Live Review : Deafheaven + Inter Arma @ Gorilla, Manchester on October 1st 2018
Due to children and trains I miss the first ten minutes of openers Inter Arma, given that they manage to traverse a good twenty-odd genres and musical touchstones in the four tracks I do see (it could have been six, they did rather blur into each other), I could have easily missed their takes on Nu-country, Bolivian folk and Hi-NRG dance. What I do see is a collusion of Doom, Black, Post and Prog metals with a splash of Faith No More and generous glug of Pantera. It's not bad at all and the introspective Prog breakdowns (which see vocalist Mike Paparo reverentially kneel in front of the drum kit) makes it stand out from other identikit Blackened Doom acts I could mention.
Deafheaven's set is very much a tale of one-third and two-thirds. The two-thirds is the five tracks from new album 'Ordinary Corrupt Human Love' (five tracks may not seem a great deal of new material, but at over ten minutes a pop they make up a good hour plus of the set). This album has seen them move away from the Black Metal towards a much more cinematic, open and melodic sound. Vocalist George Clarke still sounds like a goblin being castrated against their will (from the shrill notes that are hit every now again, I suspect there was a couple of bricks involved) and breakbeats still make up the bottom-end of the sound, but the five new songs feel very different. It sounds wider, less harsh, more optimistic and frankly much more Post Rock Indie than Black Metal. During second track Canary Yellow I feel like I'm watching 'Strangeways Here We Come' era Smiths rather than a Black Metal band. The crowd are politely respective to the new stuff, even having the good manners to start a pit during the rare moments that's tracks like ‘Glint' and 'Worthless Animal' gain some real pace. This is not saying the new stuff isn't good, it is delicate, soulful and in many places bloody brilliant, it just wasn't what I, and a good proportion of the crowd, were expecting.
The one-third is the three older tracks aired (‘Dream House' and 'Sunbather' from the sublimely wonderful and universally acclaimed Sunbather and Brought To The Water from the rather more overlooked but equally wonderful New Bermuda). It is when these three older tracks are aired that the massive musical shift that Deafheaven have made with 'Ordinary Corrupt Human Love' really becomes evident. In contrast to the lightness of the new stuff, tracks like ‘Sunbather’ apocalyptic title track are tense, claustrophobic, down-tuned and just plain evil. Pure utter Black Metal. It is also with these three songs that the sh*t really goes down. The crowd who have courteously stood through the new tracks roars into life when 'Sunbather' and 'Dream House' drop, like caged animals fleetingly given their freedom the bodies fly and the arms flail.
Overall it is not by any shades a bad gig. Deafheaven make highly atmospheric and emotive music and have become a fearsome live act and were highly enjoyable tonight. However, and there is a however, this is a band at a crossroad in their evolution and if the direction that they take is the one that 'Ordinary Corrupt Human Love' is blatantly signposting, then I'm not entirely sure whether the majority of tonight's audience will want to come with them.
Words by Stewart Lucas
Photography by James Lynd