šŸŽµ How Good Are They Really šŸŽµ Deafheaven

There are times I really like everything I hear by them and times I canā€™t be bothered with them.

I saw them at St Lukeā€™s in Glasgow when the sun was hitting the stained glass windows and it looked and sounded immense. I also saw them in The Classic Grand and they werenā€™t as good.

Burmuda is probably my favourite of their albums. I like the Kirk Hammet guitar solo on Baby Blue.

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I fell hard for the Black Metal revivial/reinvention from about 12ish years ago. A lot of records from that era are now all timers for me, from The Body to Liturgy, Alcest to Cobalt: thereā€™s so much ā€˜USBMā€™ or melodic Black metal or blackgaze of whatever that really sank under my skin and made me grin just as much as it irritated these true Kvlt purists who sprang out of the woodwork at the time.

I saw Deafheaven quite low down a stacked bill in Brighton that included Circle Takes the Square, Kylesa and KEN Mode. I was not impressed. Instrumentally they were tight but the frontman came across as an utter knob: confrontational staring into the crowd, posing with the mic stand, Ian-Curtis-rip-off look. The music was good but not enough to detract from him.

Fast forward to ā€˜Sunbatherā€™ and a large chunk of the world went mad for it and I just didnā€™t get it. I wanted to like it; I was genuinely prepared to give it a go despite my gig experience but it left me utterly cold. It was very very competent but nothing left an impression. I was baffled by the love and wrote them off as not for me.

I donā€™t know why I even bothered listening to ā€˜Ordinary Corrupt Human Loveā€™ after all that but I did andā€¦ I loved it! What a brilliant record. Thereā€™s much more of a sense of the music breathing, them having fun with it, being playful (and cheesy in places!) but it sticks in the brain in the way that the more calculated and tasteful ā€˜Sunbatherā€™ just didnā€™t.

Then comes ā€˜Graniteā€™ which I like but donā€™t quite love. Itā€™s great to have a Deafheaven album you can put on in the car with your scream-hating wife but it isnā€™t quite bold enough to really be an all timer for me.

3.5 rounded up to a 4 for surprising me when I had written them off.

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What was this?

Think its quite interesting how divisive a live proposition they are

George and Kerry get the focus but the rest of the band are so tight, their drummer is on a whole level to himself

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2012! Double headliner of ctts and kylesa! One of the best gigs Iā€™ve ever been to.

Ohh sorry I thought it was like an all dayer someant the rest of the bill!

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Love the new album. Without the new one, 2. With it, 4.

Excellent band. Sunbather is still my favourite album of theirs, but Iā€™ve enjoyed everything else since. I really liked their last record, I played Great Mass of Color obsessively last year

The title track off Sunbather is just so so good, the big wall of guitars just sound incredible on this

Yeah remember thinking that (again) at the weekend the drummer is just fucking phenomenonal

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My wife used to work with one of their mums. She is high up in the Nurses union and is a wonderful human and so is her son :slight_smile:

Not really my cup of tea, but they are phenomenal live.

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Score!

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3.81

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Deafheaven score 3.59

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  • Beck
  • Elvis Costello
  • Deafheaven

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Would bloody love an Elvis and Deafheaven combo album tbf (also how is Beck winning that poll)

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This is one of those BST festival lineups where theyā€™ve tried to please everyone. Ā£1.50 tickets with 2 weeks to go.

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Iā€™d pay good money to see those three on the same bill.

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I would have a fucking blast at that festival bill.

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Eater of Birds, and especially GIn are so good. Better than anything these folks have done for sure. He really knows how to write a riff!

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:+1: really rate Slow Forever too. Remarkable achievement, especially starting over with a new vocalist.

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