Alcest起初是由neige,hegnor,arguth三人共同组成的黑金属乐队,成立于1999年。随着时间的推移,Alcest逐渐演变成neige一个人的音乐载体。而音乐风格也由最初冰冷生猛的黑金属向shoegaze乃至后摇转变。2005年,Alcest发行了一张广受好评的EP,许多评论将其视为一张忧郁的黑金属唱片,但这种说法几乎让Neige沮丧得疯掉。在一次采访中他对记者说,这样的评论对他来说意味着自己没有成功而有效地传达了自己的想法。而他本人所希望的是创作出一张梦幻的赞美诗,让听者与他一起在某一个遥远的梦幻岛上旅行。&梦幻岛&是一个陪着Neige从小到大的概念,从小他就幻想着自己与远方的某片仙境之地有着某种联系。拥有如此这般法国式的浪漫气质,他自然不能接受乐评将他的音乐与&黑暗&,&焦虑&这些词语联系到一起。
2007年8月,Alcest的首张专辑发行,这是一张浪漫到骨子里的唱片。这依次,乐评们再也无法将&黑金&安在他身上,而Neige头脑中所有关于梦幻岛的美好想象也在专辑中得到诗意的体现。
Alcest is a French shoegazing band/musical project (formerly a black metal band) from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France, 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 members Aegnor and Argoth left the band, leaving Neige as the sole member.
This marked a change in style, as Alcest's subsequent releases have more often been described as shoegazing mixing numerous rock and metal influences, including black metal and post-metal. In 2009 the ex-Peste Noire's drummer Winterhalter (now in Les Discrets) joined Alcest's studio line-up, after eight years with Neige as the sole full time member. Since its creation, Alcest has released three studio albums.