRagana | Released:2013-01-13 | |||
| #30 | ByThe Phantom Carriage | Released:2013-02-28 | experimental black metal | ||
| #100 | ByMartwota Ostateczna | Released:2013-06-21 | |||
| #86 | ByCloak of Altering | Released:2013-11-18 | |||
| #82 | ByFrom Hell | Released:2013 | |||
| #10 | ByMayhem | Released:2014-06-06 | |||
| #60 | ByEmanation | Released:2014-06-11 | black metalexperimental black metal | ||
| #85 | ByBasalte | Released:2014-11-07 | |||
| #96 | ByZoxim | Released:2014-12-26 | |||
| #23 | ByShining | Released:2015-04-20 | |||
| #91 | ByClasp | Released:2015-10-17 | experimental black metal | ||
| #21 | ByStara Rzeka | Released:2015-10-23 | |||
| #48 | ByAn Autumn for Crippled Children | Released:2015-12-08 | |||
| #59 | ByCage of Creation | Released:2015 | experimental black metal | ||
| #61 | ByCage of Creation | Released:2015 | experimental black metal | ||
| #70 | ByBhavachakra | Released:2016-09-23 | |||
| #7 | ByFuria | Released:2016-11-14 | |||
| #22 | ByLaster | Released:2017-01-09 | |||
| #6 | ByFuria | Released:2017-03-01 | |||
| #26 | ByBotanist | Released:2017-09-01 | black metalexperimental black metal | ||
| #39 | ByArkheth | Released:2018-02-20 | experimental black metalprogressive metal | ||
| #46 | By夢遊病者 | Released:2018-05-25 | |||
| #16 | ByImperial Triumphant | Released:2018-07-13 | |||
| #67 | ByVoLaND | Released:2018-08-10 | |||
| #84 | ByCloak of Altering | Released:2018-08-25 | |||
| #56 | ByPandiscordian Necrogenesis | Released:2018-10-28 | |||
| #90 | ByOrgan: | Released:2018 | |||
| #27 | ByHavohej | Released:2019-11-15 | experimental black metal | ||
| #80 | BySteingrab | Released:2019 | |||
| #76 | BySoul Flesh | Released:2020-02-24 | black metalexperimental black metal | ||
| #9 | ByMamaleek | Released:2020-03-27 | |||
| #42 | ByOil Spill | Released:2020-03-31 | black metalexperimental black metal | ||
| #62 | ByGoatchrist | Released:2020-05-05 | |||
| #13 | ByOdraza | Released:2020-05-08 | |||
| #47 | ByHræ | Released:2020-08-04 | |||
| #55 | ByPrison of Mirrors | Released:2020-08-15 | |||
| #89 | ByVerikyyneleet | Released:2020-08-21 | |||
| #31 | ByGruzja | Released:2020-10-19 | |||
| #37 | ByBotanist | Released:2020-10-30 | |||
| #93 | ByFrailord | Released:2020-12-04 | |||
| #63 | ByBotanist | Released:2020 | |||
| #98 | ByTeratolith | Released:2020 | |||
| #88 | ByEkdikēsis | Released:2021-01-19 | |||
| #52 | ByJute Gyte | Released:2021-05-07 | |||
| #92 | ByDuskseeker | Released:2021-07-02 | |||
| #44 | ByReverorum ib Malacht | Released:2021-08-06 | |||
| #69 | ByHomeskin | Released:2022-02-04 | |||
| #64 | Byautolysia | Released:2022-11-25 | atmospheric black metalexperimental black metal | ||
| #18 | ByPortrayal Of Guilt | Released:2023-04-20 | |||
| #19 | ByPortrayal of Guilt | Released:2023-04-20 | |||
| #83 | Byserial experiments | Released:2023-04-20 | |||
| #94 | ByHekser | Released:2023-08-11 | |||
| #12 | ByGruzja | Released:2023-10-06 | |||
| #4 | ByHauntologist | Released:2023-12-19 | |||
| #11 | ByGruzja | Released:2024-10-05 | experimental black metal | ||
| #54 | ByBiesy | Released:2024-10-30 |