Alcest

Alcest was founded as the Nezha solo project in 2000 ^[12] . Soon, the band was adopted by bassist Argot and lead guitarist Aegnor (later known as La sale Famine de Valfunde , in this project Nej was the drummer and rhythm guitarist in the early years of Peste Noire and even recorded the song “ La Césarienne ” for Peste Noire playing the role solo guitarist ^{[12] [13] [14] [15]} ).

In 2001, the band released a demo tape on Drakkar Productions , consisting of 4 tracks and titled Tristesse Hivernale. Shortly after the demo was released, Aegnor and Argot left the team and once again only Nezh remained in the group. From this point on, Alcest ’s activities became more of his personal creativity. Initially having founded Alcest with the goal of playing raw black metal, Nej moved away from music in a minimalist style. The result of this was the following after the Le Secret Tristesse Hivernale EP demo . This mini-album, released in May 2005, became the prototype of the new style of Blackgases , which appeared after the restoration of Alcest .

After Alcest was signed to Prophecy Productions ^[16] in March 2007, the debut album Souvenirs d'un autre monde was released in early August . ^[17] Alcest was immediately put on a par with such musicians as My Bloody Valentine and Jesu . ^{[12] [18] [19]} According to Brandon Stossi’s Pitchfork journalist, the album “is not black metal at all ” and is comparable to “ a lighter attempt to repeat Jesu's shogging .” ^[20]

In August 2007, Tristesse Hivernale was released by Northern Silence Productions Record as a split album with French black metal band Angmar . November 30, 2009 Alcest also released a split-longplay with the French group Les Discrets . ^[12]

The second Alcest album, entitled Écailles de Lune (The Scales of the Moon), was released on March 29, 2010. The album was expected by fans and received warm reviews from music critics. AllMusic journalist Ned Reggget wrote that the album " is an irresistible synthesis of theatricality of black metal and sound of sugayz, fully capturing the listener, even though the leader of the Neige group originally came to record such a sound unconsciously ." ^[21]

The third album of the group Les Voyages de l'Âme was released on January 6, 2012. The album also received positive reviews from music critics. The New York Times described it as “ so far the best example of what they [Alcest] could do .” ^[22]

Alcest’s fourth album, titled Shelter, was released on January 17, 2014 via Prophecy Productions . Birgir Jon Birgisson participated in the recording as a producer, Amiina recorded the string sections, and Neil Halstead. Stylistically, the album is a radical departure from the usual sound of the group, discarding all traces of metal from its sound and fully concentrating on the load component in its tracks ^{[23] [24]} . Nezhan later said in an interview: “ We are proud of him, but I think that maybe the album is slightly too unduly influenced by other things. I was really obsessed with Slowdive at the time. Shelter still sounds very Alcest-inspired, but maybe not as much as the other albums . ” ^[25]

On January 15, 2016, Nezh posted on Facebook on the band’s page a new album. Began recording. ^[26] He also commented that the album will be “definitely darker”. On May 16, he announced that the album is in the process of mastering . July 26 it became known that the album will be called Kodama and will be released September 30. ^[27] Nejj said that when creating a new album, he was inspired by Japanese art and culture, such as the film “ Princess Mononoke ” by Hayao Miyazaki . Musically, the album is a return to a more traditional blackgame sound of the group. ^{[11] [27]}

On January 22, 2019, the band announced on its social network page that it would start recording a new studio album the next day. ^[28]

On April 10, 2019, the band announced it had signed a contract with Nuclear Blast . The message posted on the label's website also said that the musicians continue to record the sixth studio album, while not having a name, and are planning a series of live performances at music festivals in the USA and Europe in 2019. ^[29]

During his career, the collective changed the vector of its musical development several times. Although their first demo Tristesse hivernale is an example of raw black metal, their debut mini-album is viewed by many as the first black- gage album , and therefore the band is recognized as the pioneer of this genre. ^{[8] [9]} After the recording of Le Secret and before the release of Shelter, the group was compared to both black metal bands such as Burzum and Ulver , for using coarse, extreme vocals, screaming , blasting and , along with fast guitar tremolo plays, and with drag groups such as Slowdive creating a massive sound wall effect,. ^{[8] [9]} The album, released by Alcest in 2014 and called Shelter, was a significant departure from the usual sound, a pure shoelace that completely eliminated all traces of the influence of metal. ^{[10] [30]} However, Kodama’s next album was a partial return to Blackheather of the band’s early work. ^[eleven]

According to Nezha, being a child, he had experience of contact with a “distant country”, which he generally compares with “fairy land of fairies”. ^[31] Alcest for him serves as a means of musical adaptation of memories from this "other world". ^{[12] [32]} According to Nezha, Alcest is a journey for the listener to this magical world through his memories, the purpose of the musicians was to create a "otherworldly, unearthly, nostalgic sound". For this purpose, elements of the black metal and shoegaze styles were used, although initially the group did not set a goal to play in any particular of these two styles. ^[33]

Studio albums

EP

• Le Secret (2005, rewritten version released in 2011)
• BBC Live Session (2012)

Split Albums

• Aux Funérailles du Monde ... / Tristesse Hivernale with Angmar (2007)
• Alcest / Les Discrets with Les Discrets (2009)

Singles

• Autre Temps (2011)
• Opale (2013)

Demo

• Tristesse Hivernale (2001)

Clips

• "Autre Temps" (2011)
• Les Voyages de l'Âme (2012)
• Opale (2013)