Post-Black Metal
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Post-black metal keeps the tremolo-picked guitar walls, blastbeats and rasped vocals of second-wave black metal but bends them toward transcendence rather than evil: major-key and suspended chord voicings ring through reverb-soaked, layered guitars, tempos swell from blast to slow post-rock crescendo, and long 7-10 minute tracks build cathartic, weeping climaxes. Production is warm and saturated rather than raw and frostbitten, often burying shrieks low in a shimmering mix. The mood is euphoric, grieving and nostalgic, trading Satanism for memory, nature and light, with clean guitar interludes, post-rock dynamics and the occasional clean croon punctuating the storm.
History
Post-black metal grew from atmospheric black metal's late-1990s drift toward beauty and nature. France was a key cradle: Neige's Alcest pivoted from raw black metal demos to the gauzy, melodic 'Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde' (2007), inventing what fans dubbed blackgaze, while Amesoeurs and Lantlôs carried the sound further. In the U.S. Pacific Northwest, Agalloch's 'The Mantle' (2002) and Wolves in the Throne Room's eco-mystical records seeded a Cascadian strain of long-form atmospheric black metal. The style detonated commercially when San Francisco's Deafheaven released 'Sunbather' (2013, Deathwish Inc.), a pink-sleeved crossover that drew mainstream press and fierce purist backlash. Brooklyn's Liturgy, Tombs and labels like Prophecy Productions and Profound Lore pushed it forward, and by the late 2010s it was metal's dominant atmospheric current.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Dream House(2013) — DeafheavenSpotifyYouTube
- Percées de Lumière(2010) — AlcestSpotifyYouTube
- Sur l'Océan Couleur de Fer(2010) — AlcestSpotifyYouTube
- Oiseaux de Proie(2016) — AlcestSpotifyYouTube
- These Nights Were Ours(2010) — LantlôsSpotifyYouTube
- I Will Lay Down My Bones Among the Rocks and Roots(2007) — Wolves in the Throne RoomSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Wikipedia: Post-black metal
- Blackgaze
- Wikipedia: Souvenirs d'un autre monde
- Sunbather (album)
- Encyclopaedia Metallum (Metal Archives): Alcest, Deafheaven, Lantlôs