Deafheaven - Sunbather

1. Dream House
2. Irresistible
3. Sunbather
4. Please Remember
5. Vertigo
6. Windows
7. The Pecan Tree

It's hard to imagine 10 years ago the position Black Metal would be in right now. With the emergence of the post-rock and shoegaze induced style back in 2005 called Blackgaze, many BM purist sought to belittle this new 'genre' calling it hipster metal, questioning weather or not these new bands had the same respect for the music that the original innovators of music had. You can't really measure respect, emotion or passion, so it's a hard thing to criticize another bands motives in that regard without knowing the musicians personally, if they are just riding a popularity wave or if they truly immerse themselves in the creative aspect of music, pushing new boundaries and exploring new sounds. What we can do however, is listen to what we are given to listen to. Deafheaven shook the BM genre to the core more than any BM band had in recent memory, and Roads to Judah was one of the most polarizing metal albums of the year. I see Sunbather being no different. Watching Deafheaven grow as a band has been remarkable, after seeing one of their first ever live performances on the East Coast touring for their first album was a breathtaking experience. You will first see die hard fans hyping the album up, then haters coming in and destroying album rating due to their prejudice, and it's really a shame that the music industry is coming to that. Deafheavens blatantly obvious attempt at changing the face of the genre of Black Metal forever, in their bright pink cover art and dream-pop-esque song titles will come with much resistance, and it really saddens me that people can't just sit back and simply enjoy the music. If we all throw away everything we know about what BM should be and just LISTEN, it's going to be fairly obvious that Deafheaven are the real deal when it comes to making this style of music, and that the genre is in good hands and everyone should just chill the fuck out.

I need to write a proper review to this sometime soon. This album in my opinion, along with Roads to Judah are just massive and immense achievements in music, regardless of genre. Whenever bands come along and spark so much controversy, you know something special is happening. I just love everything about this bands image, humble attitude and unique style.

I can't put myself in a position to give this a perfect album rating, as I take my 5's very very seriously, only rating five albums with that score on RYM, but this is just an amazing album full of soaring atmospheres and gorgeous sounds, that its the closest thing to a 5 without being so. 4.75/5. I pre-ordered the vinyl for this and got the digital download, and I suggest you do too!

If you're interested in seeing my review I wrote and published for this first album, check it out here, I believe it's some of the best writing I've ever done.

United States, 2013

Atmospheric Black Metal, Shoegaze, Post-Rock

Website/BUY // ZS