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FEATURED ALBUM
Deafheaven // Lonely People With Power
Released: March 28, 2025

Deafheaven is an artistic masterpiece. Their combination of black metal, shoegaze, post-rock, and lush soundscapes is haunting. Their music shattered the glass ceiling that typically constrains metal artists, helping them transcend barriers to the point of being invited into mainstream culture. Much like Lorna Shore catching fire on TikTok, Knocked Loose playing on Jimmy Kimmel and getting nominated for a Grammy, Deafheaven played Coachella in 2016 and was nominated for a Grammy of their own in 2019. They have done what few have done before – capture the attention of the masses and expose them to extreme metal.

The impact of their 2013 album, ‘Sunbather,’ cannot be overstated. It turned Deafheaven into a household name overnight by combining vicious black metal with bright, dreamy soundscapes. It’s an emotional, nostalgia inducing listen. Despite the pain of failure and the possibility of not amounting to much in this life, it has airs of hope and uplifting moments of triumph.

It’s impossible to fairly compare Deafheaven’s other work to ‘Sunbather.’ Although the French band Alcest is credited with creating blackgaze, ‘Sunbather’ popularized the style, turning Deafheaven into the poster boys of the genre. ‘Sunbather’ is in the hall of fame and it’s unlikely that any other work by the band will eclipse it.

Nevertheless, ‘Lonely People With Power’ gives it the best run for its money that we’ve seen yet. It builds on the signature ‘Sunbather’ style, incorporates the darkness from ‘New Bermuda,’ blends the subtle prettiness of ‘Ordinary Corrupt Human Love,’ and most surprisingly of all, finds a home for the stripped down shoegaze and velvety pop aspects of their previous album, ‘Infinite Granite.’

I must say, I was not (and still am not) a big fan of ‘Infinite Granite.’ I’m not interested in shoegaze on its own, and while it was cool to hear a more palatable version of a band known for their melancholic brutality, we already had a taste of it on ‘Ordinary Corrupt Human Love.’ A full album of watered down Deafheaven was always going to be their weakest showing.

That’s why the return to their classic style is so welcome. At the same time, it doesn’t feel like a comeback album – this is Deafheaven as they have always been. ‘Infinite Granite’ was simply an experimental side project to pass the covid years. A sidequest from which they returned more knowledgeable.

Running a little over an hour, ‘Lonely People’ is an emotional, cathartic release. Ignoring genres to confront private emotions and hidden thoughts is Deafheaven’s core identity. They focus on what it is to be human. The unique, contradictory feelings of navigating this world. The beauty, the tragedy, the unfairness. There are glimpses of social commentary under the poetic shrieks.

In terms of highlights, I like “Doberman” because the aggression drives the song forward. The build ups pay dividends as they cycle through blast beats and riffs. “The Garden Route” has a similar but more subdued style through which the heaviness ebbs and flows.

“Revelator” is perhaps the most impressive track. It’s relentless. It also contains the album title in its lyrics which is a cool nod. “Body Behavior” deserves a mention because of the unique vocals. Its overall style stands out from the others.

“Winona” and “The Marvelous Orange Tree” are also highlights, and they provide a fitting end to the album. They return to the hopeful, atmospheric style that so many people love. The blast beats are there, but they’re an energizing presence. Combined with a few clean vocals and melodic sections, the textured approach is reminiscent of ‘Sunbather.’

‘Lonely People’ exceeded all expectations. Deafheaven is an experience – best listened to from start to finish without interruption. Let it wash over and captivate you.

ADDITIONAL REVIEW
Deafheaven // Infinite Granite
Released: August 20, 2021

NOTE: I originally wrote this review in 2021 when ‘Infinite Granite’ came out, but I never posted it. Since we’re on the topic of Deafheaven, and I reference ‘Infinite Granite’ in the main review, I figured this is as good a time as any to finally get this review out there.

I’ve always been drawn to Deafheaven’s music. They were one of the bands that introduced me to post-black metal and each of their albums offers a different flavor of emotional intensity.

But to be honest, ‘Infinite Granite’ isn’t for me. The band has almost completely abandoned the black metal influences that used to be the core of their sound and the end result is an album that I would never touch if it weren’t for the Deafheaven name.

The loss of intensity, blast beats, and crescendos…I can only view it as a huge step backwards. It’s as if they flattened their sound, like they took out a dimension. There’s simply less range. Fewer possibilities. The missing intensity, the absence of that push and pull, it has resulted in an album that is devoid of the suspense and drama of their previous work.

The band has been focusing more on their shoegaze sound in recent albums, but the abandonment of their black metal elements was unexpected, especially after they released “Black Brick,” one of the heaviest songs they’ve ever made, in 2019.

If you’re into dreamy melodies and ethereal singing, you’ll like this album a lot. The most direct comparison I can make to another band I’m familiar with is Astronoid. And I guess I’ll backtrack a little bit and acknowledge that there are a few short bursts of intensity scattered throughout the album and the final song is a legitimately heavy closer. But it’s not comparable to what Deafheaven embodied up until this point. If that intensity is what you’re listening for, it’s not worth the time it takes to get to it.

Playlist of New Songs

Quick playlist highlights: This is the third week that I’m using the new playlist format. From now on, instead of making a new playlist each week, I’m going to have one single playlist that is continuously updated. I’ll keep the 100 most recently added songs on the playlist (so if I add 15 one week, that means the oldest 15 will be removed).

– Shadow of Intent – “Feeding The Meatgrinder”
Yes! What a sick lead single to announce their new album, ‘Imperium Delirium,’ which is slated to arrive on June 27. This track features George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, the vocalist from Cannibal Corpse. It can’t be a coincidence that they’re featuring Corpsegrinder on a track with “Meatgrinder” in the title. Shadow of Intent seems to be furthering their journey into death metal. There are fewer symphonic elements compared to their earlier material, but I’m pumped to see how this album turns out. The end also sounds very similar to effects we’ve heard from Humanity’s Last Breath.

– Shields – “I Just Feel Hate”
Really happy to see that Shields is mounting a comeback. Their 2018 album was super underrated. Also, their vocalist is the grandson of Stanley Kubrick (the Director of The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and a bunch of other movies). Fun fact: Shield’s vocalist is featured on Ice Nine Kills’ song titled “Enjoy Your Slay” which is about The Shining (the movie his grandfather made).

– Humanity’s Last Breath – “Anthracite”
Massive. I can’t believe Buster and Calle create music like this while prepping the new Vildhjarta album. There are very few people on their level.

– Heaven Shall Burn – “My Revocation of Compliance”
I have such a soft spot for Heaven Shall Burn. Their new album titled ‘Heimat’ comes out June 27. This track reminds me a lot of their earlier material from the 2000s. It’s kind of like old school melodic death metal. If you’re trying to break out of listening to cookie-cutter, breakdown bands, listen to Heaven Shall Burn. Their 2008 album is one of my all-time favorites.

– Woe, Is Me – “Here’s To Me (A Story To Tell , Pt. 2)”
I had to double check because the screams don’t sound like Michael Bohn (the original screamer of Woe, Is Me and Issues), but yeah, it’s him. I also didn’t realize until just now that Hance Alligood was the original singer of Woe, Is Me (although he left before their first album, which, as we all know, has Tyler Carter as the clean vocalist). Wow, so the two original vocalists, the original rhythm guitarist, and the original keyboard/programmer are all back together. They’re also joined by the lead guitarist that was in the band for the longest amount of time. So this is basically the original line up of Woe, Is Me, which is pretty cool (and the total opposite of how Attack Attack’s name has been hijacked by a bunch of outsiders). This track is kind of cheesy and is obviously trying to build off the first “A Story To Tell” where they called out Tyler Carter and the other Issues members in 2012, but it doesn’t seem targeted at anyone so I’m not seeing the connection. Seems clickbaity, but whatever. I honestly wish the best for them – if they can do anything like ‘Number[s]’ again they will immediately become a top 10 metalcore band.

– Scowl – “Not Hell, Not Heaven”
This new Scowl album is crazy good. It’s so different from everything else I’ve listened to this year. I don’t even think this song has any screams (which a lot of them do), but I don’t care, I love the chorus and the overall tenderness of the vocals against the punk backdrop. I just want to give Scowl credit for leaning into the female aspect of their sound and finding their own way to be heavy rather than trying to blend in with every other male-fronted band and giving “We’Re HeAvY ToO GuYs” energy.

– Orthodox – “Sacred Place”
Love the groovy vocals here. Reminds me of a heavier King 810. Their new album comes out June 6.

– Static Dress – “face.”
Dude, I love Static Dress. I found their 2022 album too late to include it in my album of the year list for that year, but I’ve gone back to it so many times. This track has everything I want to hear from them. The early Underoath vibes are so good.

– Allegaeon – “Chaos Theory”
These guys just released a new album and has some great death metal with technical aspects mixed in. It’s their first album after their original vocalist rejoined the band.

– Babymetal – “from me to u”
It’s kind of crazy that Babymetal and Poppy each have more than 3.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify, which is at least ten times more than every single band I’ve talked about so far (except for Scowl, who they only beat by 8x). Again, instead of conforming to the male-ness of heavy music, Poppy and Babymetal undoubtedly lean into their female appeal (Babymetal is literally kawaii metal), and it has greatly benefited them.

– Sedative – “Romeo”
Fight music with fun samples. If you like Strangled or Orphan, you’ll like these guys.

– Knosis – “Shinmon”
In case you missed it, this is the new band of Ryo Kinoshita (previous vocalist of Crystal Lake). It’s crazy how easily you can tell that it’s him. This is the best Knosis song I’ve heard so far.