Deafheaven Release New Song, ‘Honeycomb’

Deafheaven making hearts swell and tears flow on their beautiful new blackgaze epic, 'Honeycomb'. 

2018 will see the release of a brand new record come from Pitchfork's and every hipster's favourite black-metal-cross-shoegaze act, Deafheaven.

Deafheaven - now consisting of bassist Chris Johnson, drummer Daniel Tracy, guitarists Kerry McCoy and Shiv Mehra, and frontman George Clarke - will unleash 'Ordinary Corrupt Human Love' come July 13th via Anti- Records. But before that much-anticipated new LP arrives in a few months time, the American black metal outfit have a brand new song to gift our world, 'Honeycomb'.

Straight up, this near-12-minute behemoth of a track is just more of the band's melodic blackgaze sound for the most part, yet that's no bad thing. For they do it just as well as they did on 2013's 'Sunbather' and their best record, (don't @me), 2015's high-achieving 'New Bermuda'. More so than that, though, through the use of uplifting guitar chords, strong dynamic flashes, some really beautiful textures, a goddamn guitar sole at one point, and Clarke dropping positive, impassioned lyrics like "I'm reluctant to stay sad", this is Deafheaven pulling you in and making you headbang along but smiling like an idiot while you do it. Perhaps the best example of this comes around the seven-minute or so point, where the last half of this stunning piece becomes quite possibly one of the dreamiest and prettiest shoe-gaze instrumental sections of music you're likely to hear in all of 2018. That entire passage is just so fucking gorgeous to listen to and like their past works, and it compliments so well with their heavier black metal attitudes too.

Coming with this new composition is also the group's first ever official music video (filmed by Sean Stout), and is one that's also very "Deafheaven" in many ways. For there's zero pretence here nor any bullshit to be had; just grainy and retro video footage of the five-piece hanging out together, seeing the various sights of San Fransico, and them being housed up in the studio working on this new material. It's so simple but it works wonders for the track and is decidedly them, which is so important.

Learn to be happy and indulge yourself in 'Honeycomb' below:

Header photo by Corinne Schiavone.