What Austrian black metal band influenced the Blackgaze genre?
Blackgaze Blackgaze is a fusion genre combining elements of black metal and shoegazing. 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." Influenced by atmospheric black metal bands like Ulver and Summoning, the genre was pioneered by French musician Neige around 2005 through the projects Alcest and Amesoeurs and has risen to prominence with the success of American group Deafheaven. "The Guardian" named Deafheaven "blackgaze's de facto poster boys, the most likely to open up black metal to an even wider audience", and "Exclaim!" described their second album "Sunbather" – the most critically acclaimed album of 2013 on Metacritic – as seminal to blackgaze.
Meister Mephisto Meister Mephisto is the first full-length album by Norwegian experimental black/thrash band Sturmgeist, the, then solo, project of Cornelius Jakhelln. It was released on 24 January 2005. It is the 94th release by French record label, Season Of Mist. A live drummer was originally planned to be involved with the recording, but Jakhelln wound up programming the drums instead, making Meister Mephisto the first time Jakhelln released an album that was an individual effort after being a professional musician since 1995. In an interview for Nocturnal Horde, Jakhelln stated that the music on the album was influenced by living for a month in Weimar, Germany. In a press release for Blabbermouth.net Jakhelln stated "it is no coincidence if Meister Mephisto has Germanic culture as its scene and source. In support of the album, Jakhelln garnered support from various Norwegian musicians, including drummer, Asgeir Mickelson of Borknagar and Spiral Architect fame, and went on a European tour with Season of Mist label mates, Carpathian Forest.