Many bands go through their entire career without making an album as well crafted, fully realized, and downright gorgeous as Sunbather, and somehow, Deafheaven have managed to nail it on their second outing, with an album that seems to get bigger and more affective with each listen.
The record alchemizes shoegaze's hazy wall of distortion and black metal's quick-fire drumming and tormented, raspy howling.
What’s undeniable is that moments from Sunbather will resonate long after the pointless babble has died down, proving that sometimes the greatest beauty can only be found in the face of chaos.
Sunbather is a future classic, no matter where you pigeonhole it, and that’s the mark of a true sonic masterpiece. Black metal, not black metal, just call it what it is: perfect.
There’s something deeply relevant about Sunbather, as if it touches a sort of inner anxiety and insecurity that currently lingers in many of us.
Sunbather is something to behold, and with the average vocal track averaging well over 10 minutes in length, the majority of the album's running time is well spent.
Deafheaven’s new full length and follow-up to 2011’s Roads to Judah, is a near masterpiece. We can say that. It is an incredible piece of work.
This quest for perfection has yielded the most emotive and powerful music Deafheaven have yet written. Their sound is much more expansive than before, and even more varied.
Sunbather is a developed, mature, and, above all, an original statement that truly lives up to the unbelievable amount of hype it has earned.
Sunbather is an absolutely massive, all-encompassing experience, one that’s both frighteningly intense and indescribably beautiful – often simultaneously.
Deafheaven’s audacity and artistry are hard to deny, which is but one of many reasons why Sunbather is an essential listen, and one of 2013’s boldest works of art.
It has the ability to capture the attention of people who don't normally listen to heavy music. It's also one of the most successful examples of a band using black metal as a starting point and ending up somewhere else entirely.
Sunbather sees Deafheaven finding a way to make a personal, emotional statement without resorting to pure aggression and instead by finding places for insecurity within confidence, for instrumental complexity within the relentlessly heavy, and for the grey areas within black metal.
Sunbather comes laced with post-rock grace and a pop-like accessibility. Nor are those elements sequestered from the black-metal bombardment: They are part of it, or, depending upon your perspective, it is part of them.
West Coast metal outfit Deafheaven has really improved their sound on this latest outing of theirs, delivering sharper, more triumphant compositions through a barrage of black metal-style instrumentation.
Deafheaven’s second outing is wondrous celebration of boundless ambition and pure artistic vision.
how can it be metal.............. if the cover is pink!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's called """""""black"""" metal for a reason... not PINK metal... everyone knows the true PINK metal already belongs to Boris. ... read more
If the world was coming to an end, this is the record I would listen to. I would walk out of my house put "Sunbather" on my iPod and I would feel at peace. One final deafening roar before an eternity of silence.
This hit like a ton of bricks!
Sunbather is the sophomore album from American metal band Deafheaven, released in June 2013. It was recorded in January that year at Atomic Garden Studios, based in California.
The band, initially a duo consisting of George Clarke & Kerry McCoy, began working on the album over the course of several days in Jan 2013. Over time, the process brought a third member, drummer Dan Tracy, who became a permanent part of the band since then.
Deafheaven's music drew ... read more
I've never heard a wall of sound and noise this beautiful. I've never experienced a more emotional experience musically. There is so much good stuff here. The guitar textures are complex, serene, distorted, and noisy all at once. Structurally, this album is really good too. Each song has many parts both structurally and sonically. Guitar's mesh into each other (with that shoegaze inspiration), alongside pounding kick drums. It shouldn't work but it does. And the weird, reversed interludes work ... read more
I wanna make it clear that i don't like black metal. I also wanna make it clear i love shoegaze. So i had no idea if i was gonna enjoy this or not. But in the end all i can say is. This is one of the harshest but most beautiful albums i have heard in my life. Yes the vocals are still not my thing. But it doesn't matter when the feel is this heavenly. I genuinely can't believe i could have given this album a 100. This may be the last time i will ever listen to this. But what i experienced was ... read more
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3 | Sunbather 10:16 | 95 |
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#20 | / | Consequence of Sound |