Genre-bending California five-piece band Deafheaven have just about perfectly mastered the art of harnessing metal ferocity to a shimmering, shifting, rolling sound that’s perversely relaxing and soothing, at least as much as anything with howling and blastbeats can get. The band’s fourth full-length, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love (Anti-), is a sweeping, epic master class in what could be called shoegaze only if the shoes in question were the otherwordly stomping boots of the gods. That said, Deafheaven don’t hold back from showing their gentle side on the album’s quiet intro, delicate interludes, or the eerie ballad “Night People,” where the very witchy Chelsea Wolfe assists. That’s all bolstered by four long-form tracks that seethe and pummel and never stand still. Each of them, particularly “Honeycomb” and “Glint,” sounds like a microcosmic manifesto; you’ve experienced a guided tour of the band’s whole palette by the time you reach their satiating conclusions and gather yourself for the next flight. v
