THEY REALLY ENDED IT THAT WAY? // Composer Reacts to Deafheaven - Brought to the Water

[@x-Gingerbeard-x]

New Bermuda is an amazing album through and through! Luna in particular is one of the best songs they ever made! Also Deafheaven are/were mostly described as Blackgaze, but that would be cutting them short, as they do so much more than that. I see Deafheaven as a kaleidoscope of different genres.

[@progperljungman8218]

That's what "progressive" is supposed to be about 🙂 (I know "generic prog" is a reality though, albeit self-contradictory...)

[@x-Gingerbeard-x]

@@progperljungman8218 I agree! They are a beautiful amalgamation of the genres/bands they grew up with and because of that, they've definitely been pushing the boundaries of both Black Metal and Shoegaze/Post-Rock (mostly). When I first heard Sunbather, it was something so different. Yes, I know there's been plenty of other bands that have been playing Blackgaze years before Sunbather dropped, but Sunbather truly is an album that stands out in every single way and still does to this day. Same goes for their other albums, albeit in different ways. (Sunbather/New Bermuda being my personal favorites.) Even Infinite Granite eventually grew on me and that's the thing with Deafheaven, they keep surprising with every release, but you'll always know it's them.

[@LV_daWEED]

Love all the transitions in this song 🤘🏼

[@nonstripedzebra]

This is my favorite album I ever bought from a band I had never heard of because I loved the artwork while walking through FYE

[@aubadoir.]

I'm beyond excited to see Deafheaven on this channel again; they've become one of my all-time favorite groups in the past couple of years! Their fusion of styles coalesce into such a nice bittersweet feeling have won me over entirely. New Bermuda is certainly their most punchy and dark full-length release, while still retaining strong melodic and uplifting elements. This song introduces the album incredibly well in my opinion; that opening has made my heartbeat quicken every single time I've heard it, and the drumming blows me away consistently. Daniel Tracy's skills on the kit are always a joy to listen to, regardless of the project. I totally agree with your comment about his cymbal work as well; that sort of levity contrasted against such insistent snare and bass hits is immaculate. I will say, I'm not the biggest fan of the ending of this song either, but I don't find it unlistenable by any means. I'm glad you enjoyed this track moreso than Dream House, though, and am stoked to hear your take on their next track! Thanks for another insightful upload!!

[@Pancakespls]

Oh yes, brought to the water, probably my favorite DF song. Saw them last year on their infinite granite tour and was so happy they played this.

[@hapahapahappy]

Man I love this song so much. This band really opened my mind to how great metal can be. This is also my favorite deafheaven record, I'd love to see a full album reaction for this one. I also really love infinite granite so I'm excited to watch your video for lament for wasps

[@ShadinCore]

it's crazy that you reacted to Leviathan right after this, because moment at 3:37 is literally Leviathan's "Merging With Sword, Onto Them" on 9:19 mark

[@AtomicBear18]

this album is a masterpiece and the lyrics are wonderful

[@muskett00]

Shame they have no melody and you can't understand them, as the music is incredible.

[@thedogjuicettv]

@@muskett00 you don't audibly understand them but you feel them if you're also cripplingly depressed

[@muskett00]

@mikeundercofler8108 I feel for you bud, but do you think the music and emotional state fuel each other?

[@AtomicBear18]

@@muskett00 Yes and no. Sometimes, music like this can be cathartic and help you out. But the opposite can also be the case. As with a lot of metal, the vocals are another instrument. You can feel the meaning of the song just by the performance and not knowing the lyrics.

[@supahspartan64]

Deafheaven is so good. Can't get enough. Thanks for the reaction.

[@FeRReTNS]

cool concept this week!

[@geirgaseidnes7809]

Post-y and blackened-y. Love it.

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

This song/album itself was something of a change from Deafhaven's first two albums, which were much more "blackgaze." The "gaze" element is still here, but it's mixed with thrash and post-rock and even a bit of metalcore minus the vocal style. Personally, this is the style I enjoy most from them, though I continue to be something of a skeptic who enjoys them but has never quite understood the hype for such an iterative band. I haven't heard their last album yet, so I'm interesting to hear where they've gone since this.

[@JUJUJUNO]

Infinite Granite is somewhat of a departure from their sound as a whole while also sounding like a natural evolution of some of their most mellow and emotional aspects in my opinion. If you like Ordinary Corrupt Human Love then you can really see the progress line that's gone in between the two records but overall I'd say their newest album is harder to get into. It took me an insane time without hearing it and some tries before it clicked, for you it might be instantaneous tho so Idk. It's one of my favorite albums in general, not their best nor my favorite from them but I put it in high regards after growing on me.

[@progperljungman8218]

Prognerd's filing this under progressive black metal 😊 Great eclectic stuff!

[@Cynips]

And here I thought this was the very definition of blackgaze = black metal + shoegaze. But maybe this is more progressive than just that.

[@janeg6759]

I was thinking it was a little proggy too. I liked it 😊

[@progperljungman8218]

@@janeg6759 of course you did 🙂

[@MMasterDE]

It's def blackgaze, even if it is a bit proggy. Do you want to say it's prog blackgaze, it's not black metal though? :p

[@progperljungman8218]

@@Cynips I just categorise anything with strong progressive leanings as "progressive" 😁

[@ckokomo808]

I’m sure you have things already set but want to recommend a few - Ulver- Bergtatt (1994)- black metal Perdition City (2000)- industrial electronic Assassination of Julius Cesar(2017) - synth wave, art pop Avenged Sevenfold - waking the Fallen (2003) - metalcore - Life is But a Dream (2023)- prog metal/Rock Blood Incantation - Starspawn (2016) - death metal - Timewave Zero (2022) - ambient electronic

[@CriticalReactions]

Waking the Fallen is one of my all time favorite albums and I've heard soooo many things about Life is But a Dream 😅. I'm kinda scared to listen to it at all.

[@ckokomo808]

@@CriticalReactions Waking the Fallen is a classic. It’s the reason I got into metal (along with bullet for my valentine). The new album been sooo polarizing! Personally I enjoyed most of it. I appreciate their creativity and desire to shift in a direction they wanted to go. I’ll leave it at that 😅

[@MMasterDE]

Blood Incantation's second album, "Space"/"ambient/electronic"? Old School Death Metal... hehe

[@MMasterDE]

0:20:35 This is with all due respect, I don't know what you've listened to on your spare time, but what you've covered so far on the channel is barely tipping your foot into things I feel mainly falls into 3 groups. 1. It's BM inspired, like this track. 2. It's first-wave, barely BM. 3. It's generic third-wave. What is my point? There's lots left to be discovered!! The innovation and diversity happened in the second-wave. If you like this, try something like Emperor - I am the Black Wizards. See a lot of what is being done in this song 20 years earlier. It's actually more epic, proggy, melodic, more talented guitarists and drumming. It has fast and slow parts, with a stronger transitions and movement in the song. Better vocals. Creates more of an atmosphere. Even has some light pop touches. It does however have intentionally worse production, where the band would stand far apart at different parts in a concert hall to create the wall of sound and atmosphere so very typical of second wave Norwegian black metal. Yes, I mention country because this was the job of a specific producer, location and time period. It's not like the song you've heard from them, where they had cleaned up the sound a bit and was more about technicality. I can't stand new Gorgoroth material, most of it feels like generic late-second or third wave bm. It's utterly boring and all the same. However, their Antichrist EP, their second big output, featuring some people that is not in the band later, is amazing. Songs like the self-titled "Gorgoroth" is epic, same goes for "Bergtrollets Hevn" and "Heavens Fall". You've tried to listen to Burzum, but you listened to stuff that was close to first-wave, just with some ambient feel. True, that got him known in the scene, but his master piece is the album Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, where you've moved away from first-wave entirely, I suggest the song "Det som engang var". A song that builds from fuzzy guitar and ambient, later adding on drumming and vocals for this earie lost in the woods and almost hopeless feel of despair. Solo artist, so he did all instruments, no drum machine or anthing. His next album took the experimentation to a new level, with his type of black metal fused with electronic. See Dunkeltheit or Jesus Tod, a sound few has attempted / been able to match. If you want more pop or cheese? Kvist - For Kunsten Må Vi Evig Vike is a classic. It's catchy black metal with lots of hooks and organs and everything. See for example Forbannet Være Jorden Jeg Går På, where you lyrics go something like, "can you see them dance", "can you see me dancing?" "you must be blind", while doing an organ solo like it was The Doors or something. You've reacted several times to Enslaved, but most of what they've done recently is "ok" or not my thing at all. This is one band that has changed quite a bit. They used to do long melodic proggy riffs with some ambient to create some sort of epic viking feel, hard to explain, just gotta listen to it. Ignore the first output "Yggdrasil", they remastered most of that in their Vikinglr Veldig album. From Hordanes Land I can't pick a "recommended" listen, it's "short" (few tracks) and sweet. Vikinglr Veldig is the last album with the old sound, great album, but you may wanna check the first track (Lifandi Lif Undir Hamri, (attempt at old norse)). Their next output would redefine how they did music, and after this album it just went more pop, rock, proggy and viking. There's some great tracks on Frost though. I very much recommend songs like "Isoders Dronning" or "Fenris". There's one band that went super commercial, and sold a lot of albums, but before that they did some very melodic, almost cheesily so, albums. That band is Dimmu Borgir. Their change is pretty funny though. I highly recommend the album Stormblåst (gotta be the original version, not the remaster). Try the song "Alt Lys Er Svunnet Hen" or "Stormblåst". Very down to earth and not explosive production. Their next album was more symphonic, and they become more of a symphonic bm band. Definitely check out the popular song "Mourning Palace" to get a feel of this, definitely put them on the map. Their next output went even more "epic"/"symphonic" with the even popular "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse". Then they mixed in some industrial into this symphonic bm with maybe their most famous song "Puritania". These last two tracks are among the most selling bm ever. They remade their Stormblåst album with their new extreme sound, far from what they once were. Nowadays they've added more orchestral feel, female vocals, and sometimes are outright Power Metal, ever as popular. haha Immortal, you've reacted to their almost heavy metal output, but they used to be black and roll, then ice cold bm. A classic to check out is "Mighty Ravendark". Chinese BM? See Zuriaake, follow Burzum's footsteps though, but with a Chinese feel. Example: God of Scotch Mist. LotR BM? Yeah, there's a band that does BM all based on LotR, but it's really a mix of Dungeon Synth and Black Metal. Summining has had several amazing albums, and I'd recommend checking out the song, Summoning - "Land of the Dead", "Flammifer", "Nightshade Forests", just to get a small feel of this. It's very different, nearest I've mentioned so far must be Emperor. There's also gothic bm, see Gehenna as a great example, and their song "The Shivering Voice of the Ghost". Somewhere between the Emperor and Enslaved stuff I've suggested, you find something like Dawn - The Knell and the World. A recent one you haven't covered is Batushka. Band split unfortunately, both still making music, but yeah, very different with almost like a medieval church feel, recommend: Batushka - Yekteniya I or Wieczernia. Behemoth used to do more old-school bm, but lately they've tried to do more blackened death-ish with great success. See for example, "Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer" or "Bartzabel". Not a fan, but just to show how different it can be, Satyricon has done a lot of different stuff. Everything from the Mother North you reacted to a opera version of, or more synth and fuzzy before that to way more commercial and pop. Their most popular song seems to be "K.I.N.G.", and it's black metal pop. hehe Drudkh, and Ukrainian BM band, has done a lot of folk, almost popish, ambient bm, somewhat inspired by Burzum, but more folk. See songs like "Furrows of Gods", "Glare of Autumn", "Summoning the Rain", "Solitude", "When the Flame Turns to Ashes". You may actually get some of the melodic feel of Deafhaven track in some of this. Maybe something more thrash, Mors Principium Est, see songs like "Reclaim the Sun". Another type of melodic bm can be found with Selvans. See songs like "Versipelles". Oh, and why not go all out cheesy and fun? See Varathron with their album "The Lamen of the Gods". Songs like "The World Through Ancient Eyes", "Nuns Have no Fun", "Beyond the Grave". There's Taiwanese BM... Laang, check out their "Shenyuan", hard to explain it, but you'll see how different it is. Mortem, a side-project, I think their first album was dm, but their latest output has some really catchy BM, see "Mørkets Monolitter" for how catchy and cheesy it can get. A band you definitely should cover is Aara, somewhat up and coming innovator/progressor in the genre. This may remind about shoegaze, but is perfectly planted on the black metal side. I recommend the song "Sonne der Nacht", I think it will fit your taste with the mix of the second vocal, really picks up as it goes along. Rest of that album is great all around too. There's an American BM artist that likes to mix some country into their music: Wayfarer. Example: The Iron Horse (Gallows Frontier, Act II). Native American? Try, Xibalba Itzaes - Sac Ibteeloob Cab. Beherit is known for it's almost enchanting droning of first wave-ish bm, then for experimenting with making the same material into electronic, but then going back more towards their root. A very different sharp and unique feel can be found in their "Axiom Heroine". Why not some totally symphonic, avant garde almost, yet very much bm: Therion - Symphony of the Dead. A more modern feel can be found with tracks like "Gaerea - Absent" or "Sinmara - The Arteries of Withered Earth". Maybe almost blackgaze, halfway anyway: A Forest of Stars - Drawing Down the Rain. Some other early experimentation worth checking out (classics), see "Mysticum - Kingdom Comes", or "Graveland - The Gates to the Kingdom of Darkness", "Bathory - Blood Fire Death", "Swordmater - Upon Blood and Ashes...", "Manes - Maanes Natt" (Under Ein Blodraud Maane), Zyklon-B - Warfare. Other stuff worth checking out for a more complete "look" of bm: "Nightbringer - Serpent Sun", "Wyrd - Sad Song of the Woods", Sorcier des Glaces - Unholy Path to Immortality", "Troll - Drep the Kristne", "Negurå Bunget - Tesarul de Lumini", "Abrumptum - De Profundis Mors Vas Cousumet", "Amorphis - The Gathering", "Averse Sefira - Battle's Clarion", "Yellow Eyes - Warmth Trance Reversal". A long post... will you even read the entire thing, or find it at all useful? 🤷‍♂

[@CriticalReactions]

I certainly read the whole thing and I think it explains something I've been hinting at lately, that BM is the metal subgenre with the widest reach. It can be everything from pop to classical to thrash and everything in between; not to mention that any other genre can be blackened. I mean, there's blackened screamo out there! I'm well aware that I've barely dipped my toes into the genre because it feels like every 5th BM reaction feels different from the standard third wave stuff. Going back to your earlier frustration about a lack of BM diversity, I think BM is my most reacted to genre and it's the one that has clicked with me the least. I think that combination is what has led to less BM on the channel over time and why the BM bands I do get tend to be the more popular 1st and 3rd wave stuff.

[@MMasterDE]

@@CriticalReactions hehe, I know you get a lot of requests, and you are following those, and because of that you attract more of the same people who has similar requests. True, everything can likely blackens.

[@dzigerica666]

2 hours ago?! nice

[@MMasterDE]

ooo, nice, this is one I've suggested before! :) I see you tagged it black metal, but I'd say it's more "black gaze". Mix of black metal and shoe gaze. The fuzzy guitar, wall of sound, metal drumming etc a bit post-metalish, dark tone, but way more droning and not exactly black metal, especially the lighter shoe gaze touches etc. Hard to explain, but it's not a massive genre, and it's somewhat new.

[@MMasterDE]

And it is poppy, it's heavily influenced by shoe gaze, a pop-rock genre with fuzzy guitar. Nailed by the album My Bloody Valentine - Loveless. Fun fact, "Loveless" is the "featured" movie in the opening scene of Final Fantasy VII, and yes, it's a ref to that album. :)

[@cccCCCccc123ccc]

I’m a big black metal fan. I’m sad to say I stayed away from Deafheaven for a long time because I heard they were “posers” and their music sucked. However, this song was great!

[@AtomicBear18]

also their genre would be the closest to blackgaze. Combining shoegaze and black metal

[@muskett00]

Love this musically, but hate the vocals. I've always wondered if someone ever thought about taking a song like this and mixing 'good' singing into it? Just to come back from the 2nd video (spoiler alert) and say that the music remains excellent, but the music becomes more shoegaze (Blackgaze apparently) and has clean vocals.

[@CriticalReactions]

I bet that doing clean covers of tracks like this could be a hit youtube channel. Kinda makes me wish I could sing well because I'd do that in a heartbeat.

[@SanskarWagley]

Love the song, but agree the ending is a bit long

[@BryceTackes]

Deafheaven is an example of a band i wanted to love, but the vocalist honestly kills it for me, which is a shame cuz i like his clean voice, but hate his harsh vocals. Their album "Infinite Granite" is one i love immensely, but it's the only one.

[@elizabethhatesyoutube]

i don't think ive ever seen anyone who only likes infinite granite before lol