Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Indie Exclusive

From Allmusic guide:

Blackgaze icons Deafheaven drifted away from metal (for the most part) with 2021's Infinite Granite, a dream pop album which largely contained airy guitars and clean singing, fully exploring directions they'd hinted at on previous records. Lonely People with Power is a full-on return to music rooted in black metal, with demonic growling and overdriven riffing which sometimes hints at symphonic bombast. "Magnolia" is the album's most direct blast of chugging riffage and pummeling drums. Other songs retain the banshee-like shrieking while featuring melodic, accessible guitars and more progressive song structures, like "The Garden Route" and "Body Behavior" (which is still pretty harsh and frenetic). "Heathen" has more ethereal, chant-like vocals and atmospheric guitars in between the heavier parts that absolutely crush. The way "Amethyst" builds up to its soaring climax is a staggeringly emotional, intense ride. Boy Harsher's Jae Matthews and Interpol's Paul Banks are both featured on interludes, with Matthews' fragile cries eventually swallowed by searing noise and screaming, and Banks delivering intimate poetry over a shifting soundscape. The furious epic "Winona" is one of the album's most riveting marriages of triumphant riffs, pulverizing drums, and raw passion. While Infinite Granite was an interesting transitional effort and a decent record overall, Lonely People with Power finds Deafheaven incorporating the most successful parts of that album into their usual sound, resulting in one of their strongest works.