Stargazer (band)

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Stargazer
Origin	Adelaide, Australia
Genre(s)	Blackened death metal, avant-garde metal
Years active	1995–present
Label(s)	Agonia
Associated acts	Mournful Congregation, Martire, Darklord, Misery's Omen
Website	www.stargazer.hm
Members
Denny Blake Damon Good Selenium
Former members
The Zelator Matthew Butt Paul Murphy

Stargazer (also written "StarGazer") is an avant-garde blackened death metal band from Australia. The band formed in Adelaide in 1995 and has often been forced into hiatus due to the departure of members or their involvement with other bands.

Stargazer was formed by Denny Blake ("The Serpent Inquisitor") on guitar, Damon Good ("The Great Righteous Destroyer") on bass and Paul Murphy providing drums and vocals. This line-up recorded a demo called "Gloat" in 1996, followed by the independently issued "Borne" EP the following year. After this, Murphy was replaced by Matt Butt ("Phoenix Chrysalis"), with Good and Blake sharing the vocal role. Butt later joined the black metal band Darklord. Around the same time, Blake and Good joined another Adelaide death metal band called Martire, a group that had originally formed in 1984 but had recently become active again. In this band, Blake played drums. The pair recorded several tracks with Martire, two of which featured on a rare split vinyl EP with American band Angelcorpse. Three more appeared on the EP "Lucifer" that was released by German label Merciless Records in 2001.

In 1999 Stargazer signed to Singapore's Dies Irae Productions and the following year released a split EP with Brisbane death metal band Invocation. Stargazer's half of the recording was titled "Harbringer" and featured seven tracks, mostly re-recordings of songs earlier featured on "Gloat" and "Borne". Butt left the band around this time and Stargazer went dormant while Blake and Good worked with other Adelaide groups including Martire and Misery's Omen. Good also proceeded with his funeral doom act Mournful Congregation. He also played bass for the Greek black metal band Zemial (which was based in Adelaide at the time) on a European tour during December 2001.

Stargazer also began work on their album The Scream That Tore the Sky as a duo during this time with Blake performing both guitars and drums and Good providing bass while both shared vocals. The first track to emerge was "Magikkian", which appeared on three compilation albums between late 2001 and 2003 and on a split 7" vinyl release with American death metal band Arghoslent in 2002. The group returned to live work in 2003 with drummer The Zelator for a tour with cult American band Nunslaughter. In 2005, the Polish label Agonia Records released The Scream That Tore the Sky and in mid-2006 Stargazer undertook a tour of Japan. Since then, Selenium has joined the band on drums and in early 2007 they supported Suffocation on several Australian dates.