RIFFER MADNESS

How Deafheaven brought back the heavy on Lonely People with Power

- JIM BEAUGEZ

BEFORE DEAFHEAVEN RELEASED Infinite Granite in 2021, the metal world seemed to have the band pegged for its shoegaze-obsessed black metal sound. But the group's fifth album was a major detour that left fans divided. Produced by longtime Beck collaborator Justin Meldal-Johnsen and rife with dreamy, layered guitar and synth textures, mid-tempo beats — and notably, George Clarke's actual singing voice instead of his usual skin-peeling demonic shriek — Infinite Granite crushed fans' expectations like a slab of Precambrian rock.

So, when “Magnolia,” the first single from 2025's Lonely People with Power, hit streaming services in January, fans cautiously heralded a return to form, hoping album six held more blast beats than indie rock. That's also what guitarists Kerry McCoy and Shiv Mehra were thinking as they toured the previous record.

“There would be parts of me that would be like, ‘This is cool, but once it gets to “Honeycomb” [from 2018's Ordinary Corrupt Human Love], this place is going to light up,’ thinking they’re just being patient,” McCoy says. “But then we're in Korea and it’s 5,000 people in the rain jumping along to ‘Great Mass of Color.’”

“We ended up missing some of those other elements,” Mehra says. “Lonely People with Power doesn’t lose any of our new palette, but we brought back some of the heaters.”

Lonely People with Power isn’t merely a return to the band’s previously established sound. It’s a culmination of the stylistic detours and identities Deafheaven has cultivated over its 15-year history. Sections of “Heathen” and “Amethyst” share the most DNA with Infinite Granite, while the emotional chasms of “Winona” and “The Marvelous Orange Tree” harken to the critically acclaimed Sunbather from 2013.