Deafheaven

Tokyo four-piece formed around 2017 by guitarist Adel and drummer Kazuma, later completed by vocalist Nana Yokota and bassist Junichi, fusing black metal blast beats and screamo intensity with a blurred, melodic shoegaze wall of sound (blackgaze). Debut album Doukei (2020) and follow-up Reikoku (2023) were both reissued for European/vinyl distribution via Gerpfast Record in 2025. Reviewers describe an intentionally raw, unpolished production framing gloomy, emotionally introspective post-metal songwriting.

胎海 (Taikai)play in the dock

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Oathbreaker are a Belgian band formed in Ghent in 2008, evolving from crust/screamo into the atmospheric post-black metal of their acclaimed 2016 album Rheia on Deathwish Inc. Fronted by Caro Tanghe, whose delivery ranges from fragile singing to full-throated screams, they are part of Amenra's Church of Ra collective. Rheia was recorded by Jack Shirley, the engineer behind Deafheaven's records, situating the band squarely within the modern blackgaze lineage.

Alcest is a French band formed in 2000 in Bagnols-sur-Cèze by multi-instrumentalist Neige (Stéphane Paut), initially as a solo black metal project. Widely credited with pioneering blackgaze and post-black metal, the band pairs black metal's tremolo and blast-beats with the shimmering, ethereal textures of shoegaze and dream pop to evoke Neige's recurring theme of a luminous 'other world.' Since 2009 Alcest has been a duo of Neige and drummer Winterhalter, releasing albums such as Souvenirs d'un autre monde (2007), Les Voyages de l'âme (2012) and Kodama (2016) on Prophecy Productions before moving to Nuclear Blast.

Autre Tempsplay in the dock

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The solo, day-to-day-reality-grounded counterpart project of Dallas, TX multi-instrumentalist Garry Brents (also of Cara Neir and Gonemage), formed 2021. Tagged Avant-garde Black Metal / Grindcore on Metal Archives, Homeskin is built around rapid, often sub-24-hour recording sessions, intentional tape-wobbling production, and a hazy, melancholic take on black metal shot through with post-hardcore, screamo and noise-rock influences. Brents deliberately ended the project at its 17th release, 'End's Daze Without Organs,' after a self-imposed 15-month arc.

Cries Methodicallyplay in the dock

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Al-Kamar is a Japanese blackgaze/depressive black metal project, essentially the solo work of a musician known as Tsukisima, begun in 2010 as a doujin circle arranging Touhou Project music before evolving into an atmospheric post-black/shoegaze sound that incorporates Vocaloid/voice-synthesis vocals. Live performances feature supporting musicians; the self-titled 2022 album marked a deliberate return to black metal roots.

Avhath is a Jakarta blackened-crust quintet that fuses d-beat hardcore beatdowns with post-black metal riffing and a blackgaze-adjacent haze that's earned them Metal Archives' 'Post-Black Metal/Crust/Shoegaze' tag. Twice AMI Award winners for Best Metal Production, they've built a dense split/EP discography with regional peers and, in 2024, a full collaborative record with fellow Indonesian experimentalists KUNTARI.

Hallowed Groundplay in the dock

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Dëgénéréscence is a French black metal project, active since 2019, centered on the musician known as Infämie, who handles vocals and all instruments. The project is affiliated with the Cërcle Mortüaire collective (alongside Feuille Morte, Mortuaire, Olatom Amespïrïa and others) and released albums such as Hélas ! Je n'étais pas fait pour cette haine... (2020) and ...Ainsi ! Nous dansâmes aux limbes détestées... (2022) through Drakkar Productions. Its sound is catalogued as depressive/atmospheric black metal shading into blackgaze, pairing raw riffing with piano-led, ambience-forward passages.

Blut aus Nord is a French avant-garde black metal project from Mondeville, formed 1994 by Vindsval, evolving toward dissonant, industrialized and 'black hole metal' territory on The Work Which Transforms God (2003) and MoRT (2006). Later work such as Hallucinogen (2019) shifts into shoegaze-y, melodic and psychedelic territory. The band explicitly rejects black-metal orthodoxy in favor of an atmospheric 'artistic concept.'

Laster is a Dutch avant-garde black metal trio from Utrecht, active since 2012, that has steadily dissolved conventional black metal form into a hybrid of art rock, new wave, and shoegaze. Their Dutch-language lyrics dwell on love, distress, and identity across albums like Ons vrije fatum and Andermans mijne. In 2023 they toured Europe as support for Japanese avant-garde metal veterans Sigh.

Bitterzoetplay in the dock

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Elagabalus is a Baltimore, Maryland avant-garde black metal duo formed in 2014 by Dustin Swanson (bass, vocals, synth) and Ben Price (drums, vocals, guitar). Across Damnatio Memoriae (2015), Antiquarian Black MIDI (2017), and Dark Money (2018), the project layers synthesizers over black-metal instrumentation, drawing press comparisons to Neurosis, My Bloody Valentine, Godflesh, and Nirvana. Dark Money is tagged 'doomgaze/shoegaze' on Bandcamp and explores themes of financial corruption and power through a cinematic, synth-heavy sound.