• Deafheaven – Infinite Granite

    One could argue that Deafheaven are to so-called “blackgaze” music what the Sex Pistols were to punk rock: they weren’t the first on the scene, but the genre would be nothing without their influence. Black metal has incorporated atmospheric overtones since the early-to-mid-‘90s through the work of notorious acts like Mayhem and especially Burzum, and later groups such as Agalloch, Wolves in the Throne Room and Ireland’s own Altar of Plagues. Contemporary acts expanded upon the shoegaze Wall of Sound that tremolo picked guitars offered to include strings, synths and melodic passages, with Frenchman Neige being credited with providing the…

  • Stream: Deafheaven – From The Kettle Onto The Coil

    San Francisco’s leading black metal outfit Deafheaven have released a studio version of their new song ‘From The Kettle Onto The Coil’. The five piece, having just played a well received show at Belfast’s Mandela Hall (review here) have been playing this new song at most of their recent shows. While it sounds familiar to their 2013 breakthrough album Sunbather, it has a few notable deviations, including some chugging guitars and vocals from George Clarke that are less concealed in the mix. ‘From The Kettle Onto The Coil’ can be heard below via SoundCloud. It can be downloaded for free starting…

  • Deafheaven w/ No Spill Blood @ Mandela Hall

    The stir of Deafheaven’s first performance in Belfast is one that few could have anticipated, and even fewer will have forgotten. It was 2012, and the San Francisco black metal outfit were on their first European tour in support of post-rock heavyweights Russian Circles. The band played to an almost entirely uninitiated Speakeasy Bar that night; it wasn’t long, though, until the sheer surprise of the aural viciousness emanating from the stage transformed to excitement and awe. The room, packed full of post-rock fans,  was audibly delighted with the performance. It’s unlikely that any other black metal band in the…

  • Deafheaven – Sunbather

    Much of the discourse surrounding San Francisco’s Deafheaven has concerned how metal or otherwise they are. Though their sound is rooted in the death-obsessed subgenre of black metal, it touches on post-rock, hardcore and shoegaze, while band members George Clarke and Kerry McCoy opt for button-down shirts and side-partings over corpsepaint, leather and steel. As Clarke told The Fader recently, ““If you ever see me with a spiked jacket on, I just look like a douchebag.” They get tagged as hipsters by black metal purists, and mocked for their non-adherence to tradition. And, fortunately, they don’t appear to care a…