Deafheaven - Sunbather

Sunbather encapsulates everything I could want in both a metal album and a shoegaze album. Something that is both parts menacing, intense, and harrowing, but also so extremely powerful and emotionally potent that it leaves me breathless, and sometimes in tears. Sunbather is everything, it feels like the intense last days of someone's life, reflecting on their life and sorrow as their vulnerable screams of pain are drowned out by these walls of just pure emotion. It doesnt even feel like guitars anymore, but raw emotion in audio form. In what feels like minutes, this album takes you on an amazing and powerful 1 hour journey that doesnt feel like a single second is wasted, every 10+ track brings something interesting that keeps your attention span sealed to the sonic intensity of this thing, and the interludes work perfectly into the atmosphere of everything. Im not gonna lie, ive been going through a really rough mental patch this week: im failing grade 12, I still feel so constantly lonely in life (and as a very awkward teen), and I still have very homophobic parents. Everything has been weighing down on my mind so much and I can't help but throw on this album and feel weirdly healed by it. The entire thing is so powerful and emotionally potent that tracks like Dream House and The Pecan Tree just end up bringing me to tears. It's something I rarely find in such an intense metal album but this thing just pushes me to the edge in the best way possible, and it has surpassed OCHL as my fav Deafheaven record, and one of my fav metal albums of all time. Sure it's a tough album to get into at first but once clicks it becomes one of the most powerful, unique, and amazing sonic experiences you'll ever have. Well deserving of a perfect score. Fav Tracks: All Of Them. Least Fav: N/A