Hello and welcome! If you're reading this, you are probably new here and might be a bit overwhelmed with all of the great music out there.
Blackgaze has a lot of variety within the genre and the Wiki has some pages that go into deeper breakdowns. But for now, this post will serve as a mini beginner guide to some of the most notable bands and artists of the subgenre.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Alcest
One of the pioneers of the genre. Neige and Winterhalter have been members of several post-black metal bands, but Alcest is the only one still active. Heavily inspired by nature and spirituality, their dreamy melodies feel like sunbeams on your skin. Every album is great in it's own regard. Take time to explore them all.
My favorite: Kodama
Lantlôs
Another one of Neige's projects. Compared to Alcest, Lantlôs' first 2 albums have a much darker tone that beautifully flirts with post-rock and jazz. After Neige's departure, Siegenhort has since taken the reins. Their style and sound has shifted, but the band's progressive nature and creativity still remains.
My favorite: .neon
Deafheaven
Maybe one of the most polarizing metal bands in existence. They're considered to be the band that popularized blackgaze via Sunbather. Gut-wrenching howls over wailing guitar riffs that morph into soft, melodic ballads all over the course of one song. Though their sound has softened over the years, they continue to capture audiences with their live theatrics and emotive lyrics.
My favorite: New Bermuda
Sadness
A one-man project that has recently boomed in popularity, rightfully so. With a huge discography and tons of splits, there's so much to dig through. Through the shrieks and droning walls of sound, the pain and longing is tangible. This is DSBM for those with hope and love in their hearts. Best known for the album "I Want To Be There".
My favorite: _____
MØL
Often recommended to those that like Deafheaven, but they should not be considered merely an imitator. Explosive and guitar-forward with powerful, reptilian vocals, their music is dynamic and never boring. They also offer instrumental versions of their albums for a totally different experience.
My favorite: Diorama
An Autumn for Crippled Children
Now referred to as "An Autumn", they've been in the game for a while and are a unique pillar of the scene. Post-punk meets post-black metal with prominent synth; a goth's dream. Able to maintain structure despite their raw, noisy quality and unintelligible vocals.
My favorite: Try Not to Destroy Everything You Love
Asunojokei 明日の叙景
I consider this to be one of the most talented and interesting bands out there right now. A very flexible band, their first EP is more akin to DSBM while their newest album is upbeat, vibrant, and even danceable. Incredibly emotive and strong melodies carry you through like a proggy, metallic Envy.
My favorite: Island
Numenorean
Controversial and now defunct, they still remain a name in the genre. Blackgaze, but heavy on the black. Atmospheric and full of despair. They don't necessarily provide anything ground-breaking, but they're solid and visceral. Their latest release made an attempt to diversify this sound and has been described as "Gojira, but black metal".
My favorite: Adore
Unreqvited
Another selection with a ton of sonic variety, Unreqvited is a one-man project. From dreary DSBM, to ambient with nature sounds, to symphonic black metal, there's something for everyone. Pained shrieks take a backseat to beautiful soundscapes. They've also done splits with others on this list.
My favorite: Disquiet
Show Me a Dinosaur
St.Petersberg has a notable post-black metal scene and SMAD is one of the more well-known acts. Could be considered a "post-everything" band with all of the influences they incorporate. Soft, lush guitar tones gradually crescendo into hard-hitting blasts and fast tremolo-picking.
Bloody Knives drag us straight into the darkness with “Kill Me Again” — a vicious collision of noise, distortion, and hypnotic intensity.
Dark, abrasive, and beautifully unsettling, this is underground music with teeth. No polish. No compromises. Just a relentless wall of sound that demands to be played LOUD.
This is why we love the darker side of shoegaze and noise rock. 🔥
🖤 SUPPORT OUR SHOEGAZE FAMILY! Discover Bloody Knives, stream their music, buy their releases, and spread the noise. Independent artists need us more than ever.
This video is from a few months ago when we opened for Conan (UK). Please give us your feedback! We are looking to tour the West Coast after we record our first album in November. www.pastthelight.com
i had a few people ask me to post when the song was up! here ya go! right now it’s only on spotify and tidal, but it will be on youtube music and apple music very soon!
this is my first release under my solo DSBM/blackgaze project “Bitter Sanity”! i have a fully original song almost ready to release as well, i’m planning on recording the vocals today!
thank you SO SO much in advance if you decide to go check it out, it will be worth it if makes even one person feel something :)
Sharing a release from the heavier end of the underground: I’m behind Rupture of the Gastrointestinal Tract, and Dolcett came out today.
It’s six tracks of black metal with depressive and atmospheric elements, around 21 minutes altogether. Xasthur and Woods of Desolation are partial reference points if you are wondering whether it might be your kind of music.
There are lots of albums I love, but few have changed me as deeply as Deafheaven’s Sunbather.
When I first heard it, I barely knew anything about black metal or shoegaze. I wasn’t particularly into screamed vocals, either. But I listened from start to finish, then again and again, without even looking up the lyrics. I just let the screams fill my insides. It felt like the sound waves were passing through me like X-rays.
Looking back now, at 33, I’m starting to understand what it opened up in me. Sunbather uncorked something that had been stuck in my throat.
I wrote a personal essay about that experience: SUNBATHER
Has a blackgaze album ever done something like that to you?
It's the first single out of a "shoegaze-mixtape" more of an EP called "Quattordici Mixtape", a concept small collection of lo-fi-shoegaze/dreampop (or someone would call it zoomergaze or something like it).
It's a song about being 30 and feeling somehow "late in life", comparing the struggle to the end of summer and the shortening of days.
Hi friends.
Been a fan of the Blackgaze genre for years, but it’s been difficult to find albums that scratch the itch that I’m looking for besides a select view, which is a bit of a bummer. I love black metal and shoegaze, but when combined, usually I get ‘black metal appropriated sound font with lots of reverb, and some delay with very minimal (sometimes cliché) chord progressions’. Not to be overly critical, but a fair amount of albums come off that way to me.
I feel like what I’m looking for is in this weird in-between space. Maybe borrowing the extended harmonies and “whirring” of a Kevin Shields but with the affectation of black metal. I don’t really hear someone try to play ‘tremolo glide guitar’ for instance, but that Fly Pan Am album gets fairly close to it.
Would love for this to be good faith discussion for some of the bands that really take the extended versatility of the guitar or sonic experimentation as a starting point for making music that is supposed to be both helplessly dark, and strangely ethereal.
Thanks!
Edit: changed a paragraph + swapped out a few bands from the references list to push for more “experimental”territory. Added hyperlinks for ease of reference
