In 2013, Deafheaven’s second album Sunbather deservedly topped Metacritic’s aggregated round up of the most lavishly praised music of the year. The hype led to their first European headline tour and a memorable night that shook Whelan’s to its very foundations.
In combining black metal with shoe gaze and dream pop, the San Francisco band have stumbled on a new genre, which some fans call “blackgaze.” It is certainly not for everyone. Still, without question, they’re one of the most innovative and unique bands out there.
New Bermuda is only five tracks long, but every track is between eight and ten minutes and forms a coherent symphony of noise that has to be heard to be believed. George Clark screams his vocals in the best traditions of black metal, Kerry McCoy creates a guitar-led soundscape indebted to My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive – but also to Oasis and U2, on the closing track ‘Gifts of the Earth’.
This is dark, challenging music. You’ll either fall head over heels or run a mile.