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Deafheaven

May 21, 2025 By Matthew Berlyant Photography by Matthew Berlyant Web Exclusive

Back in March, Deafheaven released their sixth album, the incredible Lonely People with Power, which marked a return to George Clarke’s anguished, screaming vocals, blast beats, and a more intense disposition than anything they’d released since perhaps 2015’s New Bermuda or even 2013’s much-lauded Sunbather. Always an experimental band unafraid to mix their black metal with shoegaze (their very name being a tribute to Slowdive) and other elements, they have always been divisive and hated by purists. That said, their power is undeniable, and this most definitely translated over into their live performance last Wednesday at Irving Plaza. While nine (!) of the new album’s songs were played, the focus was clearly on completely overwhelming the rabid audience (many upfront singing along to every word and many others dancing, diving, and crowd surfing on top of other audience members to get to the stage (and promptly being ushered back into the crowd by security). In other words, the vibe was anticipatory, then celebratory.

While some of the nuance of the studio versions may have been missed, it was more than made up for by the sheer intensity of the performance. This came to a head, especially on the main set closer “Amethyst,” perhaps the album’s defining track and one of the best songs of their entire career. For the encore, we got an entire mini-set consisting of several more songs from the new album, along with the classic “Dream House” from Sunbather. Although some fans of their mellower, more experimental work (such as 2021’s Infinite Granite) might complain that the set focused too much on the new album and Sunbather, for most fans who prefer their Deafheaven loud, uncompromising, and in your face, the set was a complete treat from start to finish!

Openers Gatecreeper prepped the crowd with absolutely brutal, crushing yet catchy and at times almost hummable old school style death metal that saw them return to New York on a bigger stage (albeit as the main support on a larger tour) than their fantastic headlining performance at Brooklyn Monarch last September. Singer Chase Mason is quite simply a force with stage presence to rival anyone in the modern OSDM revival, and guitarists Israel Garza and Eric Wagner (not the late singer of doom pioneers Trouble) make up one of the most thrilling guitar duos in modern death metal as well. With their introduction to a broader audience, much like when they went on tour with Swedish/Canadian melodic death metal titans Arch Enemy in November of last year, one can only surmise that they may have made many new fans on this evening.