Shoegazing, post-rock US indie black metal… got it? The band’s over-arching sounds hems close to the progressive sludge of Neurosis and the melodic intensity of Defeater with swaths of shoegaze guitar work in the likes of My Bloody Valentine. Emotive, hopeful and transcendental/ hymnal, rather than evil and grim, songs are backed by drums that are crisp and steady, blistering guitars that transition to twangy melodies. Feedback makes way to pissed-off black metal. Beauty shifts to ugliness or the other way around. deafheaven is a sonic challenge, a thought-provoking experiment that resonates long after it’s gone.