StarGazer | Artist
StarGazer is an Australian Technical Death Metal band formed 1995 in Adelaide, South Australia, by Denny Blake aka The Serpent Inquisitor (guitar, lead vocals, drums), Damon Good aka The Great Righteous Destroyer (bass, fretless bass, vocals), Paul Murphy (drums, vocals), and Annunaki (guitar). Matthew Butt aka Phoenix Chrysalis (drums, vocals) replaced Murphy in 1997, then in 2005 present day drummer Selen Gol aka Selenium joined. The band's first EP was released in 1997 under the name Borne. Then in 1999 the group signed a record deal with the Singaporean label Dies Irae Productions, which issued a split release with Invocation in the same year. In 2000, Chrysalis left the group, causing the band to go on hiatus during which the members pursued other projects. During this time a split release with the US band Arghoslent came out in 2002 on Hellflame Records. A song was also used for the Terror Australis sampler. In mid-2003 the band returned with a national tour alongside NunSlaughter. In 2005 their debut album The Scream That Tore the Sky was released by Agonia Records. Appearances in Japan followed and the compilation Occidentale Magick was released by Weird Truth Productions. In early 2007, StarGazer opened for Suffocation, before a split release with Sacriphyx in 2009 via Nuclear War Now! Productions. Then followed in 2010 A Great Work of Ages on Profound Lore Records. 2017 saw the album A Merging to the Boundless released on Nuclear War Now! Productions, followed by their most recent album, 2021's Psychic Secretions. Brian Giffin in his Encyclopedia of Australian Heavy Metal describes the band's music as "a mixture of black and death metal paired with avant-garde and oriental sounds". Chroniclesofchaos.com reviewed The Scream That Tore the Sky and stated that the band only has a rudimentary connection with the thrash and death metal style, in contrast, their technically demanding modern death, black and thrash Metal style was more akin to bands like Morbid Angel and Absu. Allmusic's Phil Freeman also reviewed the album and noted that it contains a progressive mix of black and death metal, incorporating Jazz elements, fretless bass, variable drumming as well as small borrowings from post-metal, death 'n' roll, power metal and black metal. Recommended releases from StarGazer's catalogue include The Scream That Tore the Sky (2005), A Great Work of Ages / A Work of Great Ages (2010), A Merging to the Boundless (2014), and Psychic Secretions (2021). The lyrical and thematic concepts underlying their music frequently explore forms of occult knowledge with an emphasis on Occidental and Oriental mysticism. As a live act, StarGazer have been described as "nothing short of awe-inspiring".
Artist Website: stargazeraustralia.bandcamp.com
Featured Albums: StarGazer
Related Artists: Portal, Cauldron Black Ram, Mournful Congregation
