Deafheaven: Infinite Granite – San Francisco pioneers dial back the noise

In 2019, San Francisco’s Deafheaven were chosen by Vice magazine as an artist of the decade for soundtracking how life in the 2010s felt, “filled with turmoil, but interspersed with moments of beauty”.

They achieved this accolade primarily of the back of their 2013 album Sunbather, ostensibly an abrasive metal album with a sensitive dream pop heart and eye-catching pink cover. After prompting all sorts of pointless discussions on generic straitjackets and tiresome debates about how they were too hard for the hipsters and too indie for the metallers, most people agreed that Deafheaven were quite simply very good indeed.

Open spaces

Infinite Granite, their fifth album, will attract new fans in droves while also harshly dividing opinion. George Clarke’s shrieking death metal vocals, which occasionally sound like a dying pterodactyl, have been completely dialled back in favour of a far smoother and gentler approach that won’t be scaring anybody off in an immediate hurry. This undoubtedly will enrage whatever few purist fans Deafheaven might have left, but it’s an astute move that suits the wide open spaces of their music. Deafheaven in 2021 sound less claustrophobic and more grown up.

They haven’t lost their ability to suddenly switch on a stun gun of swirling guitars, such as on the final section of the hypnotic Great Mass of Colour and the corrosive 5½ minutes of The Gnashing, the closest track to their classic sound.

Infinite Granite is a surprising record for all the right reasons. A brave statement of intent from a band refusing to stand still.