Deafheaven: Sunbather (2LP, 10th anniversary remix and remaster, colour vinyl) [DEATHWISH]

Why you'll love it

This 10th anniversary edition is a fresh remix and remaster, cut at 45 RPM over two colour discs in a gatefold jacket with printed inner sleeves. Sunbather was one of the best-reviewed albums of 2013 in the US.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 10th anniversary remix and remaster
• Colour vinyl
• Cut at 45 RPM
• Gatefold jacket
• Printed inner sleeves
• Lyrics included

About the album

Black metal, as a rule, doesn't do sunshine. Deafheaven, a San Francisco band built around singer George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy, made a record that bathes blast beats and shrieked vocals in warm, shimmering shoegaze guitar, and a whole new audience who had never owned a metal album bought it.

The band recorded it with Jack Shirley at Atomic Garden Studios, and he returned to remix and remaster it for this edition. "Dream House" opens at full tilt and then breaks into something close to euphoric, the title track builds in long waves, "Vertigo" stretches past fourteen minutes, and "The Pecan Tree" brings it all home. Quieter passages such as "Irresistible" and "Windows" give the ears a breather between storms. The new mix gives the drums and guitars more room to breathe, so the loud parts hit harder and the quiet ones glow. It's the version the band always heard in their heads.

Sunbather put blackgaze on the map and pointed Deafheaven toward bigger labels and bigger stages. We have played it in the shop on sunny afternoons and, so far, nobody has fainted.

Also at Kops: more Deafheaven on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Deathwish (cat# DW251), a reissue of the 2013 album.