Boogie Like A George Clarke.
Deafheaven have always proven to be one of the more interesting acts in heavy music. In the last few years they absolutely exploded on releasing their second record Sunbather and with New Bermuda in 2015 they were able to adapt their sound that bit further demonstrating that they weren't a band you could shoe-horn in to one sub-genre and be done with it. The actual hype around the band took a little bit of a dip after New Bermuda with them maintaining their cult following more than grabbing a new audience. To a point this certainly did show tonight at KOKO as there were generous amounts of space to move around even after they'd come onstage. This however does nothing to take away the kind of force Deafheaven are live - as ever they were intense, tight and calculated in their assault of the senses.
As the crowd roared them on to a heroes welcome they immediately threw themselves in to opening number from New Bermuda, Brought To The Water which instantly drew everyone's full attention. Vocalist George Clarke moves around the stage with genuine enthusiasm and fervour, often gesturing the coordination of both the band and crowd like a mad conductor - it's genuinely difficult to take your eyes off his performance.
With post-Black Metal at their core their live performances are as intense as you can probably imagine. You need only look at their cover of Mogwai's Cody, a track already deeply intense emotionally, Deafheaven manage to turn it in to this all conquering beast. By far the track which garnered the biggest crowd reaction on the night.
Overall then Deafheaven continue to show-off their prowess in the live arena, delivering an incredibly intense and electric atmosphere all whilst sounding musically on point at all times. Here's hoping the buzz picks back up and these shows start becoming sold out events.