Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

this has a lot more stylistic diversity than regular bm by a wide margin D:

Album Rating: 5.0

definitely can’t think of another bm album that even approaches this in terms of its wide amount of influences and diversity lol

Album Rating: 2.5

What about the discographies of Imperial Triumphant, Jute Gyte, Krallice, Cormorant, the latest Ashenspire album, and so on? Even if all these bands are not strictly black metal outfits their core aesthetic is clearly still anchored in that broader musical world, yet their palette of musical influences and overall approach is a lot more varied than anything Deafheaven has done in my view. By contrast, the blackgaze approach of Deafheaven has been long established as its own subgenre at this point and, as far as I could tell, this current record is closer to by-the-numbers black metal than even some of Deafheaven's earlier material: blast beats, repeating tremelo riffs (and some more standard metal riffs), harsh screeching vocals, interspersed with occassional softer shoegazy sections (that is the blackgaze for you), peaks-and-valleys compositional structures building to intense black metal climaxes, et cetera. Furthermore, there is a lot of what might be referred to colloquially as 'dissonant' black metal that in my opinion is quite a lot more musically (and conceptually) interesting than what is going on here: think (later) Deathspell Omega, (early) Serpent Column, more experimental outfits like Kostnateni (in particular their latest two records) et cetera.



P.S. when I said this is not all that exceptional vis-à-vis the wider black metal world I really meant the entire black metal world, including its more experimental/avant-garde/progressive edges. Even still, how much more stylistically varied than say Alcest or Der Weg Einer Freiheit is this really?

Album Rating: 3.0

Yep. Stylistically diverse vs 'regular bm' was a fair comment, as a lot of the og first wave stuff (and revival acts that have been influenced by it) is often fairly narrow in where its cues are taken from. However, as you have pointed out there are also many artists who have incorporated a much wider sphere of influences into their sound. Those who are still bm at their core, or use it as a primary driver in the overall package, but venture far, far from the constraints of the wider genre. Deafheaven are neither unique in that regard, or even one of the more 'adventurous' or eclectic examples imo.

P.S. nice pick in Jute Gyte, as they don't get mentioned often enough

Album Rating: 2.5

Second all of what Demon said above. Again, perhaps I should have been more clear about what I meant regarding the non-exceptionality of Deafheaven in relation to the broader black metal world. I agree that their general approach, even going back to Sunbather is more varied than a lot of the earlier Scandinavian stuff (which I have never extensively listened to nor enjoyed all that much, I must admit) or what passes for black metal revival (of which I could say the same). Jute Gyte were the first example of weird microtonal stuff in black metal that came to my mind (and that is not the only weird thing about them). Victory Over The Sun (whose latest record I listened to recently) would be another interesting example of that.

Album Rating: 3.5

Also stylistically my fav weird black metal project is thy catalfaque, that shits crazy. But i guess i dont listen to as much traditional BM as i prefer it mixed with something else or a bit weird. I find deafheaven mainly just black metal mixed with post rock tendencies and nothing more vast than that however they are a very competent band. I just dont vibe with them a great deal

Album Rating: 2.5

Yes, another example (one that specifically involves heavy influences from Hungarian folk music, among other things). Though, I would say that their latest records are more by-the-numbers than some of their earlier work. Sigh would be another good example of weird eclectic stuff.

Album Rating: 3.5

Thy Catafaques last one had some middle eastern/indian influences I'd say, it wasnt as good as Alfold though. I havent gone too far in the discog so far for them. I am glad people connected with this album and found it special but stylistically its a retread. Returning to their roots ad a more mature band rather than going outside of the box or taking a risk which is what they did on Infinite granite. I also kind of hate the interludes on this



Im more of a black metal tourist than an enthusiast i would say

Album Rating: 2.5

Certinaly did not like the last TC record; felt as though it was a fairly mediocre fusion of their usual folk influences with (industrial-tinged possibly atmospheric?) black metal. Naiv and Meta remain my favourite records of theirs. Preferred this Deafheaven record over the much softer gazier Granite (their worst record for me), but I agree that, as I indicated, this is more by-the-numbers than say even Ordinary Corrupt Human Love (from what I remember). Agree on the interludes.



Never really been a fan of more 'mainstream'/popular black metal (including Deafheaven): it is the really weird, out there experimental/dissonant/deathly/progressive stuff that I enjoy the most. Frankly, the more twisted, darker, weirder, angular, the black metal, the more likely I am to enjoy it.

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

broader realm of weird bm sure, but the critique that the songs don't stand out from one another is still odd. each track here basically does its own thing.

Album Rating: 4.5

Album is classy

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

Yeah I agree, to the untrained ear, most black metal tracks on any given album will blend together in someone’s head… I had this on while on a road trip with my ex and she honestly wanted to hear more than a couple of songs more than once. I know two of them were Body Behavior and Heathen, im pretty sure Orange Tree was another. And she dug Revelator, she loved the clean part and thought it built up to the outro really well… and honestly she was spot on when the the song blew up again, she made a motion like she was hitting a cymbal as the chaos resumed:



I mean, fuck her, but I was seriously impressed that and kinda turned on lol



Ignore me. Just reminiscing

Album Rating: 2.5

Of course any given song by necessity will have its own specificities and, I recognise that each song on this record has its particular qualities, however, broadly speaking, the rather by-the-numbers aesthetic approach (as I described above) renders this record fairly uniform in my view: sure every song does its own thing superficially, but on a broader level, they are very clearly variations on the same thing (pseudovariation one might call it), and that thing I found fairly vapid.

Album Rating: 3.5

I like this but now that the dust has settled it was massively overhyped and overrated. Still a great album though.