Celestia was a French

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

band from

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

, formed in 1995 by Noktu. Noktu was the only consistent member of the band. Celestia disbanded in 2015. Celestia remained in the demo stage until around 1999 when they released the EP ''A Cave Full of Bats'' through

Drakkar Productions Drakkar Productions is a French record label that has released many recordings of black metal bands throughout the world, on CD, cassette and vinyl. They have usually limited the prints to 1,000 copies or less, but some have been known to vary. ...

with a lineup consisting of Noktu (vocals, bass) and Fureïss/Franck (guitar). A few more demos, singles, split albums and a live album were done before they finally released their first studio album ''Apparitia - Sumptuous Spectre'' (2002) through

Full Moon Productions Full Moon Productions was a record company started in 1991''Full Moon Productions''
accessed on 23 January 2013.

with the drummer Astreyla added to the lineup. The two main members of Celestia were Noktu and Fureïss. Fureïss was the only guitarist for Celestia from 1998 to 2005, i.e. from the promo tape ''A Dying Out Ecstasy'' (1998) until the second mix of the 2002 album ''Apparitia Sumptuous Spectre'' in 2005, and he composed half the songs (the other half by Noktu) and arranged and recorded all the tracks on Celestia during this time. The latter-day lineup was Noktu (vocals, guitar, bass) and Ghaast (guitar). With the drummer Astreyla, who had previously left the band, they recorded Celestia's second album ''Frigidiis Apotheosia : Abstinencia Genesiis'', released in 2008 through Apparitia Records; they generally kept the same minimalistic black metal sound. Malefic (

Xasthur Xasthur () is the project of American musician Scott "Malefic" Conner. Conner formed Xasthur in 1995 and released eight studio albums of black metal by 2010, when he announced the end of the project. However, he began using the name once again i ...

), a guest on the album, also added some keyboards to the music. Various session drummers and guitarists were brought in for rehearsals, recordings and live shows. Noktu also owns a record label called

, on which he released some of

The Black Legions ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

(a group of French underground black metal bands) albums. Noktu also played in the band Mortifera, on guitar, bass and vocals, while Neige (

Alcest Alcest is a French post-black metal band from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, founded and led by Neige (Stéphane Paut). It began in 2000 as a black metal solo project by Neige, soon a trio, but following the release of their first demo in 2001, band membe ...

) handled the drums, half of the vocals and composed tracks such as "Ciel Brouillé" and "Le Revenant". Mortifera has almost the same sound as Celestia. Also, Noktu has played in Genocide Kommando and Gestapo 666.

Discography

Demos

*"Evanescence" demo (1997) *"A Dying Out Ecstasy" demo (1998) *"Infected by Rats" demo (1999) *"The Awakening of the Dormant Fiancée" demo (1999) *"Pourriture et Vermine" demo (1999) *"Dead Insecta Sequestration" demo (2001) *"Delhÿs-cätess" demo (2007)

EPs

*"A Cave Full of Bats" EP (1999) *"Spectra" 7" single (2000) *"Evoking Grace and Splendour" 7" single (2002)

Albums

*''Apparitia - Sumptuous Spectre'' (2002)

Full Moon Productions Full Moon Productions was a record company started in 1991''Full Moon Productions''
accessed on 23 January 2013.

*''Frigidiis Apotheosia : Abstinencia Genesiis'' (2008) Apparitia Recordings *''Archaenae Perfectii'' (2010) Apparitia Recordings *''Aetherra'' (2017)

Live albums

*''Under the Reign of Terror and Tyranny'' (1999)

Split albums and collaborations

*Split with Draugwath (1998) *Split with Inferno (1999) *''French-Southern Black Metal War'' split with Evil (1999) *''Darkness Enfold the Sky/Black Slaughterization'' split with Goatfire (2001)

Best of/compilations

*''A Cave Full of Bats'' best of (2002) *''Crucified Dead Flesh'' (2003) *''Dead Insecta Sequestraton'' (2003)

References

* * * *

External links

Official Celestia website

Celestia MySpace Homepage

Celestia
on

Encyclopaedia Metallum Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives (commonly known as Metal Archives per the URL or abbreviated as MA) is an online encyclopedia based upon musical artists who predominantly perform heavy metal music along with its various sub-genres. E ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Celestia French black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1995 French musical duos Musical groups from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur