Neige, French mastermind responsible for the rise of Blackaze, Post-Black metal, Hipster black metal or whatever name you want to call this metal subgenre is gone, swimming now through pure shoegaze waters with the latest record from Alcest and with him gone from the blackaze scene there is an open space for the next leaders of the genre. And with the release of New Bermuda, Deafheaven have the highest chance of filling up that place.
After a breakthrough masterpiece that was Roads to Judah and more experimental Sunbather, Deafheaven have made another masterpiece of a record. There are just five songs on the album, but that is enough for anybody to realize that they are the best blackgaze band at this time. While listening to New Bermuda you can see that they are evolved and matured musically, the songs have much better flow, arrangements are much more fluid, and music is just amazing. The shift from pure kvlt black metal to shoegazy indie rock melodies in the first song, Brought to the Water is amazing, there are no more sudden changes in the sound that clearly separate black and shoegaze song parts, this time the flow from one genre to another feels completely natural, like the long sundown in the summer when you can see and fell every, even the tiniest change in the light, unlike the winter when the sun sets so suddenly that you can’t even notice that night has fallen.
Melodies are sometimes cold and bitter, sometimes wistful, leaving you wondering how they can make music that is so brutal but at the same time so emotionally filled. And that is the trait that only a few bands in the world have, and I am thankful that I found one of them. Vocals are no more pure screams, this time they are more in the vein of early Norwegian black metal bands, snarls that are much more pleasant for the ears.
New Bermuda is a striking journey through the emotional landscapes, a record that will make you sad and angry, longing and happy, it just can’t be described with words, and you must listen to it and experience this maddeningly serene atmosphere it has firsthand. There are no standout songs because every tune is a tale for itself and must be listened to if you want to feel the gestalt of the album. Just play the album from start to finish and discover that during one day there can be sun, rain, snow even, and that day will look not like something artificial, on the contrary, it will look like the most beautiful gift that nature can offer us because beauty is the perfect blend of normally unharmonious parts, and not something that can be made with the help of some perfect formula that works every single time.
