There wasn’t an emotion left unspent after San Franciso black metal outfit Deafheaven walked off the High Noon Saloon stage last Thursday. The band’s performance created a level of catharsis that felt of another dimension.
The band’s set consisted of them playing the entirety of their newly released album, New Bermuda, before encoring with two songs off their 2013 critically-acclaimed release, Sunbather.
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Frontman George Clarke acted like some sort of tortured demonic soul. His presence and mannerisms gave the show an otherworldly atmosphere.
Moreover, Clarke’s abilities to create and release tensions made for an extremely engaging experience. In many ways, Clarke was the physical extension of the Deafheaven sound.
Staring with a possessed craze, Clarke towered over the front row, rocking back and forth as the ambient samples swelled before each song. As his body rocked, the crowd could feel the tension building up inside both the venue and their gut.
As Clarke unleashed his blood-curdling screams and the band subsequently dove into pummeling riffs and blast beats, the front half of the crowd became one giant entity of chaos.
Being in the heat of the mosh pit at a Deafheaven concert feels like standing underneath a raging waterfall. When one first steps in, the physical and audible attack on the senses seems initially overwhelming, but after a while the body adapts and concertgoers gain an extra level of clarity.
That’s not to say Deafheaven’s show was that of constant distortion and moshing. Their songs all revolve around the concept of juxtaposing brutality with beauty. Their ability to splice these brighter, more melodic moments into their crushing wall of sound gave the show masterful pacing.
Just as the deafening cavalcade of blast beats and screaming would verge on becoming over-saturated, guitarist Kerry McCoy would interject with sweeping guitar leads, giving a sonic sensation of flying.
Then, just as the melodic parts would approach the verge of becoming long-winded, Deafheaven would fall back into their earth-shaking rhythms.
The pacing was executed so well that time appeared to move in accordance to their sound, rather than worldly parameters.
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The band closed with their magnum opus “Dream House” that culminated in Clarke diving into the crowd and suspending over the mosh pit before eventually returning to scream the iconic and resounding phrase, “I want to dream,” ending both the song and the night.
Deafheaven is in a league of their own, and their performance Thursday proved that. Clarke’s presence combined with the band’s ability to create a dynamic pacing made for an incredible audio-visceral assault on the senses.
