With all the sub-genres in rock and heavy metal, we usually know what is incorporated when it comes to thrash metal, death metal, black metal, metalcore, ect. Avant-garde on the other hand, cannot be defined by one individual artist or sound. Avant-garde incorporates so much sonically and visually that many artists who you may or may not know can easily fall into this category.

The final weekend of February was a weekend like no other for NYC. A weekend of some of the most obscure, experimental, emotional and beautiful forms of extreme music. From prog metal, to avant-garde to the dirtiest and rawest forms of sludge. Three days of music that opens our minds, our ears, out eyes and our hearts. 

Friday on 2/28 we get experimental noise rock, Today is the Day. Steve Austin really delivers emotion, aggression and interaction both on CD and on stage. Playing with the godfathers of doom, The Obsessed, the hidden gem in Brooklyn, Market Hotel became a haven of distortion and atmosphere.

You were able to hear the crunch bass tones in the supermarket just below the venue. To celebrate the release of No Good to Anyone by Today is the Day, the music lovers of Brooklyn were some of the first to experience this material live that hits you square in the face and immerses you into a catacomb of doom and gloom. Pure stoner metal and you didnt even need any weed in order to feel the high. 

On Leap Day of 2020, we get one of the godfathers of experimental and progressive rock and metal, Devin Townsend, and with the package of Haken and The Contortionist, we were in for the ultimate prog show of the year. Warsaw Concerts in Brooklyn became a realm of riffs, sounds, and emotion, and these bands deliver an essence of all that like no other. 

The Contortionist opened the stage and delivered everything, and then some. We get a full sonic retrospective of their 2017 album, Clairvoyant, some stuff off of Language and more. The Contortionist was able to deliver their most melodic aspects that can sing you to sleep, only to deliver a form of aggression that can scare you to death. They constantly left the audience not knowing what to expect. It wasn’t just the execution of their material and their phenomenal stage presence that made this the ultimate opening set, the lighting and production that supported it further pushed their set into tue stratosphere. Their performance was suspensful, emotional and mesmerizing all at once. 

Haken takes the stage next and no punches were pulled the second the lights in Warsaw dimmed to let the audience know they were about to go on. Haken also delivers an element in their performance that constantly leaves you wondering what is going to happen next. With just a six-song set, they were able to say so much and leave you wanting more. Opening with Puzzle Box, we got intense riffs followed by the soothing full range of Ross Jennings voice. Dabbling through different corners of their catalogue from The Mountain to Affinity to their most recent release, Vector, Haken delivered a sonic element of organized chaos that was eerie and beautiful all at rhe same time. 

At last, we get the headliner for the night, Devin Townsend. What more do you need to say? Its one thing to be a talented musician and songwriter, but when it comes to the art of performance, Devin has every trait that one can experience from a good performance. He’s charismatic, hilarious, engaging and everything in between. With his voice, he is able to make you cry, and with his speeches in between, can make you cry and laugh. Your watching performance art, live music, live comedy and just about every aspect of live entertainment. Unlike most shows we know from Devin, we pull back a littke bit more with production and focus more on the band and performance. There was no excuse to be distracted while watching him play. 

As for the setlist, you didnt just get some great tracks off the latest release, Empath with Evermore and Genesis. You got a full retrospective of every era of Devin. We got some stuff from Devin Townsend project such as Gato and Ih-Ha, you got Deadhead from Devin Townsend band, and even Love? from Strapping young Lad. You got the most soothing tracks and most aggressive tracks all in one night. Like every show from Devin, it was a show like no other, constantly switching setlists and styles, Devin Townsend is clearly the master of experimentation. 

Day Three of this beautifully weird weekend comes, ending with a sold out show at Gramercy Theatet. We get Cult of Luna, Emma Ruth Rundle. This is not A way to end the weekend, it was THE way to do it.

Last time Cult of Luna comes to NY, they sell out the Gramercy with Julie Christmas, and now we have them coming back again with much anticipation to hear material from their new album, A Dawn to Fear live. We end February with Devin, and now we begin the new month with Cult of Luna. 

Opening we get Intronaut and this was a unique experience to say the least. While their bassist was sadly not with us due to injury, we get a dummy version of him on stage while the rest of the band delivers full force. Playing an intense and transfixing 4-song set with stuff of their latest masterpiece, Fluid Existential Inversions, they managed to have all eyes fixed on them for a halfhour straight. One minute, they deliver intensity and the next minute they deliver comfort and refinement. Add that to their video production in the background that added a narrative and even more imagery and you got a match made in heaven. The riffs, the solos, the vocals of our dreams and nightmares echoed through the whole venue. That is how you open a show. 

Emma Ruth Rundell takes the stage and instantly things go from one extreme to the other. Emma Ruth Rundle with her oure sound if ambient folk and avant-garde, we instantly get a different type of vibe. It was spooky and beautiful all at the same time. With the spotlight focusing only on her, all eyes did the same. Her serenading voice combined with the distortion if her guitar brought an emotional vibe that created an essence of beauty with the darkness that was projected on all of us. Though the setup was simple, the set itself was not, less was incorporated but created so much as her set progressed. Whether it was a song like Marked for Death or Real Big Sky, it was tear inducing, goosebump inflicting serenading madness that anyone can find comfort in. 

At last, to end this amazing weekend, Cult of Luna takes the stage. To say that this performance was like no other is an understatement. Cult of Luna took everything we know and love about shows at Gramercy Theater, live avant-garde music and pushed it even further passed 11. For many of us, this is the first time we heard new material from their album, A Dawn to Fear live, and just like everything they have done from their self titled release in 2001, to their collaboration with Julie Christmas, to now, they made is a sonic and visual epiphany like no other. We get some great tracks from their new album, such as The Silent Man, Lights on the Hill and The Fall, and moved even further down the hole of their catalogue with songs such as In Awe Of or Passing Through from Vertikal, to even further into some deep cuts and throwbacks.

While the setlist was amazing in itself, Cult of Luna, with their use of production and instrumentation, turned the Gramercy Theater into a realm like no other. In Fact, you weren’t at a show in Gramercy anymore. You were in another dimension, an alternate reality, a dream, a nightmare, the highest heavens, or the darkest depths of hell. Their lighting would strobe faster than you can blink at times. Other times, they would rotate colors and patterns in their lighting that moved along with the melody and rhythm of the music. It triggered a sonic and visual experience to the point where you forgot why and how you got to your seat in the first place. It was emotional, cinematic, epic and emotional all at the same time. Cult of Luna with their sound, production and stage presence were able to take every emotion the human mind is capable of and laid it on the stage for us to witness, analyze and experience.

Leap Year only comes every four years, but this weekend will more than likely never come again. Avant-garde is a style of music that cannot be defined by one band or even one element. Today is the Day brought aggression and intimacy, Devin Townsend brought commentary and emotion and technical excellence, and Cult of Luna brought a new perception of reality that hit us in our hearts and minds. With the different sounds that Avant-garde is able to deliver, it is also able to deliver different experiences that all five of our senses can experience.