CELESTE

Celeste biography
Celeste are a blackened post-metal quartet from Lyon, France. The band were founded in 2005 by vocalist Johan Girardeau and guitarist Guillaume Rieth (both members of soon-to-be-dissolved screamo band Mihai Edrisch) along with drummer Antoine Royer and bassist Antoine Kerbrat. Celeste's dense and pummeling sound fuses atmospheric sludge, hardcore and black metal, though the group consider the latter mostly incidental as they have little familiarity with the subgenre, influenced more by post-metal acts such as Neurosis, Cult of Luna, Callisto, Breach and Shora.

With six full-length albums to their name, Celeste were signed to Denovali Records from their debut 2006 EP Pessimiste(s) up to 2021, jumping ship to join Nuclear Blast. Celeste sought to outdo themselves as performers and songwriters with each release, issuing one a year beginning with 2008's Nihiliste(s) and increasing their intensity and aggression until self-admittedly running out of steam by 2010's Morte(s) Nee(s). Having reached their noisy apex, the band consciously took time to refine and shape their work moving forward, focusing more on melody and expanding their stylistic range with 2013's Animale(s), 2017's Infidèle(s) (the first to feature guitarist Sébastien Ducotté, who replaced Kerbrat in 2013), 2022's Assassine(s) and the 2023 Epilogue(s) EP. Playing hundreds of shows around the world, Celeste are notorious for their pitch-black live performances, piercing the dark stage with the eerie red of the band members' headlamps. Delivered exclusively in French, Girardeau's lyrics are a pointed social critique touching upon war, religion, innocence lost and women's rights.

Celeste come recommended to fans of Amenra, Year of No Light, Regarde les Hommes Tomber, Déluge and Hexis.



- Gordy