Absu was an American extreme metal band from Dallas, Texas. Their demos and first album leaned towards death metal, but evolved more towards a black metal and thrash metal style which includes elements of Celtic and folk music which the band calls "Mythological Occult Metal". Their lyrical themes are esoteric, including themes of Celtic, Sumerian and Mesopotamian myths and legends, alchemy, numerology, magick, and sorcery.
Celestia was a French black metal band from Avignon, formed in 1995 by Noktu. Noktu was the only consistent member of the band. Celestia disbanded in 2015.
Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) is the first album by Bill Laswell's ever-changing "supergroup" Praxis. The album was released in 1992 and features Buckethead on guitar, Bootsy Collins on bass and vocals, Brain on drums, Bernie Worrell on keyboards and DJ AF Next Man Flip on turntables.
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.
Tristesse hivernale is a demo and release debut of French band Alcest, released in 2001 on Drakkar Productions. It is their only release with guitarist Aegnor and bass guitarist Argoth, both from Peste Noire, as the band's creator, Neige, would continue Alcest as a one-man project after the release. It remains the band's only release as a trio.
Souvenirs d'un autre monde is the first full-length album by French band Alcest, released in August 2007. The title refers to the meaning behind the music of Alcest, as its leader and songwriter, Neige, sees it as a journey through his memories of a distant world he has been in contact with.
Peste Noire are a French black metal band from La Chaise-Dieu, France. The band was formed by "La sale Famine de Valfunde", also known simply as "Famine", in 2000. Their music uses standard black metal elements mixed with traditional Gallic instrumentation, and influences from genres like punk and electronic music. The band is sometimes referred to as P.N. or K.P.N.
La Sanie des siècles – Panégyrique de la dégénérescence is the debut album by French black metal band Peste Noire.
Amesoeurs was a French post-punk/post-black metal band. A side project of Neige of Alcest, the group was formed with musicians Audrey Sylvain and Fursy Teyssier in the summer of 2004. Their goal was to create music that "reflects the dark side of the industrial era and modern civilization".
Écailles de lune is the second studio album by French blackgaze band Alcest, released on March 26, 2010 by Prophecy Productions. It is the first Alcest album featuring Winterhalter on drums. Although it continues in the direction started with the first album Souvenirs d'un autre monde, Écailles de lune marks a darker, louder transition into shoegazing, while also coming back to the band's black metal origins as it features harsh vocals like those found on their second release Le Secret.
Amesoeurs is the only full-length album by Amesoeurs. It was released in 2009, just before the band broke up. Northern Silence Productions released a special limited LP edition of the album in three different versions: the "Metallic Century" edition, limited to 333 copies, the "Cold Light" edition limited to 333 copies, and the "Night Sky" edition limited to 222 copies, which all come with an exclusive bonus track "Gas in Veins - demo version".
Les Discrets is a French post-rock project created and led by Fursy Teyssier as a "platform gathering music and art." Teyssier was the sole member of the band until 2009, when he was joined by Audrey Hadorn and Winterhalter. Les Discrets released Septembre et Ses Dernières Pensées in March 2010, Ariettes oubliées... in February 2012 and, after Winterhalter left the band in 2013, Prédateurs, in April 2017, which saw a transition towards an indie rock and trip hop-oriented sound.
Les Voyages de l'âme is the third studio album by Alcest, released on January 6, 2012 by Prophecy Productions. "Autre temps" was also released in a different version as a single, and was made into a music video. The album has been described as a musical synthesis of the previous two albums, blending shoegaze, post-rock, and black metal influences.
Alcest / Les Discrets is a split EP by French shoegazing bands Alcest and Les Discrets, released on November 30, 2009 by Prophecy Productions.
Stéphane Paut, known professionally as Neige, is a French songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist musician, and record producer from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, now relocated to Paris. He is the founder of the black metal/shoegaze project Alcest and also the founder for the now-defunct Amesoeurs.
Shelter is the fourth studio album by French shoegaze band Alcest. It was released on 17 January 2014 via Prophecy Productions. The album's name is related to the album's overall concept of shelter, "a safe place to escape, this secret thing we all have when life is going too fast and you are full of anxiety." The album marks a significant stylistic shift for the band, fully embracing the band's shoegaze and dream pop influences while eliminating the previous metal influences, with Rolling Stone writing that the album has "more in common genetically with Sigur Rós than Satyricon."
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."
Kodama is the fifth studio album by French metal band Alcest. It was released on September 30, 2016 via Prophecy Productions. It is a concept album about "the confrontation of the natural world and the human world", inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's film Princess Mononoke. Musically the album is a return to the band's earlier blackgaze style, due to Neige's feeling that he "needed to go for something more punchy, darker, and more personal too." Kodama is also the first Alcest album to feature Indria Saray performing on bass, though he has played with the band live since 2010.
Spiritual Instinct is the sixth studio album by French post-black metal band Alcest. The album was released on 25 October 2019 through Nuclear Blast and garnered mostly positive reviews from critics. Spiritual Instinct features Alcest live bassist Indria Saray performing on bass in the studio for the second time in the history of the band after Kodama.
Sylvaine is the solo music project of Norwegian metal multi-instrumentalist Kathrine Shepard. The project began in Oslo in 2013 and has released four albums to date. In 2019, Shepard became the first woman to earn a nomination for best metal album at the Norwegian Grammy Awards.
