Does Clown Core count?
this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2026
23 points (100.0% liked)
Metal
3463 readers
24 users here now
Metal community, all subgenres welcome.
It only seemed fitting to have Lemmy himself as the icon.
Other Communities:
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Clown core always counts 🤘🤡🤘
For shame you did not link to the albums, I bet you're a calzone lover.
These are mostly jazz-metal:
Fugu Quintet's ‘Sisyphus’ — doom-jazz
Mr. Bungle — funk/alt metal
Le Scrawl — jazzcore / skagrind, they have a bunch of live videos on YouTube and iirc a few short albums on Bandcamp
Zu: e.g. ‘Carboniferous’ — prog/noise-rock, with plenty of sax
Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects' ‘Sol Niger Within’ seems to have a sax on ‘Cosmic Vagina Dentata Organ’, ‘Z2-Reticuli’, and ‘Solarization’. Though another release has these credits for sax shifted one track back, for some reason.
Ruins the prog-noise-rock band apparently had a saxophonist on ‘Ruins + 梅津和時’ (with Kazutoki Umezu), and also played with Zorn on some releases, but idk which ones.
Shining (the Norwegian one) — might be the closest to what you want
The Flying Luttenbachers use saxes among other stuff
Mamaleek had a sax on ‘Come and See’ (album release here), but it's not heard much
The Flying Luttenbachers use saxes among other stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fXCBd4aKj8&list=PLcGYdba87gPfDiTpSxDZxR8PTScL1AB2C
They need the link.
Also, Weasel Walter played with Behold The Arctopus for one album (Horrorscension)
BTA doesn't have any sax, but as you can tell, I like them.
I haven't properly listened to The Flying Luttenbachers before. But a few tracks from the linked album are kinda in Zorn's spirit.
... but you recommended them? Either way, they're obviously up your alley based on the cool stuff you post
I've heard of them in my jazz-metal searches, but never properly listened through their discography. For better or worse, my to-listen queue also has around two thousand records and/or artists (in large part due to me having lost all my collection previously thanks to a hard drive failure).
Sear bliss is a pretty awesome black metal band that incorporates trumpets.
Now that I think about it I think avant garde bands might be worth a shot as well. Try Sigh(Japan), igorrr, thy catafalque or imperial triumphant. (Wildly different from album to album so try multiple ones even if one doesn't sound like what you're looking for)
Also for some jazz metal with Zorn-esque sax, I'd suggest Trioscapes :
https://trioscapes.bandcamp.com/album/digital-dream-sequence
Ihsahn has some sax on his solo albums (e.g. After) but not on every tracks
Same for Rivers Of Nihil, as already suggested, on their latest albums
More balkan inspired than jazz, Trollfest has some sax too
This is strictly jazz metal, but they have some sax:
The mood is pretty amazing. I’d recommend finding some streaming with better quality though.
Two professionally trained jazz musicians who have a side gig playing metal.
Metal only in spirit but no guitars: Bohren and der Club of Gore. ]
In 1992 they produced a crossover of jazz and ambient, which they self-described as an "unholy ambient mixture of slow jazz ballads, Black Sabbath doom and down-tuned Autopsy sounds"
If you like a bit of humour in your grindcore, I'd recommend Excrementory Grindfuckers.
They're pretty fun live.
I'm glad there's been lots of stuff I would have recommended in this thread. My rec is Estradsphere, they did a ton of this kind of stuff :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuDaZr5Bo_k
As Shining (nor) was already mentioned, try things with Jorgen Munkeby, like Meathook with Marty Friedman
More on the core side, check out Shrezzers. Their song Libertad might fit.
Debut album from EX EYE, the instrumental, post-everything quartet led by renowned saxophonist Colin Stetson and featuring the otherworldly drumming of Greg Fox. EX EYE seamlessly weave between precise, clockwork intricacy and aggressive, ecstatic abandon while taking the listener on a cathartic, thrilling journey to total transcendence.
I hesitate to say these guys are exactly those subgenres of metal, but this is a subgenre of metal with saxophone and it’s damn good in my opinion. Heavy 80’s/90’s aesthetics to match. This song is what turned me onto them. “Dreamwake - Memories”https://youtu.be/Cq8p0pDKTKA
Punk, not metal but NoFX uses bassoon in their song "Thr Decline." Its a 20 minute ode to how fucked up America is. Was relevant when written 25 years ago, still relevant today.