Deafheaven at The Metro

It’s been one week since I became a Deafheaven fan.

Review by Natasha Christian with photos by James Gough

So when James asked me to review their show at Sydney’s Metro Theatre I decided to approach it like a mystery box. Choosing the mystery box option is rarely a good idea. 

99% of the time you get a mish-mash of forgettable, disappointing junk that you’re not sure what to do with, or how to get rid of. But sometimes you get a mystery box so good that it makes you confident enough to take a chance on mystery again. Like finding a Shiny Charizard. 

To cut a long story short, this show was one of those rare, ultra-satisfying mystery boxes. 

As the crowd poured in, the night began with Melbourne metallers RUN led by vocalist Lochlan Watt. The band energetically took us through their 2020 EP For You Will Never Find Peace Within Your Quiet and brutal assault Everyone’s Cancelled, Everything’s Cancer. It’s good quality blackened hardcore. 

A quick Google told me Watt has been treated for brain cancer twice since 2019. 

Just let that sink in for a second. This is a guy who now appears to have plenty of energy and vocal ferocity on stage. But in the last four years, he’s had to retrain his body to move, talk and see so it can function like an average 30-something guy who would typically take these motor skills for granted. 

I can’t imagine how awful and isolating it would’ve been to go through this at the same time Melbourne went through the country’s worst covid lockdown. No wonder these songs are so furious. Watching Watt command the stage on Friday was the ultimate show of strength and resilience. 

There were a few unexpected moments on the night, the first was RUN’s cover of Goo Goo Dolls Iris. Wait, what? Of all the songs in the world, they’ve chosen the theme song for City of Angels. 

Why this cover exists is a mystery. Did Watt have a Nicholas Cage movie night and find this 90s romance about a lonely angel looking to give up his immortality for love, particularly relatable? I truly, madly, deeply hope so. 

I love when bands try something a bit different and unusual, and there’s no better place to go full Frankenstein than in front of a Deafheaven crowd. Power to RUN for giving this cover a try, but it falls flat during this set. Against their original songs - which are far better, stronger and more enjoyable to watch - the Goo Goo doesn’t make me gaga. Fortunately RUN isn’t out of steam yet. They end their set with Your Quiet, a solid closer that gives mid-2000s Amity Affliction and I’m back into it.

Up next is another Melbourne band Closure in Moscow. 

By name alone, I was expecting something dark and dreary. When I saw ‘prog’ next to their name, I wrongly assumed we were in for something long, technical and kinda boring.

Instead, we go from RUN to fun. Within minutes of strutting out in some teeny tiny white short shorts, frontman Christopher de Cinque’s vocal range has the audience eagle-eyed and bopping. 

It’s not black metal, or metal at all, so there were a few confused faces in the crowd. But by the end most seemed to be into it. 

After their set, I heard “that was unexpected” over and over again. 

It’s clear Closure in Moscow are insanely talented musicians and there’s a lot to unpack in their sound. It’s hard to say what their influences are, there’s a lot of dance, jazz and rock in the mix. It’s At The Drive-In and Queens of The Stone Age, meets Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Paramore. 

Whatever it is, it’s great to watch. The band oozed chemistry and charisma as they took us through their catalogue and new singles Better Way and Primal Sinister. We even get yet another unexpected cover, a brief version of Drake’s Hotline Bling. 

From Mansur Zennelli’s jazzy guitar riffs and backing vocals to Salvatore Aidone on drums and Duncan Millar’s slapping bass, I think they’ve gained some new fans tonight. Keep an ear out for the new album Soft Hell later this year. By the time we get to Deafheaven, I’m not sure what to expect. If their back catalogue and tonight’s supports are anything to go by, anything goes.

The San Francisco five-piece is in Australia to celebrate 10 years of Sunbather, which they’re playing in full at Dark Mofo. Sunbather was Metacritic’s best-rated album of 2013, scoring a 92. I heard it in full for the first time this year, and 10 years later it still holds up. 

In my short time as a Deafheaven fan, I quickly worked out they’re a band who refuse to be genre boxed. They like to take big sweeping identity shifts in a similar vein to Bring Me The Horizon and Norway’s black metal-turned-electronic outfit Ulver. (If you haven’t heard 2017’s The Assassination of Julius Caesar now is a good time to press play). 

Unlike the Dark Mofo show, Deafheaven’s Sydney set is more sonically diverse, with nine songs pulled from their entire back catalogue. They open with Black Brick, a blistering track full of deafening double-kicks and Slayer-esque riffs. Vocalist George Clarke took the stage looking stylish in all black, his towering stage presence loomed over us with a charming intensity. If Patrick Bateman fronted a metal band this is what I imagine it would look like. I swear at some of the darker points of the set - Sunbather, Gifts for the Earth - Clarke shifted from polite conductor to eyes turning black and rolling back. As unsettling as it is in these moments, it’s hard to look away. 

Nailing Deafheaven’s blackgaze sound live is a difficult task. It needs to sound dark and heavy, but the mix needs to account for the soft and gentle moments too. This is where this set loses marks for me. The drums were far too loud, which meant it was double-kick heaven from Daniel Tracy but there were quite a few moments where it was all snare and no shoegaze. If you were like one of my friends who chose not to bring earplugs, it would’ve been a hard time. It’s also disappointing for those hoping to hear Kerry McCoy and Shiv Mehra’s dreamy guitar riffs. 

The band switch gears halfway and dive into the softer sounding In Blur and Great Mass of Colour from 2021’s Infinite Granite. Clarke’s aggressive vocals drop to a cleaner tone that’s similar to Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan. It was great to hear McCoy and Mehra jam on these songs, both were grinning ear to ear and genuinely seemed to enjoy playing the newer stuff. 

Few frontmen do creepy well. Maynard from Tool, Greg from Dillinger Escape Plan, Dennis Lyxzen from Refused and Mike Patton are all fantastic at this. And George Clarke is up there with the best when it comes to his sinister stage persona. He’s brilliant to watch and time flies when you do. In saying this, I don’t think his dark, creepy (in a good way) intensity works quite as well for the band’s softer, dreamier songs compared to their heavier stuff. It’s like a villain in a psychological thriller singing a lullaby. 

Deafheaven shifts gear again with Worthless Animal from Ordinary Corrupt Human Love. It’s a great song with more great guitar work. While I’m a new fan, I would’ve liked to see Honeycomb or Canary Yellow in this set.

The song of the night for me was Brought to the Water from New Bermuda. It’s a mix of Immortal meets Mogwai that flaunts Deafheaven’s artistic diversity and the crowd absolutely loves it. The show ends on another crowd favourite, Dream House, where McCoy’s beautifully simple riff cuts through all the noise. 

Overall the contents of this mystery box were surprising and full of moments to remember. 

It’s worth taking a chance on things unknown. 

Deafheaven is touring Australia in June, including a special appearance at Dark Mofo.