Music_Observer

Although only for listeners with an appetite for the extreme and a high decibel threshold, this album shows a strong amount of musicality and creativity that is worth a good amount of praise. To create these long-form jams that essentially stay at the same high intensity level throughout each track takes some special ideas in harmony and form to maintain interest. Deafheaven prove that this is their strength, creating fascinating harmonic progressions that have strong forward motion and also ... read more

Pretty and peaceful, but also feels too much like an album of B-sides. Creating an enveloping calm sound through acoustic and electronic synthesis was a clear goal, and while mostly achieved, there wasn't enough of a balance in energy levels for the many moments of stillness to feel truly earned or rewarded. The music was constantly on the precipice of beauty, needing some sort of bittersweet and or/melancholic flavor to the harmonic motion that would bring heightened emotion, but it never ... read more

A very soothing fusion of Hip-Hop and R&B that paints a particularly honest and warming picture of urban life. The sound was very well executed, providing a wonderful balance of calmness and verve in the soft piano/bass textures paired with strong percussive grooves. Chord loops were simple and effective, fitting well within the style and adding a colorful flavor to the smooth sound. The individual vocal lines themselves were hit and miss; neither of the two main artists on this record were ... read more

A unique band that isn't afraid to show they're having fun, and also not afraid to show their lofty songwriting ambitions. It's an album brimming with creativity and hot flashes of cool ideas, though it doesn't quite come together as anything coherent or resolute. They showed strengths in finding melodic shape on a few tracks, notably "Pause At You", though much of their experimental effort came in more big-picture layers such as form and instrumental noise. With ... read more