Deafheaven – Sunbather

June 11, 2013 • Deathwish Inc.

Finally time to weigh in my two cents on Sunbather; I figure the hype has died off enough by now. I remember hearing their first album Roads to Judah when it came out back in 2011 and enjoying it, though I haven't listened to them since until very recently with this new album. And it's an okay album, sure; it's quite good but I think fawned over a little too much.

While the "blackgaze" thing has been really popular lately, I have to hand it to Deafheaven for putting together a pretty good version of the sound. It's some pretty intense music, with walls of loud tremolo guitar and blastbeats and harsh screams all over. But it's also got plenty of dynamics—there are lots of softer interludes with pseudo-post-rock flourishes and slower, sludgier sections as well. (For the former, I really love "Vertigo"'s intro, especially that bass.)

Also unlike most black metal, the album is largely played in a major key to get a more grandiose feel to the songs. I think this actually works really well most of the time; we've seen it before with bands like ColdWorld but Deafheaven do it well too. The title track in particular is a great example of that kind of tone working well; it has a great contrast of major and minor riffing that makes it really interesting. Most of the riffs themselves aren't particularly catchy or memorable, but it's the textures and moods that really make the album. Think more Godspeed rather than Immortal, especially in those interludes.

On the other side of the coin, while Sunbather is definitely good, it's not quite as special as everyone has made it out to be. I guess it's the extreme amount of hype and press and its broader appeal that lead it to garner a lot of praise—mostly deserving, I'll admit—but it's not like this is the first album like it ever to be made. Anyone reading my recent black metal reviews know that I go through lots of albums like this. Yes, this is one of the better ones, but it's not the only one.

That being said, I still think this is absolutely a worthwhile album for fans of this sound. And if it just so happens to turn on a lot of people who didn't know about it before, all the better. For me, it's not something I'm going to spin every day, but it's not an album I'll forget too easily, either. I do know that it will definitely be interesting to see how this new trajectory affects Deafheaven and where they go next.

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