Deafheaven - New Bermuda (Album Review)

The vibrant pink cover seen around the blogosphere. The font that couldn't be stopped. A band that brought black metal to the hipster masses...and all it took was just a dash of this, that, and shoegaze! Yeah, some of those sentences are the melodramatic thoughts of a lot of people, blogs, reviewers, etc.. (and also pretty true to at least some extent). Deafheaven built up from some early work and a debut album into the groundswell, nay volcano, that became Sunbather. For the style it was presenting accessibility and interest that was almost unheard of on a scale Deafheaven was able to achieve. The band emerged from underground phenom to Apple commercials and being the darlings of almost every blog (except for all those "black metal purists" news outlets! They had the pitchforks out!). After the dust settled Sunbather was a bright shining orb in the black metal world, for better or worse depending on who you asked. I absolutely loved the album. It was a top 5 album for Sound In The Signals the year it was released. Now all the love means the follow-up was destined to receive an immense amount of pressure for something equally as great. I can only imagine trying to follow-up an album of that magnitude and universal appraise. So when the band finally announced New Bermuda with an album trailer I was on the edge of my seat like it was a new trailer for something like The Avengers. So now we're here. The time when Deafheaven has finally released their follow-up to Sunbather. Enter the new era of New Bermuda. 

This time around Deafheaven's vocalist, George Clarke's, vocals are buried in the mix a lot less. With his vocals more at the forefront you can tell without a doubt that his vocal talent is great. His screaming just sounds nasty in all the best ways. After the album is finished you just want to offer the guy a glass of water and a throat lozenge for the awesome vocal performance and beating his throat must have taken recording this album. The shoegaze style on the vocals was something that stuck out on Sunbather and made it interesting, but at the same time side-stepping that and opting for a different approach on New Bermuda creates something I think really makes this album stick out. You get to really hear these good vocals. I really enjoyed the way the vocals were presented on Sunbather, but I think the band found the best way to present them on New Bermuda. I think in a lot of ways it works better in some spots than it did on Sunbather. It definitely fits the style of this album.

Kerry McCoy steals the show in a lot of respects. His guitar playing throughout this album is just great. It's interesting, catchy, heavy, atmospheric, etc. He throws the kitchen sink at the listener in a lot of ways and he finds a way to make most of it stick in all the best ways. This time around the guitars seem more influenced on heavy parts mixed with more alternative rock of the 90s (you can hear some what sound a lot like Oasis vibes on parts of the closer "Gifts To Earth" and some Sixpence None The Richer vibes on parts in "Brought To Water). There are a few nods back to the Sunbather "shoegaze" style but the guitars on New Bermuda are their own thing and it keeps them refreshing and interesting. It's very inventive and well done guitar work that at times feels like a neat mash-up of styles. The drumming is stellar. There is some nice drum work and well thought out parts. I really like the way the drums were mixed. I think you can tell Deafheaven had no interest in a sonic retreading of Sunbather and I really like that approach. If this album had just been Sunbather 2 it just wouldn't have hit as hard. The fact that the band seem more than content to show you that they can do something else with just as much talent is very impressive.

All in all I can't really find one complaint with the album. The band was tasked with what seemed like a near impossibility: follow-up Sunbather with an equally good album without becoming stale and feeling like a one trick wonder, and they did it. They did it in a big way. This album shows how truly talented, innovative, and side-stepping the band can be with their songwriting and sound. Much to the dismay of some of the haters. They have once again found a way to meld genres and sounds in a way that benefits them. It's a huge win and truly one of the best, if not the best album I've heard this year.