10 Great Rock Music Acts Who Were Too Far Ahead Of Their Time

In modern metal, the unusual is sought after, respected, and celebrated. But this wasn’t always the case, as the boundary-pushing, genre-splicing SikTh discovered the hard way. SikTh formed in 1999 but didn’t settle into a consistent line-up until 2001. Honing in on a completely untapped and niche market, they seemed ready to take on the world.

With the full title ‘The Trees Are Dead & Dried Out Wait for Something Wild’, their 2003 debut was an earth-shattering milestone for every genre from progressive metal to djent, while also prying on influences from mathcore and avant-garde metal. SikTh were the bridge between worlds that the UK metal scene never knew needed building, and unfortunately most people didn’t realise the importance of said bridges until years later. Although they were hailed as revolutionaries by the UK grassroots, SikTh struggled to gain any major traction beyond this scene. Their best-performing record, ‘Death of a Dead Day’ (2006), barely scraped the top 100 in the UK albums chart and the band’s initial run was ultimately short-lived.

In 2007, vocalist Mikee Goodman left the band and, after failing to find a replacement, SikTh went on hiatus the following year. SikTh returned in 2013, later releasing their third (and latest) album, ‘The Future in Whose Eyes?’, in 2017. Despite their modern-day cult following, it feels like SikTh never truly got the ball rolling and could have achieved a lot more had they peaked in our current social media era.