Sunbather
by Deafheaven

From soundguardian 11/22/2013 09:23 | #94066 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I held expectations that I would most likely dislike this record, but upon giving it the opportunity to impress me,I was mystified. How can something so intensely raucous and screechingly unsympathetic to the human ear (which always expects and is attuned to harmony, resolution, and, most appropriate in this context, agreeable textures) as black metal result in a euphoric response? How can this sound so beautiful, while it's still so taxing and emotionally draining to listen to?

The answer is similar to that of shoegazing and dream pop -- the instrumentation, and how they combine to result in resplendent textures swirling in a lofty haze. The difference is the darker approach and heavier execution of this record, which features loud, climactic textures, strident (and impressive) drumming, and screaming vocals set upon this foundation, rather than dreamy vocals that blend into the mix, like in Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine.

In this way, the lyrics become even less the central focus - most of the time lyrics are indistinguishable in these tracks (although, they do exist) - and the central focus becomes the phonic experience. Deafheaven attempts to take the listener on a phonic experience never before heard by rock audiences. And though similar things have been attempted in previous years already, Deafheaven does not do a bad job of this.

"Pink Metal" with its mix of shoegaze and black metal has been around for a while, it just so happens this band got the right publicity to pioneer it. I mean, as far as this genre goes "Try Not to Destroy Everything You Love" by An Autumn for Crippled Children had a very similar yet superior sound to "Sunbather" in 2013, yet currently one is in the top 700's and the other top 20's. It shows truly how much a "spotlight" affects public opinion and awareness in music these days.

Oh my lord. My great people, this is an album that looking back in 20 years will be a music landmark. So many elements of this album just make it completely a one of a kind: Combining, raw power, beautiful ear candy, and excellent song writing and variety, after listening to this album, I feel completely drained. This is a MUST listen. The most complete album ever in my opinion; I'm not left wishing anything was different.

Quite an interesting album. It blends elements of post-rock, black metal and shoegaze. Although many "kvlt pvrist" black metal fans will definitely dislike this album for not being a socalled "stereotypical" black metal album, I for one actually like it's interesting direction. What I find interesting is how demanding this album is. It is almost definitely not meant to be background music, and that is extremely prominent within the first 30 seconds of the first track. The tremolo picked guitars are loud, the drums hard hitting, and the vocals are... interesting. They're quite obviously intended to be black metal vocals but these have an interesting quality to them that I'll have to think more about to create a proper judgement on.
The album is based around 4 main tracks, each with a quiet interlude sandwiched in between. While the interlude tracks do help with making the album less long and monotonous, they do end up being the weakest tracks on the album, especially on Windows, which seems to me like an obvious attempt to copy early Godspeed You! Black Emperor with its sampling. Despite this, the 4 main tracks alone make up for everything the interludes lack. Each are rather positive sounding for black metal, too, making an interesting contrast with the vocals.
If you can however, make sure to get the Japanese edition of this album, which has a cover of Mogwai's Punk Rock and Cody. Somehow, they have managed to turn it into something that's aesthetically extremely similar to the rest of Sunbather, which is quite interesting to hear them do. It really adds on to the content this album has to offer.
Either way, this album, while definitely not the best of 2013, is still quite promising on what Deafheaven has to offer next.

From Necharsian TOP 100 COMMENTER 08/20/2013 16:44 | #84232 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Not bad but its kind of a mess. Tries too hard to meld genres without having a focused direction. Other bands have done this better and its kind of frustrating to me that this is going to be considered the metal album of the 2013 in a year where really great metal is being made.