Deafheaven

Deafheaven don't look like your average black metal band. They lack the traditional garb of corpse paint and black clothing covered in studs. Hell, they even called their newest album Sunbather, an activity that many of their pasty ancestors wouldn't even think of. They also don't sound like your average black metal band. Instead, they add post-rock and shoegaze influences to their surprisingly hopeful-sounding black metal. While "trve kvlt" purists might scoff at this (or even set out with axes and torches in hand), those more open-minded will find a refreshing sound, one comparable to Alcest. That's not to say that it's at all derivative, on the contrary, Deafheaven make the sound their own, and do it better than their French forbearers. The result is a perfectly flowing album that is, at times, as calming as it is chaotic. The subtlety afforded by the extraneous influences suggests that Deafheaven realized, unlike Varg and his kvlt brethren, that "the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."