I have seen the band Deafheaven a few times, and I still can’t decide what genre they belong to. Obviously they are a metal band, at least they are sold like that, a death metal band, but there is something else in their music, moments of grace, lyrical parts while vocalist George Clarke always gives the most dramatic and theatrical performance. He often sounds like the wounded beast you see in horror movies, killed a million times and waking up each time with more strength and the music has this slow-burn intensity with a throbbing shoegaze, before escalating into hellish territory.
The band got a lot of press with their 2013 album Sunbather’, and they have now shared a new song ‘Come Back’ which starts like a sad lullaby before a terrible assault, a thick sonic wall with indecipherable screaming vocals bringing the song to some intense heights. It’s a long track with battles a doomed war with a screaming beast for five minutes, before all rage and anger vanish into guitar bliss, as if the band was finishing a Built to Spill song.
Deafheaven guitarist Kerry McCoy explained to Stereogum:
‘[A] lot of this record is us being like, “Look, we are a metal band. We do a lot of other stuff, but we can solo; we can have some Slayer riffs in there. There was a lot of, “Hey, what if we throw some traditional thrash metal stuff in here, but just make it our own?” And I think it worked really well.’
They certainly reach metal heights here, mixing brutal horror and pure beauty. Deafheaven’s ‘New Bermuda’ is out on October 2nd via Anti.