Deafheaven Band • Page 8

Lowgazers is another black metal fav of mine.

 

good for you. :)

 

:heavy breathing:

 

I haven't read this entire thread, so sorry if this is rehashing something. But i'm listening to Deafheaven at work right now and i was curious as to why blackmetal purist always seem to hate on deafheaven. both albums are so fucking solid.

 

you basically just said it. because to black metal purists deafheaven isn't blackmetal

 

bc metal purists have to hate on anything that's even remotely popular.

honestly, I don't really know the answer, but I'm not well versed in black metal, so...

probably comes down to the fact that they incorporate other genres into their music (like shoegaze or whatever) - And they get covered by P4k and the like.

 

It's a likely a combination of a number of different factors:

-Deafheaven draw a bunch of different influences into black metal such as shoegaze, post-punk, and screamo that draw them away from a traditional black metal template.
-Likely as a result of those different influences, Deafheaven got "mainstream" attention outside of traditional metal press from outlets like Spin and Pitchfork. Whenever metal acts crossover to get attention from "hipsters", some holier than thou people who think they are kvlt start to rag on them. See acts like Pallbearer and Baroness for additional examples.
-Some of the hate likely also comes from their image and how they dress. Deafheaven doesn't dress or look like a traditional black metal band. They look like typical indie dudes. I've also seen George get some flack for his mannerisms on stage...which is possibly the silliest critique I've seen of Deafheaven. Dude is just super into the performance and evokes a lot of emotion as a frontman.

I say this while also viewing Deafheaven as a middle-of-the-road black metal band, but I think my earlier posts in this thread conveyed that.

 

Popularity definitely wasn’t the reason because they were getting hate back in 2010. They just have none of the hallmarks of Black metal bands aside from the sound. I’m surprised they’re as big as they are now. I saw them with Joyce Manor and Touche Amore of all bands and the crowd was just like ???????

 

where did deafheaven get hate all the way back in 2010? lol. i remember people starting to show ire towards them back around the time sunbather came out, but before that all i can recall is praise. they seemed to be pretty revered during that time with their demo and roads to judah.

 

Hardcore kids were definitely rolling their eyes at them. They seemed to be on a lot of hardcore bills when they first started.

 

They definitely got hate before they even put out an album

 

thank you for reminding me about one of the most awkward live videos i've ever seen:

 

is this more awkward than the la dispute dirt fest video tho?

 

People suck. Why go to a show like that and just stand there with your arms crossed? If you don't dig the band, go to the bar, or to the back or outside or something.

 

Lmao I was about to post the S&F video. They should play again I think that would be amazing.

 

post it casey.

 

There’s at least two people in the la dispute video who are into it so that’s two more than the Deafheaven video.

 

they’ve talked about it a bunch that before they put anything out and we’re playing shows that they got hate based on how they looked and dressed

 

Never mind. I found it when I had a free moment...somehow still not the most awkward live video I've ever seen, but that's close. Also cargo shorts.

 

all of my strictly metal head friends can't stand deafheaven and it's incredibly annoying

 

Same here. They hold to this elitist status for some reason and I'll never understand that.

 

For me, it's fair to compare them to other black metal bands out there, and I can understand why people don't like them especially if your idea of black metal is firmly rooted in the traditional camp alongside bands like Immortal, Mayhem, and Darkthrone. I'm not as big of a fan of Deafheaven as I used to be around the time Roads to Judah and Sunbather came out because my tastes have shifted, and there are other black metal bands that I enjoy a lot more than them now. But that's subjective taste differences at the end of the day.

 

Black metal purists are the true bane of the metal community.

 

Black metal purists only want to hear hair dryer guitars, typewriter drums, and no bass.

 

Like you have to a bitter butthole to look at the evolution of black metal and all these black metal influenced sub genres that have emerged in the recent years, and then act like some guy in Norway with his one man BM act copying Mayhem or Emperor is the only acceptable form of BM.