334: ALCEST

French musician Neige is a master at what he does. It’s that simple. By taking Alcest from its raw black metal roots toward a far more unique and gentle atmosphere, he helped usher in a new post black metal sound. By leaning heavily on shoegaze influences as well, especially on some later albums, Alcest are …

259: SYLVAINE

Kathrine Shepard, better known as Sylvaine, is a Norwegian singer/songwriter whose blending of the ethereal and extreme makes for some of the most beautiful music I’ve heard in years. Shepard’s vocals are delicate, and haunting. Beautiful clean melodies float gently above the delicate music, but suddenly everything shifts. Black metal strumming takes hold and that …

230: NOVARUPTA

Novarupta is part solo project, part musical collective, and part art piece. As the creation of Alex Stjernfeldt, Novarupta is currently through a tetralogy of albums based on the four elements. ‘Disillusioned Fire’ and ‘Marine Snow’ represent the first two elements - fire and water, respectively. Musically, Novarupta is a unique and exciting listen. While …

209: GHOST BATH

By merging merging a post-rock atmosphere and melodies with black metal vocals and guitars, Ghost Bath create a fascinating variation on the blackgaze sound. I’d almost say they were two sides of the same coin with Deafheaven, with both bands vastly expanding the borders of black metal in their own way. When they released their …

172: ERRANT

As if fronting Immortal Bird and drumming for Thrawsunblat wasn’t enough, Errant is the solo project of the ridiculously talented Rae Amitay. Errant is quite a new project, having only released a single EP this far - but that EP was one of the best things I heard in 2020. Clocking in at less than …

163: ILLYRIA

With dreamy textures, thrilling guitars, and confronting vocals, Illyria are easily one of the most exciting upcoming bands in Australia right now. Their melody-driven blackgaze sound is exciting and often beautiful. A lot of blackgaze bands, when attempting to lean harder into the shoegaze influences, risk losing their edge entirely. Illyria suffer no such issue, …