Deafheaven, an American black metal-shoegaze fusion band based in San Francisco, recently released their sixth studio album: Lonely People with Power. The band formed in 2010 and is most well-known for their second record, Sunbather. They’re often cited as having popularized the black metal-shoegaze fusion sound, or “blackgaze” if you will.
The group’s latest album was released March 28 this year. I find the album to be a great addition to the band’s discography. It definitely leans more towards the heavier black metal side with its strained shrieks and heavily distorted thrash-like guitar; however, the record still has more atmospheric, mellowed-out moments laced throughout the whole project reminiscent of the style seen on the band’s 2013 album Sunbather.
The album has various shifts from grand sounding, atmospheric, metal noise to soft, lush, shoegaze-inspired sections with occasional spoken word lyrics, as in the case in the song “Incidental III”. Though the songs I found to be the greatest highlights of the album were “Amethyst,” “Incidental II (feat. Jae Matthews),” “Revelator,” and “Winona.”
The song “Amethyst,” the sixth track of the album, is probably most emblematic of this combination of sounds, blending a slow-paced atmospheric first half with an overwhelming black metal-inspired end. The following song, “Incidental II (feat. Jae Matthews),” is a downright amazing track; Matthews’ vocals are wonderful and complement the tense nature of the instrumental, perfectly reflecting the great production on the record. “Revelator” comes right out of the gate with pure black metal-inspired greatness and is perhaps the most energetic song on the album, making its slow and sombre outro an unexpected yet very strong finish. The song “Winona” blends the shoegaze and black metal inspirations the best out of any song on this record, however. If I were to think of any song that best encapsulates what blackgaze sounds like, “Winona” would be one of the first songs to come to mind.
This is not to say that the rest of the songs on this album are in any way forgettable or as significant. I can truly say that I thoroughly enjoyed this album front to back. This record has a strong start, a captivating mid-section, and a great cathartic end. It is a well-crafted album with great production and a striking, unique sound reminiscent of Deafheaven’s signature sound. If you’re in the mood for an adventurous genre-bending album, I’d recommend you to check out this record; I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
