This is a list of avant-garde metal artists, regional scenes, and record labels. Avant-garde metal or avant-metal, also known as experimental metal, is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and characterized by the use of innovative, avant-garde elements, large-scale experimentation, and the use of non-standard and unconventional sounds, instruments, song structures, playing styles, and vocal techniques. It evolved out of progressive rock and various forms of metal, including extreme metal, particularly the extreme subgenre death metal. Some early examples are the King Crimson releases Larks' Tongues in Aspic and Red in 1973 and 1974 respectively, and the 1976 Led Zeppelin album Presence. The genre emerged in the early 1980s through the efforts of bands