Genre: Blackgaze / Post-Metal / Shoegaze / Art Metal / Crycore (yeah we said it)
Formed: 2010 – San Francisco, California 🇺🇸
Known For: Blending soaring shoegaze melodies with black metal screams and looking like sad baristas from Brooklyn.
Also Known For: Triggering the kvlt elite and making metal pretty – in the best way possible.
😵 WHO THE HELL ARE DEAFHEAVEN?
Formed by George Clarke (the poet of pain) and Kerry McCoy (the riff alchemist) in 2010, Deafheaven exploded with Sunbather in 2013 – an album that shattered black metal’s aesthetic glass ceiling with its pink artwork, emotionally crushed lyrics and riffs that glisten and grind like ocean storms.
They’re equal parts My Bloody Valentine, Burzum and Sigur Rós – and they don’t care what genre you think they are.
Deafheaven said “Yes, you can scream over beautiful music” – and damn, it worked.
🌘 CORE LINE-UP – THE SAD BOY SYMPHONY
- George Clarke – Vocals / Shrieker-in-chief, stage presence of a tortured ballet dancer
- Kerry McCoy – Guitar / Master of lush tones and evil distortion
- Daniel Tracy – Drums / Blastbeat meets jazz fusion meets emotional damage
- Chris Johnson – Bass / Low-end wizard
- Shiv Mehra – Guitar / Texture lord, echo master
💿 DISCOGRAPHY – A SONIC DESCENT INTO ECSTATIC MELANCHOLY 🌒
💿 Roads to Judah (2011)
🎧 Violet, Language Games
Vibe: Raw, reverb-drenched blackgaze birth
Riff Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕
*Like getting punched in the soul while hugging a fog machine.
💗 Sunbather (2013)
🎧 Dream House, The Pecan Tree, Vertigo
Vibe: Beautiful agony. A pink meteor of emotional destruction.
Riff Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕
*The game-changer.
Critics wept. Elitists raged. Fans ascended.
⚰️ New Bermuda (2015)
🎧 Luna, Brought to the Water
Vibe: Heavier, darker, moodier.
Riff Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕
*Post-Sunbather hangover with added thrash and doom.
🥀 Ordinary Corrupt Human Love (2018)
🎧 Canary Yellow, Honeycomb, Glint
Vibe: Hopeful despair. Pianos, clean tones, cinematic vibes.
Riff Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕
*Your existential crisis with a choir and jazz chord.
🎹 Infinite Granite (2021)
🎧 Great Mass of Color, In Blur, Mombasa
Vibe: FULL shoegaze. No screaming. Still devastating.
Riff Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕
*Like Beach House on an emotional bender.
The vocals float. The guitars shimmer. The haters rage.
🎧 THE RIFF REPORT’S ESSENTIAL DEAFHEAVEN TRACKS
🎸 Dream House – The gateway drug. STILL unbeaten.
🎸 Brought to the Water – Heaviest opener. Riffs from the abyss.
🎸 Canary Yellow – Soaring. Screaming. Shining. Sad.
🎸 Mombasa – A crescendo into oblivion.
🎸 In Blur – Soft as snowfall, sharp as heartbreak.
🖤 WHY DEAFHEAVEN MATTER:
Because they:
- Dragged black metal into the 21st century
- Made non-metalheads scream like they were in the pit
- Brought aesthetic, vulnerability, and melody into extreme music
- **Turned every gig into a beautiful existential breakdown
- Paved the way for countless genre-defying bands
And because they didn’t care about “rules” – just feelings, sound, and sonic transcendence.
🎤 FINAL VERDICT FROM THE RIFF REPORT:
**Deafheaven are proof that metal doesn’t have to sound or look like hell to hit like it.
They *blur boundaries, trigger trolls, and move mountains with melody and shrieks.
Want to cry in the mosh pit AND feel reborn?
Want shoegaze with a switchblade?
Want metal that glows?
Deafheaven is your new religion. Praise be the pastel pink.🖤🌅🎸
