Alcest is a French post-black metal band from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, Occitanie, France. They fuse black metal and shoegaze together to create a "blackgaze" sound. They originally began as a pure black metal band in their early demo days, but after Neige was the only band member left, he recorded the EP Le Secret, which began the blackgaze sound.

In 2007, Alcest signed with Prophecy Productions, and released their first full album, Souvenirs d'un autre monde. (Memories from another world)

In 2009, the recording of Écailles de Lune led to the joining of Alcest's drummer, Winterhalter. Since then, the band went on to release multiple other albums. In 2016, the long-time live bassist for the band, Indria Saray, joined the band in the studio lineup. and in 2019, the band signed with Nuclear Blast Records and released their latest album, Spiritual Instinct.

In 2016, they released the Kodama album. The album borrows asiatic music themes, as well as adopting a more dreamier style of blackgaze.