I haven't heard much jazz fusion, but from what I have heard, it sounds pretty cool. Can anyone give me some links or band names to check out?

God I love this kind of stuff, my favorite kind of music. By jazz fusion do you mean bands like Cynic, Atheist, Gordian Knot, Sleep Terror, Clockwork, Anomaly or if you are looking for the more "jazzier" stuff then you should check out Mahavishnu Orchestra. Anyways, I hoped that helped a little bit.

Here is a link to some Atheist songs if you haven't heard any yet, enjoy!

__________________

Cheers man, Atheist are fucking good, I'll have to check out some more of their material.

What I originally meant was classic jazz/rock fusion (like shit from the 60's/70's), but I'm open to metal/jazz fusion, if Atheist is anythig to go by, then a whole new genre has been opened up to me.

Umm, Dream Theater does a little of that, btu try checking out jam bands from teh sixties and seventies. Jazz is all about improvisation, so bands liek the Allman Brothers, Derek and the Dominos, Gov't Mule, etc. sometimes work in jazzy elements during their jam sessions.

__________________

In the song "To The End" by Pain of Salvation, they go from a chuggy metal section right into a neat 10 second jazz break. Very nifty.

Spiral Architect are also very good! They make awesome music and they really know how to handle an instrument

__________________

Nobody has mentioned either Watchtower or Dead Horse, so shame on the lot of you. Dead Horse are the most diverse band I've ever heard, their influences are so blatant and yet so varied. They are essentially thrash/jazz/grindcore/death/blues/country/punk. I'm not exaggerating either, really.

I think John knows a bunch of death metal bands that aren't quite as fusion based as you might be looking for, but retain a similar level of jazz influence that pops up in the middle of brutal songs when you least expect it. At least that's my impression after looking up some of the bands he has mentioned.

Other than that, I can also mention later Pestilence, another band you all failed miserably in mentioning.

As for rock/jazz fusions, I don't really listen to that stuff, so I can't say for sure.

__________________

I know you're looking for rock-based jazz fusion but here's a few bands you might want to try out in the realm of metal:

Candiria - these guys are so good. Imagine Meshuggah beating the crap out of Doctor Dre with Miles Davis watching from ringside smoking a pipe.

Dillinger Escape Plan - the jazz influence should become apparant after about 30 seconds. Melodic interludes are combined ruthlessly with almost-free-form jarring, angular rhythms. Great stuff.

Psyopus - Some excellent jazz-inspired interludes and crazy time signatures a la DEP. Chris Arp's playing has to be heard to be believed.

If I think of anymore I'll let you know, but that should do you for now.

__________________

candiria is good.

__________________

Anything by John Zorn. Check out "Painkiller", "Naked City", "Death's Head Quartet" (with Seth from AxCx on vocals), or just "John Zorn (solo)"

Naked City is great. If you can get pass the incoherent screaming banshee babble and genre jumping, you'll uncover some great jazz work.

As for more jazz fushion:
Behold the Arctopus
Cephalic Carnage
Scrawl
Sleep Terror

__________________