Written Before Listen
Deafheaven Is a Bay Area metal band known to be one of the most popular in todays metal scene. Just like some people, I've only listened to one Deafheaven album, Sunbather. I've only listened to Sunbather once and I remember how different it was to other metal. It was like a dreamy and ethereal version of black metal, which is usually harsh, dark, and haunting. This was actually more melancholic than aggressive. We now enter 2021, and they just released a new album “Infinite Granite” and with that being said, let’s give this thing a listen.
Production
The production on this album is a lot similar to Sunbather but in different ways. The guitars are still distorted, the drums are still heavy and the vocals are still buried in the mix, but it's done differently. There are a lot of effects put into the guitars such as delay and modulation. The drums have blemishes of tambourine and shakers throughout the album and the bass is a lot more prevalent in the mix too. Overall, the production is actually really good. I like the heavy drums and the blemishes of percussion and effects on this record. It’s sonically a job well done.
Genre Bending
Deafheaven is not just a black metal band, with the exception of this record. They aren’t even a black metal band on this album. Surely they have some slight instances of black metal such as the walls of sound on “Lament For Wasps”, the shrieks at the end of “Villain” and the very end of the final track too. Other than that, Deafheaven basically creates an Alternative Rock album fusing the likes of Shoegaze and Dream Pop. There are also slight elements of Post-Rock and Space Rock on this album as well as the album throughout has very linear psychedelia to it. Overall, this might not be the most unique instance of this style of music, but they do it well enough for enjoyment.
Influences
Now, to the gripes of the album, It’s pretty derivative. A lot of the Shoegaze and Dream Pop fuses are very reminiscent of the heavyweights of those genres such as Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine. Also, a lot of the post-rock flashes and the slight black metal flashes are just cliches. If it wasn’t for them fusing together in a way that no one else really has, I would discredit this thing by being unoriginal, but fortunately, they bring some new light to the table.
Performance
As Deafheaven as a band goes, they also struggle to give variety to this album. There’s really one track that doesn’t go in a Shoegaze/Dream Pop direction and it’s the Tangerine Dream esc interlude “Neptune Raining Diamonds”. Even then, I feel like most people would discredit this thing as an actual track and just an interlude. The genre-bending is impressive and done excessively well, but alongside being derivative, it’s also redundant.
Cons
Other than what I just mentioned, there really isn’t that much else. Surely there are strong gripes of mine towards the album and it does become frustrating at the tail end of the album, but that’s about it. Deafheaven does a solid job transforming out of black metal.
Verdict
This was pretty good, That’s really my thoughts. It's a pretty good shoegaze album and one of the best I’ve heard yet (despite not hearing that many shoegaze albums this year). I feel like if they continue in this direction, they will definitely create something better than this.