Deafheaven

California sons Deafhaven are a breed apart on the heavy music scene and it’s easy to see why. Citing black metal as their primary source of inspiration, they nonetheless take cues from shoegaze but also from blackgaze, heavy metal, indie rock and alternative rock. They started out as a duo but along the way the band fleshed out into a quintet. Their second full-length, ‘Sunbather’ (2013), features just four tracks, which oscillate between caressing light and oppressive darkness in a masterfully crafted mix of shoegaze and black metal. While Sunbather aroused considerable interest in metal circles, it was their third release ‘New Bermuda’ (2015) that was greeted with commercial and critical success, turning many non-metal fans on to their music. In the following years they held fast to their this recipe until 2021’s ‘Infinite Granite’ broke the mould with almost no harsh vocals and an alternative rock-oriented approach. Their live shows are an emotional voyage but fiercer than their studio work. #GMM25