3. Deafheaven - Roads to Judah
Song: Violet
If you’ve spoken to me about music at all in the past 18 months than this shouldn’t come as a shock. When I wrote about their demo in last year’s Top 10, I declared Deafheaven were “destined for something significant.” A week later they announced they had signed to Deathwish and suddenly people who couldn’t have given a shit about black metal before were paying attention. That in itself was a testament to how powerful and well-crafted Deafheaven’s material was.
Roads to Judah doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it is certainly leading the charge of taking the genre into more pensive, thoughtful territory. This is black metal with My Bloody Valentine sensibilities, and the tortured anguish behind every note and every scream on this album is both stunning and emotionally gut-wrentching.
The only thing that excites me more is thinking about the possibilities for Deafheaven beyond here. This might not be their opus, but damn if it isn’t close.
