Album Review: Deafheaven - Infinite Granite
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
Deafheaven have always been a band that have mixed the light and the dark. Since the bands inception in 2010, they have equally enthralled people with their luscious post-black metal sound and enraged so-called true black metal fans with a sound that many black metal fans feel is a total betrayal of the genre. Albums such as Sunbather and New Bermuda have had equal footing in beautiful, shoegaze soundscapes and relentless black metal fury but like other bands in the genre (such as Alcest and their Shelter album) the time has come where the band strip back the black metal influences in their sound and release an album that is far more easy on the ear. That album is Infinite Granite which is the fifth full length album from the band.
Previous album Ordinary Corrupt Human Love had moments that hinted in the direction where Deafheaven would go but Infinite Granite is still quite the monumental leap. The whole album has a very warm and comforting feel to it with shoegaze, progressive and psychedelic elements all swirling around each other and an emotional gauntlet of happy and sad feelings. It is very much the epitome of happy sad music with songs such as In Blur, Great Mass Of Colour and Lament For Wasps ensuring that arm hairs are standing on end. The harsh vocals which have featured so prominently on previous albums are virtually absent here with frontman George Clarke using a predominately clean vocal style throughout the entirety of the album and his vocals sound absolutely mesmerising. The harsh vocals do make a couple of brief appearances such as in Villain and Mombasa but they are used very sparingly. The keyboards have also been pushed far forward into the sound with layers of dreamy synths dancing around the shimmering guitars. The drumming is also scaled down with a lack of blast-beats (apart from the closing part of Mombasa) from Daniel Tracey meaning that he gets to work with some scaled back yet wholly interesting rhythms.
There will be people who are upset that the black metal part of the Deafheaven sound has been dropped here but the music speaks for itself here. One criticism is that it can get a bit samey by the album's conclusion but this is definitely an album that is an aid to relaxation. Whether this is a one off or the road that Deafheaven will pursue further in the future will remain to be seen but Infinite Granite is most certainly a beautiful collection of music.
