Deatheaven

Deafheaven, who is simultaneously loved and hated for exactly the same reasons, breaks the stereotype surrounding Black Metal and combines the emotional intensity of typical post-rock strums, the walls of shoegaze sound, and the powerful blast beats common in the coldness of extreme metal.
This extension of the Black Metal universe was bound to happen and started with bands like Alcest, who used Black Metal essence on his very own musical potpourri and led the way to many other bans towards the birth of Blackgaze.
Deafheaven is one of these bands that created their own way of expressing their share of Black in a very personal way, staying TRVE to their own musical expression.

Practical aspects:

Deafheaven was formed in February 2010 in San Francisco, California, by singer George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy, former members of a local grindcore band called Rise of Caligula.

Clarke and McCoy recorded an untitled demo in April 2010 at Atomic Garden Studios. Following the positive reception of the demo, they recruited three musicians and played a few gigs from July 2010.

In early September 2011, Deafheaven announced the likely writing of a split, EP or studio album. At the time, McCoy described their songs as “faster, darker, much heavier and more experimental” than Roads to Judah. However, in December 2012 Clarke described them as less melancholy and less black metal-centric. The album’s title reflects Clarke’s idea of perfection: “a pure, perfect, healthy existence that is naturally unattainable with problems we have to face in this reality because of our faults, relationship problems, family problems, death, et cetera.” Deafheaven entered the studio to record Sunbather in January 2013 with Jack Shirley and released it on 11 June 2013 through Deathwish. Sunbather was singled out as one of the best albums of the year on Metacritic and scored 92/100 .

Aside from their new drummer Daniel Tracy, who also took part in the recording of Sunbather, the band recruited bassist Stephen Clark and guitarist Shiv Mehra for the 2013 tours. Founding members Clarke and McCoy explain that the previous members left due to difficulties with life on the road and little money collected from touring. Their first tour for Sunbather was in Europe and Russia with The Secret between April and May 2013 followed by a US tour with Marriages between June and July.
In 2014, Deafheaven toured Australia in January with Between the Buried and Me, Intronaut and The Kindred in February and March, Asia and Europe in May and June, the US with Pallbearer in June, a second European tour in August, and a US tour with No Joy in September.

Deafheaven’s musical style has been described by Rolling Stone as a “boundary-pushing blend of black metal, shoegaze and post-rock”…

Current members

George Clarke – lead vocals (2010–present)
Kerry McCoy – guitar (2010–present), bass (2010, 2012–2013)
Daniel Tracy – drums (2012–present)
Shiv Mehra – guitar, backing vocals, keyboards (2013–present)
Chris Johnson – bass, backing vocals (2017–present)

Studio albums

Roads to Judah (2011)
Sunbather (2013)
New Bermuda (2015)
Ordinary Corrupt Human Love (2018)
Infinite Granite (2021)