Deafheaven

Relocated pretty much last minute from Leeds to Manchester, tonight’s crowd is actually surprisingly big considering the lack of notice. And everyone who did turn up to the pub for a pint of cold refreshing metal will be thankful that they did.

The tiny stage in the Star and Garter cannot contain the sheer ferocity of Italian metallers ‘The Secret’. The band unleash their monstrous new album ‘Agnus Dei’ onto an audience that is content to stand clear and admire the suffocatingly dark music on display. The Secret are actually rather intimidating once they get into their stride. For the most part it is a disorientating sonic barrage of blast beats and blackened grind influenced riffing but the band also occasionally show a penchant for the massive headbang with songs like the groovy ‘Vermin of Dust’. As frontman Marco Coslovich ends the set covered in blood, sweat and beer, the crowd collectively pick their jaws up from the ground.

San Francisco’s ‘Deafheaven’ are a whole different beast altogether. Their ethereal style of black metal is beautifully realised on stage as their songs swerve from gentle and melancholy to explosive with surprising fluidity. Each song is drenched in sorrow and raw emotion as vocalist George Clarke unleashes anguished shrieks and screams that compliment the mesmerizing music crafted by his band-mates. If their sophomore release ‘Sunbather’ channels anything like what the crowd has witnessed tonight in the Star and Garter, we may have an early contender for album of the year.