blackgaze

Record #1031: Deafheaven – Lonely People in Power (2025)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

In the years after Deafheaven released their seminal masterpiece Sunbather, the group has been caught in a sort of tug of war between straying too far from what works and sounding too much like themselves. Even their best moments post-Sunbather have felt self-conscious about how well they were riding the line. From the other side of Infinite Granite though, it feels like that sonic departure was the palate cleanser they needed.

Lonely People in Power finds the group as self-assured as ever, offering up a comprehensive blend of their different modes that feels less like an attempt to fix what isn’t broken than an embrace of everything they’ve done.

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Record #1026: Glassing – From the Other Side of the Mirror (2024)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

The list of heavy bands doing anything more exciting than Glassing is a short one. Since their 2017 debut Light and Death, they have been melding influences of post rock, screamo, shoegaze, harsh noise, sludge metal, post-hardcore, and kvlt black metal with a sense of drama and contrast that so many strive for but few achieve. They’ve been one of the best kept secrets in metal for years, churning out record after record of their signature molten tones.

I had already considered them to have reached their pinnacle  on 2021’s Twin Dream, but last year’s From the Other Side of the Mirror makes it feel like they were only about halfway up. And man, is the view great from up here.

Their mercurial shifts between dissonant heaviness to gorgeous ambience are more deft than ever, and they continue to uncover more ground between the two extremes. There are far more clean vocal parts, but that doesn’t make the record any less heavy. Instead, it opens up a new dimension to their already enormous sound. If Glassing keeps this up, they’re not going to be a secret for much longer—if there’s any justice in the world anyway.

Record #993: Alcest – Les Chants de l’Aurore (2024)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

No photo description available.If Alcest had hung it up after Ecailles de Lune in 2010, there’s a good chance they would have still been recognized as one of the most influential bands in metal. After all, they were the founders of the Blackgaze movement that Deafheaven imported stateside, inspiring legions of copycats. In many corners of metal’s various subgenres, it’s impossible to escape the French pioneers’ influence. Their name has been printed on more hype stickers for other bands than just about anyone I’ve ever seen.

But amazingly, not only did they continue past that masterpiece, but they’ve released a few more since. While Shelter’s more subdued palette may have disappointed fans of their harsher side, each record since then offers a strong contention to being called their best.

Maybe it’s recency bias, but Les Chants de l’Aurore (French for The Songs of Dawn) might actually offer the most compelling argument.

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Record #929: MØL – Diorama (2021)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

I’m not sure exactly who it was that drew such rigid lines around metal. While pioneers like Sabbath and Maiden were wide open to other influences, somewhere along the lines, metal shored itself up and went to war with other music. It’s not just softer styles either—metal fans and hardcore fans often come to blows with one another. Even subgenres within metal itself have split into warring factions.

But there is a growing movement in heavy music in the last decade or so to lay down the purity tests and elitism and infuse a wider range of influences into their work. One of the most exciting acts in this realm that I’ve discovered is the Danish quintet MØL. While they might lazily be tossed under the blackgaze umbrella for lack of better categorization, there’s a lot more going on here than Alcest worship.

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Record #876: Glassing – Spotted Horse (2019)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

When I first heard Glassing a year or two ago, lauded especially by members of Holy Fawn, I listened to a single song before deciding it was too acerbic and abrasive for my tastes. I’m not sure what compelled me to give them a second chance months later, but the switch flipped instantly. I became obsessed with Twin Dream, playing it over and over until that single disc was no longer enough to satisfy my thirst. I bought the first copy of Light and Death I could find, but failed to find Spotted Horse anywhere.

That is, until last month when I received an email alerting me to a reissue, and the speed at which I ordered it might have set some sort of land speed record. And where I have previously lauded Twin Dream as a singular masterpiece that the earlier records merely reflect dimly, Painted Horse might only be weaker by a degree of decimals.

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Record #864: Fen – The Malediction Fields (2009)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald / 1 Comment

Of all the variables in the careful calculus I use to decide what records to buy, Opportunity is perhaps the one with the most gravity. True, I often hunt with laser-focused intentions. But other times, a record will simply present itself to me in an opportunity that I cannot resist.

For instance: I had heard London blackgazers Fen before purchasing this record—how could I not? They pop up in the “Fans also like” section of just about all of my favorite metal bands. If I’m honest though, none of my preemptive listens compelled me to track down any copies.

But then, while foraging through the shelves of Amoeba Records in San Francisco, I found a copy of their debut full-length for an agreeable price. And I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Listening to the album in one earbud as I continued to browse, I was taken by the sweeping post black metal epics which affirmed my decision to buy over and over again.

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Record #857: Locrian – Return to Annihilation (2013)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

My toxic trait is that I am constantly looking for new music instead of listening to the thousands of albums I already know and love. When I go to the gym, when I walk the dog, when I work around the house, I almost always throw in my earbuds, go to Spotify, and look for something new.

Last week, when I dragged out the mower for the year’s inaugural lawn mowing, I pulled up The Angelic Process’ profile and scanned through the related artists section, and my attention was drawn to Chicago drone metal/doomgaze outfit Locrian and their 2013 album Return to Annihilation. 

Before I had even finished mowing the lawn, I tracked down a copy on Discogs.

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Record #856: Glassing – Light and Death (2017)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Sometimes, a band that hasn’t impressed you releases an album that finally gets your attention. And sometimes, that album ends up working as a key for the rest of their discography.

I have been aware of Glassing longer than I’ve been a fan. It’s probably been two or three years since I first saw the Holy Fawn folks gushing about them on social media, rushed to see what the fuss was about, and quickly filed them in the “not for me” category. A few months ago, Twin Dream made me fall in love with the Austin trio, but my affection has been largely reserved for that album alone.

But I don’t listen on repeat very often, even to albums as monstrously lovely as Twin Dream, so I started to explore their earlier records. And as luck would have it, their third album shifted my perspective enough that the same songs that once seemed too abrasive and acerbic for me to enjoy are now hitting me just as strongly.

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Record #814: An Autumn for Crippled Children – All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet (2020)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Last year, I said that An Autumn for Crippled Children’s Try Not to Destroy Everything You Love should have stolen them the title of “The Cure of Heavy Metal” from post metallurgists A Year of No Light. That album’s heavy use of moody synths, drum machines, and melodramatic grand pianos betrayed a great love for the Goth Rock legends that mixed surprisingly well with the blistering black metal guitars and shrieked vocals.

On last year’s All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet, AAFCC leaned even further into the goth, new wave, and post punk influence, making this sound almost like a Cure-worship album with added black metal elements, rather than the other way around. In either case, it certainly works.

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Record #793: Deafheaven – Infinite Granite (2021)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

The backlash from “A Great Mass of Color” came so quickly, they might as well have been included in the press release. Black metal purists were quick to point to the undistorted guitars, lack of blast beats, and (gasp) clean vocals as proof that Deafheaven weren’t kvlt.

Subsequent singles rebutted the idea that it might be a one-off. And now that the album is out, we can see for ourselves that this softer palette weaves itself through the entire album. Even longtime fans have turned on them, saying this record sounds like an entirely different band. They’ve lost the plot. They’ve sold out.

And the whole time, I’ve said the same thing to them: besides the vocals, this is what Deafheaven has sounded like the whole time. 

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