Ghost Bath | |
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Origin | Minot, North Dakota, U.S. |
Genres | Blackgaze, post-metal, black metal [1] |
Years active | 2012 | –present
Labels | Nuclear Blast, Northern Silence, Pest |
Members |
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Website | ghostbath |
Ghost Bath is an American post-metal band from Minot, North Dakota, formed in 2012 and fronted by Dennis Mikula. They have released four studio albums and one EP to date, melding black metal and post-rock music. They initially gained notoriety for marketing themselves as being from China. [2] [3]
Originally the band claimed to have been from Chongqing, China. [4] Their 2014 debut studio album Funeral was released on Chinese record label Pest Productions. They then signed to German label Northern Silence Productions for the release of their second album Moonlover in 2015. [4] Upon gaining increased media attention, including critical acclaim from Pitchfork and Stereogum, the band was revealed to be from Minot, North Dakota and fronted by Dennis Mikula. [4] When asked why the band did not correct the false reports on their origin, Mikula stated: "We refused to correct people because we do not wish to put actual faces onto our music. It is our wish as a band to connect to all human beings." [4] In 2017, the band followed up Moonlover with Starmourner. In 2021, they announced Self Loather, the last album in the trilogy that began with Moonlover.
Ghost Bath combine elements of black metal, including tremolo picking guitar play and shrieked vocals, with uplifting melodies and atmospheric qualities inspired by post-rock. [3] Their style has thus been associated with blackgaze and post-metal and frequently compared to that of fellow American band Deafheaven, particularly on their breakthrough 2013 album Sunbather . [3] [4]
Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres. Both the music and the lyrics are intended to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom. The genre is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath, who formed a prototype for doom metal. During the first half of the 1980s, a number of bands such as Witchfinder General and Pagan Altar from England, American bands Pentagram, Saint Vitus, the Obsessed, Trouble, and Cirith Ungol, and Swedish band Candlemass defined doom metal as a distinct genre. Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Trouble and Candlemass have been referred to as "the Big Four of Doom Metal".
Screamo is an aggressive subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics". San Diego-based bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow pioneered the genre in the early 1990s, and it was developed in the late 1990s mainly by bands from the East Coast of the United States such as Pg. 99, Orchid, Saetia, and I Hate Myself. Screamo is strongly influenced by hardcore punk and characterized by the use of screamed vocals. Lyrical themes usually include emotional pain, death, romance, and human rights. The term "screamo" has frequently been mistaken as referring to any music with screaming.
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Alcest is a French post-black metal band from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, founded and led by Neige. It began in 2000 as a black metal solo project by Neige, then became a trio, but members Aegnor and Argoth left the band following the 2001 release of their first demo, leaving Neige as the sole member. In 2009, drummer Winterhalter from Les Discrets joined Alcest, after eight years with Neige as its sole full-time member.
Pest Productions is a Chinese-based independent record label founded in 2006, focusing around atmospheric black metal artists and features an international roster of musicians. It also features two sub-division/sub-labels titled Self-Destruction and Autumn Flood. It has also released three various artists compilations titled "The World Comes to an End in the End of a Journey," "Depression and Hatred of 3 Years," and "Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer".
Deafheaven is an American post-metal band formed in 2010. Originally based in San Francisco, the group began as a two-piece with singer George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy, who recorded and self-released a demo album together. Following its release, Deafheaven recruited three new members and began to tour. Before the end of 2010, the band signed to Deathwish Inc. and later released their debut album Roads to Judah, in April 2011. They popularized a unique style blending black metal, shoegaze, and post-rock, among other influences, later called "blackgaze" by reviewers.
Vaura is an American experimental band from Brooklyn, New York, United States, formed in 2009 by singer, guitarist and primary songwriter Joshua Strachan and featuring Kevin Hufnagel on lead guitar, Toby Driver on bass.
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Kerry McCoy is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of San Francisco–based blackgaze band Deafheaven.
Blackgaze is a fusion genre combining elements of black metal and shoegaze. The word is a blend of the names of the two genres, described by The Guardian as "the buzz term for a new school of bands taking black metal out of the shadows and melding its blast beats, dungeon wailing and razorwire guitars with the more reflective melodies of post-rock, shoegaze and post-hardcore." According to Exclaim!, blackgaze "marries the harsh, alien instrumentation of black metal with the mellower, dreamy soundscapes of shoegaze."
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Moonlover is the second studio album by American post-metal band Ghost Bath. Recorded by producer Joshua Schroeder in Michigan, it was released on April 10, 2015 through, Northern Silence Productions. The album is the first Ghost Bath release after the band was revealed to be from North Dakota.
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