- Country: USA
- Style: Post-black metal
- Label: Roadrunner Records
- Release date: 28 March 2025
Four years after the clean-sung shoegaze of Infinite Granite, Deafheaven have turned the volume back up. Lonely People with Power is their first record for Roadrunner, and George Clarke is screaming again, hard and often. If you missed the blast beats, here they are.
“Doberman” makes the point right after the short opening “Incidental I”. Tremolo riffs, Daniel Tracy flattening everything in sight, Clarke shredding his throat over the top. “Magnolia” is even more direct, a sprint with a riff that feels close to thrash before it opens out into the band’s familiar bright, washed-out guitar sound. Kerry McCoy and Shiv Mehra trade between those two modes all album long, and the switches never feel forced.
The record is long and busy. Three “Incidental” interludes break it up, one with Jae Matthews of Boy Harsher and one with a spoken part from Interpol’s Paul Banks. Not all of them earn their place, and “Amethyst” is the more rewarding detour, a slower piece that builds patiently to a real payoff.
Producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen keeps the mix huge without burying the details, and the last two songs are as good as anything Deafheaven have done. “Winona” is pure rush. “The Marvelous Orange Tree” closes things with a big, aching melody that sticks for days.
Best tracks:
Doberman
Magnolia
Amethyst
Winona
The Marvelous Orange Tree
Author’s rating: 9.1/10
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