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1. Hear deafheaven and enjoy their music 2. Realise metal community is yet again dividing itself (yet again) on one of it's best up and coming acts 3. Not sure whether to side with blak metl or dehevvn cos metl is about picking sides 4. Stay in my room and secretly listen to Toto.
The fact the a lot of metalheads claim to be non conformist most the time but then criticize a band because they don't have long hair or dress like typical metalheads goes to show how fucked up it is.
You obviously don't know much about the underground metal scene, they are disliked because it's a watered down fucking terrible impersonation of a genre metal heads take serious.
It's not like they pretend to be "tr00 kvlt black metal hailing from a cabin in the deep woods of Norway" anyways. They have black metal as an influence along with other genres such as post-rock and shoegaze. Get over it.
After finally checking these guys out to see what all the fuss was about It's nice to see that I'm not the only one that seems to not understand the negative comments to them. They don't seem pretentious, they aren't pseudo intellectuals, and they're not posers. In fact, they seem to be quite nice people to me. Also from what I can tell they don't call themselves black metal, they just have some influence by it. I've also seen people complain about how they sometimes use major keys. I don't really see how that is a problem. Have you listened to Alcest? I thought of them when I first heard their music and I'm sure they are fans of them. People are so quick judge. I can understand not liking there music, but most of the negativity seems to be geared towards them and not there music.
I don’t get the hate either. Especially over their looks. They are a bunch of young guys from California and I’d actually have less respect for them if they pretended to be from the dark woods and wore corpse paint. The guys from Norway in the late 80’s and early 90’s could pull it off and they really did live in the woods and snow...lol. If someone is worried about their appearance instead of the music then that person might be more into fashion.
RU-vid suggested me a live video of Deafheaven, and I watched it. First thing that cross my mind was "Wtf? hipsters?" then the dude stars to scream and I just had to watch the whole concert.
I saw them live. It was flawless. People can say whatever they want about these guys, but they are doing something worthy of all the attention they are getting.
Saw this guys live last night in Corpus Christi, they're no joke. Played a damned good show for a crowd that was foaming at the mouth to see Lamb of God
I think it is cool that Nick from Touchè Amorè designed the cover.. because that gives me a small hope that one day we'll get an Touchè/Deafheaven split. I mean their type of screamo and Deafheaven interpretation of Black Metal are not as far from each other as you might think.
+Arian hmn Nick does a lot of covers, when you look at his All Music credits theres about two or three dozen album covers you would have guessed you would have done. Now as it goes for a split I would buy it for sure, if not just for more Touche jamz, still feeling out Deafheaven .
I really don't understand the hate for these guys. As for the newer bands that have come out the last two, three years Deafheaven is about the only band that has peaked my interest. As far as how they look, I'm much to old of a metalhead to give a rip anymore.
In my opinion, Deafheaven is a HUGE breath of fresh air because of how much they get away from the norm of traditional black metal. I had mixed feelings about this band at first, however the more I looked at the typical black metal scene, I saw that it’s pretty much everything wrong with heavy metal in general. I think that Deafheaven is the kind of light at the end of the tunnel that we all need. I love metal, it’s something I live and breathe off of, but I’ll admit it’s hugely collectivist and I hate that it’s actually hipster by ideal. But this band is what everyone needs to hear and people who actually listen to their music will know that this band plays phenomenal music.
Yeah, but I'm not talking about them doing something new, because I'm sure everyone is aware of that and maybe even they now that. I'm just talking about how purist the black metal scene is and how these guys are pretty liberating compared to that. That and these guys make some really good music
Who says I have to conform to the norms of what any subculture has to say? The people who made up these rules are a bunch of psychotic weirdos who would rather take fragments of their dead friend's skull and make them into a necklace then give them to a bunch of strangers who also happen to be in black metal bands than call the cops or parents or something. And don't give me this whole "It's supposed to be evil" bullshit. Even the guys who were a part of the Norwegian Black Metal scene didn't like it. I'm sorry but I will NOT support this collectivist mindset by not expressing my criticisms of it. The black metal culture is GOING to spread whether you like it or not. And if YOU don't like it, then maybe you should be then one who moves on to genre because I ain't leaving. So I'm sorry but who's rhetoric doesn't work again?
So you're okay with those who act pretentious and think that everyone else's music tastes are trash, simply because it's not in agreement with their opinions? I love black metal itself. It's the community that's off. If they want to be exclusive, fine, but the behaviors of it are rather annoying. I did say that I had mixed feelings about this band at first. But I changed my behavior because I looked at the black metal community and saw how collectivist it was and how closed off it was. So I took another look at them and their music and I ended up liking them. That was the point. So by being more open I learned to like this band. I'm not saying that Black Metal needs to change (if that were to happen then Black Metal would end up sounding less and less like itself, which I'm fine with) it just needs to take into consideration about its own behaviors.
That's not what I'm saying at all. what I'm saying is that the attitude is unnecessary now. I understand what Black Metal is about. But the second wave is over, the FIRST wave is over. I'm saying the COMMUNITY needs to take into consideration the criticisms about the certain ATTITUDES that it has and maybe let this craft evolve into something else. If they don't want it to and just keep a collectivist mindset then people who have dissenting opinions will be steered further away (Plus having such a mindset is unhealthy and immature.) Black metal isn't going to change entirely, but if people want to take it up, then let them take it up without feeling attacked. There is no one trying to force change on it.
its not about how they dress, its about the fact that many people claim deafheaven to be "black metal" which they arent and tbh they dont belong in the community.
I don't like how people say it's not metal. I've been listening to metal since I was a child, and it's definitely metal. It just might not be metal you like. I fucking hate certain bands but still know what they're doing is metal. And it's a genre that means something to different people. To me it's about playing awesome riffs and being heavy, but to other people it's about something completely different. It's all subjective. If it gets people's heads banging or it makes them want to learn the riffs, that's okay by me.
How did i end up here....i was watching live music and then got click baited....was gonna get on with my life then i made the mistake of reading the comments. How did the music scene come to this....a load of people arguing about what music means to them and telling others thats how it is. People that don't play music or work in the industry arguing about what music is what. I remember when metal didn't even exist and their was still music you could have called metal if you wanted too years later people go back and say...this was the first rock song this was the first metal song....things never change. Music is a personal experience you can't tell someone else what music means to them, someones pop is someones else's indie or rock. All music is the same at its root thats all that really matters if you play music and want a challenge you will have a go at anything and everything as it only makes you a better and more experienced and dynamic player. As for listening, thats just personal taste and no one is right or wrong in that.
America seen by so many as a usurper of their sound, when the 'old guard' of bands, anyways, looked to many American bands for inspiration, VON being one, and Weakling and others. I appreciate these guys for attempting to make something uniquely American, instead of rehashing their sound.
I can hear different genres of metal in their music. I like their music. What I don't understand why people get wrapped around the axle on how bands look. Look at the 80's rock scene. I heard hair bands, Butt rock. lipstick rock. All that is disrespectful. They sold millions of albums. Look at the 70s. Bellbottoms and handlebar mustaches. Look at the grunge era, shorts and plaid flannel shirts. Get over it and listen to the music and decide on the music, not how they look.
I think they are probably trolling to an extent where they do the opposite of what's expected of metallers. Good on them for that as metal can get very pretentious in terms of 'the subgenre I listen to is the only thing i call music' mindsets. They are obviously influencedby shoegaze which has some sonic similarities (walls of noise) and some major opposites (general sounding 'nicer', more blissful-sometimes anyway). I don't think Kevin Shields gave a fuck that he made heavy music, was highly criticised for it being ethereal, having nice melodies, a generally effiminate sound whilst blasting your ears or sounding like too much psychedelics mixed with sleep deprivation... so good on Deafheaven....but yes i do think it caters more for shoegazers that want to dip into a hip genre (if black is now suddenly hip) than metallers, but so fucking what!.
I honestly think the modern hipster and metal elitist titles are one in the same. just a different arena or team. like both pride themselves on dressing noticeably differentl on purpose, owning rare records for the sake of being unique, and exclusively buying threw uncommon avenues even though it's not necessary, (note:buying vinyl or cassettes doesn't make you a hipster if you enjoy that as a hobby. the fine line is drawn at avoiding convenient mediums like cds only because it's not cool or kilt enough) and most of all they both ridicule people's tastes and opinions of music simply because they don't like it. it's like a a pissing contest between new aged hipsters and metal elitist for the title of biggest loser, cause that's so underground. lol and hipster as the term originated in the 40s meant hip cool jazz enthusiasts who smoked weed and bopped. generally being kind of social misfits. so get over it people. you like them cool. if not that's cool too.
It's about music period. 90's black metal was amazing and fresh but the "you have to be into satan and look evil" attitude and imagery really pigeon holed audiences. Metal culture evolved to a bunch of tiny facist groups who all despise each other. I'll always love and play metal music but the culture circles are pretentious and lame.
It's amazing all these people who claim to hate "hipsters" people who are claiming everything they don't like is hipster calling bands like deafheaven posers. Whats more hipster than a small group of people who think there opinions are better than other peoples and insisting on putting labels on everything. Calling everyone else stupid with there own little in jokes. These people need to cop the fuck on and look at themselves.
I don't think these guys are hipsters. I'm pretty sure the singer is trolling and is actually a NSBM purist. Look at that Hitler youth haircut he's got going on there. Clearly a tribute to the Varg, Aryan Blood, Hate Forest, etc. side of black metal. It can't just be a coincidence.
My only problem with Deafheaven is that a vast majority of their songs should be instrumental. Roads to Judah is the album I enjoyed most, and the vocals are acceptable. But, with Sunbather, the vocal changed too much that I couldn't enjoy that album as I wished (I really wanted the singer to shut up for some minutes). For what they are doing, I would go to Abigail Williams' Becoming or Wolves In The Throne Room material, or even Drudkh's Blood In Our Wells. Shoegaze and BM create different kinds of atmosphere, and when there is no balance between them, it is a screwed attempt with a big chance of fail and disappointment, like Alcest (They were doing good in their first album. They began to focus on more BM and they ended with a totally Shoegaze album, Shelter).
+Krishtie Mofazzal Thinking about it, I haven't read any of their lyrics until now. I do not like to focus on atmospherics bands' lyrics. Their lyrics are poetically good. I only need to assimilate it with the music.
+Pedro De Oliveira I viewed it as since the lyrics were toned down in the production and inaudible, that they were part of the "instrumental" experience as if the vocals were, wait for it, and instrument on to itself. But I'm just theorizing here. I'm a fan.
Well, yeah. My opinion was based on their live performances (like the one from Pitchfork), but now I'm digging Sunbather and it almost accomplishes what you mention.
Hi I am an elitist trve kuvlt black metal vampire. This Is not trve at all. the cover is pink..not very evil or black metal...the music is very weak and wolves in the throne room is much better and this band is trying their best to be that band. Stay trve keep it evil.
never heard them but you they are ripe for mockery. the attention is 'unexpected' cause you suck. it took a week to make a pink album cover. you suck. your name is deafheaven? trying listening, you suck. again never heard them.
How dare they call it blackgaze when everyone knows it's shoescreamo. If Deafheaven were really black metal vampires, they would put all the skeptics heads on the mast of their viking boat and sacrifice an orc in retaliation. Their fans could never handle a concert where the band wear spikes on their butt and and then paint on frowny face. It would be too extreme and they would get scared. P.S. I'm a longtime metal fan and don't like Deafheaven or really think they're metal, but the Deafheaven hatred coming from suburban teenage boys who are into black metal is hilarious and makes me wish I did like them. It's just music guys. Don't make a fool of yourselves by taken it too seriously. It's not metal.
I dont care for them. Is it really worth arguing about? I dont care how they dress, or where they are from. Their album just wasn't good in my opinion, and thats all that should matter. If you dont like their sound then just dont listen to them, and let others enjoy it.
I think a lot of people misunderstand the hate for this band. Personally, im a black-metal head and so I dont listen to deafheaven. The issue however is when people classify them as black metal. They arent, theyre more screamo/post rock/shoegaze. creamo has a small bit of influence from black metal but in the end theyre completely different genres.
Instead of "going for" a sound that was developed long before they were around, perhaps they wanted to take elements of different things and blend them into something a little more personal and unique. Musicians can approach writing music in many different ways. Some of them tend to stick within a genre because that's simply where they want to safely operate. They don't want to create anything vastly different than the other artists of their chosen genre because, quite frankly, they don't want to stand out as strikingly unique amongst their peers. These are the musicians who tend to enter music as a career to simply maintain the status quo, and they consider themselves hardcore as fuck for sticking to their convictions of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Some of them do this simply for the sake of recreating the music of the genre that they love. No one can deny their dedication, but they honestly don't do anything particularly creative. Creating music that falls outside of their chosen genre is deathly frightening to them because they are afraid to do anything "outside the box" that may alienate their fans. Other musicians may not be as concerned with sticking withing the confines of specific genres. These musicians are comfortable with their own ability to create something that may end up sounding different than what has come before them. These people have the open minds and ability to take numerous influences from as far apart as humanly possible, and work them together simply for the sake of finding out what the end result will sound like... and they are perfectly comfortable with the fact that it may sound nothing like any of the individual influences that they originally started with. They are perfectly ok with creating sounds that do not neatly fit within prepackaged genres because it was never their intent to mold themselves within a specific genre to begin with. In fact, when one considers the true meaning of the word "artist", that's really the essence of what these musicians are. They take in the influences of their surroundings, turn them inward on one another, and show the audience what comes out on the other side of creativity. This is no different than when Black Sabbath took various sounds from rock, blues, and other elements from their own environment and ended up creating a form of music that was different than what came before it. We now know this as heavy metal. This is no different from Napalm Death and took elements from metal, punk, jazz, noise and other influences to help create grindcore. This is no different than when Quorthon took his own metal influences in the 80s and helped to create something unique called black metal. People get so tied down to conformity and they do not even realize it, even in genres of music where being "unique" is supposedly supposed to be appreciated and embraced. As it turns out, fans of underground music are considered "unique" when being compared to the status quo of modern society, but within the confines of underground music itself, being unique is extremely frowned upon. The proof can be found in this very same comment section. This is why we have such fanatic appreciation for bands who refuse the status quo of modern society and call them "unique" when they wear the same corpsepaint that has been worn for decades and write about the same topics that have been covered for decades. But holy shit, if a band takes one part black metal and combines it with something not normally associated with black metal... well damn, those guys are ostracized (look it up) and the witch hunt commences immediately. The irony is that these bashers do not see how narrow-minded thaley really are. Furthermore, you can't ignore the tendency for many people to be keyboard commandos and spread vitriol wherever possible because it simply feels liberating for them, especially in a medium where they cannot be held accountable for their statements and, quite frankly, senseless opinions that hold no weight. This will always be the case, and there will never be a point in time where you wont see such immaturity when talking about music. This is simply because our type of music attracts a wide range of age groups, therefore no matter how many mature 40 year olds are out there that can responsibly discuss underground music with maturity and respect, the majority of fans out there will always be immature adolescents who cannot discuss music without being simplistic and irrational, or even older fans who simply do not have the mental maturity and stability to think rationally and responsibly.
I've seen them live and will see them again in April. these guys definitely aren't metal but that doesn't mean they aren't good. they're music is cool and in all honesty..they are a hipster band haha
Typical metal heads judging a band because they can't pigeonhole them into a genre. Ruining metal? Enjoy this rare act that can mold emotion into beautiful masterpieces
"hipster backlash" if I recall one of the members of the band was/is friends with a prominent writer/editor at Pitchfork. There was never a "backlash", they were designed and primed to be a hipster band and owe all of their success to a supposedly hipster publication. It's shocking that the "hipster backlash" in question isn't the indie community rejecting them outright because of this blatant manipulation.
Lol, you think they built all their praise on one publication even though they are praised by multiple publications that are independent from each other?
It is well publicised that Deafheaven first broke on Pitchfork, and often when a big publication like Pitchfork holds something to high regard other lesser publications follow in order to appear cultured. This isn't too complex a concept.
Pearcey80 While I'm sure it would've pushed some publications to praise them, most publications are far too old and respected to care about what Pitchfork has to say. It's not often pitchfork praises something most other critics find medicore but this was something that got universal praise quite unassumingly.
8bitdiedie arguably the only reason so many smaller publications covered Deafheaven was because they were covered so extensively and positively by Pitchfork, which in turn is arguably only because of the bands relationship with an editor for the website. It's not too great a stretch to say that this media coverage from Pitchfork and its imitators spurred larger/older publications to take noticed (likely in an attempt to still appear "hip"). Look at the recent acquisition over at Pitchfork, it is undeniable that they are perceived as trendsetters and a major figure in music journalism.
Pearcey80 Sometimes, but usually Pitchfork just copies what the general consensus on a band is. And as I've pointed out, just because Pitchfork likes it, it doesn't mean everyone else is going to follow. Especially when it comes to Metal.
The only issue is that a lot of riffs are ripped off from others and that in the end they kind of dont have a really defining sound. I know its just my opinion but its kind of shitty to rip off riffs. Inspiration is cool but do something original if you want to be great musicians.
I love this band, hate how they're dressed, but i would honestly kick out the nerd on the left just on principle of looks. He looks fit in some new rock/pop band. Hopefully he sees this comment and takes my advice!
I feel a deep anger by seeing what I see and telling myself that people affiliate this group to the black metal scene !!! black metal is not just music. black metal is a state of mind before all things and they are very far from it. they know how to play and that's a certainty but being very objective, they have nothing to do with the real extreme scene !!!
+episode 666 no one The fact that you think there should be a "black metal image", makes you the biggest conformist of all. Don't be a sheeple, enjoy variety... these guys are about the music.
I dont care for them. Is it really worth arguing about? I dont care how they dress, or where they are from. Their album just wasn't good in my opinion, and thats all that should matter. If you dont like their sound then just dont listen to them, and let others enjoy it.
