History Music / Deafheaven

Deafheaven is a BlackMetal band from San Francisco, CA. Along with Music/{{Alcest}}, they are one of the pioneering bands of the post-black metal/blackgaze subgenre, which combines the tremolo picking, blast beats, and HarshVocals of black metal with the sunny atmosphere of shoegaze and post-rock song structures. They started off as a two piece consisting of vocalist George Clarke and guitarist Kerry [=McCoy=], under which they self-released a demo. After this got them some notoriety, they recruited new members to fill out their lineup and released their debut record ''Roads to Judah'' in 2011, which attained critical acclaim from the music press and put them on the map. They ''really'' took off in 2013, when they released their sophomore album ''Music/{{Sunbather}}'' to widespread critical acclaim, becoming the most praised album of ''any'' genre in 2013 on Metacritic, the first metal band to ever do so. Despite this, they became something divisive among the metal community, with many people decrying them as being "hipster metal". Undaunted, the band continued touring and released a third record, ''New Bermuda'', in 2015. This album featured a stronger metal sound, with an increased preponderance of heavy guitar riffs and less shoegaze influence. The band is set to release their fourth studio album, ''Ordinary Corrupt Human Love'' in July 2018.

* Stephen Clark - Bass

* DrugsAreBad: "Windows" samples [=McCoy=] buying drugs in order to contrast the real-life hell of addiction with the metaphysical hell the preacher earlier in the track is ranting about. Evidently ''Roads to Judah'' was partially inspired by "a year of substance abuse" as well.

!!Tropes:

Deafheaven is a BlackMetal band from San Francisco, CA. Along with Music/{{Alcest}}, they are one of the pioneering bands of the post-black metal/blackgaze subgenre, which combines the tremolo picking, blast beats, and HarshVocals of black metal with the sunny atmosphere of shoegaze and post-rock song structures. They started off as a two piece consisting of vocalist George Clarke and guitarist Kerry [=McCoy=], under which they self-released a demo. After this got them some notoriety, they recruited new members to fill out their lineup and released their debut record ''Roads to Judah'' in 2011, which attained critical acclaim from the music press and put them on the map. They ''really'' took off in 2013, when they released their sophomore album ''Music/{{Sunbather}}'' to widespread critical acclaim, becoming the most praised album of ''any'' genre in 2013 on Metacritic, the first metal band to ever do so. Despite this, they became something of a BaseBreaker among the metal community, with many people decrying them as being "hipster metal". Undaunted, the band continued touring and released a third record, ''New Bermuda'', in 2015. This album featured a stronger metal sound, with an increased preponderance of heavy guitar riffs and less shoegaze influence. The band is set to release their fourth studio album, ''Ordinary Corrupt Human Love'' in July 2018.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The demo is mostly (apart from "Exit:Denied") fairly standard BlackMetal with little hints of PostRock or {{Shoegazing}} influence.

* EpicRocking: Excluding instrumental interludes, the band's average song length is nearly ten minutes long. The longest is "Vertigo", at 14:32.

Deafheaven is a BlackMetal band from San Francisco, CA. Along with Music/{{Alcest}}, they are one of the pioneering bands of the post-black metal/blackgaze subgenre, which combines the tremolo picking, blast beats, and HarshVocals of black metal with the sunny atmosphere of shoegaze and post-rock song structures. They started off as a two piece consisting of vocalist George Clarke and guitarist Kerry [=McCoy=], under which they self-released a demo. After this got them some notoriety, they recruited new members to fill out their lineup and released their debut record ''Roads to Judah'' in 2011, which attained critical acclaim from the music press and put them on the map. They ''really'' took off in 2013, when they released their sophomore album ''Music/{{Sunbather}}'' to widespread critical acclaim, becoming the most praised album of ''any'' genre in 2013 on Metacritic[[note]]including a five-star rating from Allmusic, a rating the site does not often give to modern albums, especially modern metal albums.[[/note]], the first metal band to ever do so. Despite this, they became something of a BaseBreaker among the metal community, with many people decrying them as being "hipster metal". Undaunted, the band continued touring and released a third record, ''New Bermuda'', in 2015. This album featured a stronger metal sound, with an increased preponderance of heavy guitar riffs and less shoegaze influence. The band is set to release their fourth studio album, ''Ordinary Corrupt Human Love'' in July 2018.

!!Demos, EPs, and Singles

Deafheaven is a BlackMetal band from San Francisco, CA. Along with Music/{{Alcest}}, they are one of the pioneering bands of the post-black metal/blackgaze subgenre, which combines the tremolo picking, blast beats, and HarshVocals of black metal with the sunny atmosphere of shoegaze and post-rock song structures. They started off as a two piece consisting of vocalist George Clarke and guitarist Kerry [=McCoy=], under which they self-released a demo. After this got them some notoriety, they recruited new members to fill out their lineup and released their debut record ''Roads to Judah'' in 2011, which attained critical acclaim from the music press and put them on the map. They ''really'' took off in 2013, when they released their sophomore album ''Music/{{Sunbather}}'' to widespread critical acclaim, becoming the most praised album of ''any'' genre in 2013 on Metacritic[[note]]including a five-star rating from Allmusic, a rating the site does not often give to modern albums, especially modern metal albums.[[/note]], the first metal band to ever do so. Despite this, they became something of a BaseBreaker among the metal community, with many people decrying them as being "hipster metal". Undaunted, the band continued touring and released a third record, ''New Bermuda'', in 2015. This album featured a stronger metal sound, with an increased preponderance of heavy guitar riffs and less shoegaze influence.

!!Core discography
* 2010 - Demo

* 2012 - Split (with Bosse-de-Nage)

* 2015 - "From the Kettle Onto the Coil" (Single)

Deafheaven is a BlackMetal band from San Francisco, CA. Along with Music/{{Alcest}}, they are one of the pioneering bands of the post-black metal/blackgaze subgenre, which combines the tremolo picking, blast beats, and HarshVocals of black metal with the sunny atmosphere of shoegaze and post-rock song structures. They started off as a two piece consisting of vocalist George Clarke and guitarist Kerry [=McCoy=], under which they self-released a demo. After this got them some notoriety, they recruited new members to fill out their lineup and released their debut record ''Roads to Judah'' in 2011, which attained critical acclaim from the music press and put them on the map. They ''really'' took off in 2013, when they released their sophomore album ''Music/{{Sunbather}}'' to widespread critical acclaim, becoming the most praised album of ''any'' genre in 2013 on Metacritic, the first metal band to ever do so. Despite this, they became something of a BaseBreaker among the metal community, with many people decrying them as being "hipster metal". Undaunted, the band continued touring and released a third record, ''New Bermuda'', in 2015. This album featured a stronger metal sound, with an increased preponderance of heavy guitar riffs and less shoegaze influence.

!!Tropes

* SubduedSection: Most of their metal songs have them.

* BlackMetal: They're generally considered this, though the band have claimed they don't consider themselves a black metal band. That said, it's certainly a huge element of their sound.

* '''MindScrew''': The album ''Sunbather'' is described as a concept album that "deals with the profound sadness found in the quest for one's personal perfection... serving as an artistic lucid dream of warmth despite the stinging pain of life's cruel idealism". Even if you read the lyrics, you'll be stumped over what they really mean.

* PostRock: "Windows" sounds so much like a Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor song it's surreal. Most of their instrumental pieces are pretty influenced by this genre, while the black metal songs are still influenced by it but not as much. And, as mentioned above, they covered two songs by PostRock band Music/{{Mogwai}} for a split with fellow Bay Area BlackMetal band Bosse-de-Nage.

* {{Sampling}}[=/=]SpokenWordInMusic:

* {{Screamo}}: Certainly an influence on ''Sunbather'', although possibly not as much as some people would like you to believe.
* {{Shoegaze}}: An influence on the band's layered guitar sound.

** "Please Remember" features a sample of Neige of Music/{{Alcest}} reading a passage from Creator/MilanKundera's novel ''The Unbearable Lightness of Being''.

Deafheaven is a BlackMetal band from San Francisco, CA.

* BlackMetal: Regardless of whether genre purists like it or not.

Deafheaven is a BlackMetal band from San Francisco, CA. They tend to be one of the biggest {{Base Breaker}}s in the genre: they have garnered a staggering amount of critical acclaim (Metacritic declared ''Sunbather'' the best-reviewed album of the year of ''any genre'' in 2013, which was the first time a metal album received this honour), but the band has also been attacked for [[NoTrueScotsman "watering down" black metal]] with PostRock, {{Screamo}}, and {{Shoegaze}} influences, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking songs written in major keys, and pink album covers]]. The band's music remains very much a LoveItOrHateIt affair; mentioning them, either positively or negatively, on some black metal forums is instant FlameBait.

* LighterAndSofter: Than most other black metal, which is no doubt one reason they are such a BaseBreaker.

** "Please Remember" features a sample of Neige of Music/{{Alcest}} reading a passage from Milan Kundera's novel ''The Unbearable Lightness of Being''.

* PostRock: "Windows" sounds so much like a Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor song it's surreal. Most of their instrumental pieces are pretty influenced by this genre, while the black metal songs are still influenced by it but not as much.

* HarshVocals

* SubduedSection: Most of their metal songs have them.

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