Through a partnership with Samsung, Magna Carta Holy Grail will be unlocked to Samsung users 72 hours ahead of its street date through an app that users will receive toward the end of June. Samsung has purchased one million copies of Jay’s new album for distribution to their users, paying $5 per copy, thus giving Mr. Carter both $5 million in sales and platinum status before the album is even released. With a new album announcement, we can only hope and pray that Magna Carta Holy Grail will finally bring us the Jack White/Jay-Z collaboration that we’ve all been waiting for since mid 2010.

Jay-Z is on tour for a majority of this summer with his Suit & Tie collaborator and former N’Sync member Justin Timerlake. Check out all the dates below.

7.17 Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre
7.19 New York, NY @ Yankee Stadium
7.20 New York, NY @ Yankee Stadium
7.22 Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field
7.26 San Francisco, CA @ Candlestick Park
7.28 Pasadena, CA @ Rose Bowl
7.31 Vancouver, BC @ BC Place Stadium
8.4 Hershey, PA @ Hershey Stadium
8.6 Detroit, MI @ Ford Field
8.8 Baltimore, MD @ M&T Bank Stadium
8.10 Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
8.11 Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
8.13 Philadelphia, PA @ Citizens Bank Park
8.16 Miami, FL @ Sun Life Stadium

In addition to the Biffy cover, you can check out a large selection of protest songs, both originals and covers, here. These songs can be filtered by category (anti-apartheid, anti-war, civil rights, anti-poverty, women’s rights, or other) so you can find just the right songs to fit your rebellious mood. For more information on the agit8 campaign and more, head on over to the organization’s website.

This time out the New Jersey rockers are giving the video treatment to the title track from their new record One Of Us Is The Killer. Not nearly as bloody as the video for When I Lost My Bet, you can check it out for yourself down below.

Read all about DEP vocalist Greg Puciato taking magic mushrooms here.

Much to the delight of those in attendance, James, Lars, Kirk and Robert ripped through their 1983 debut album Kill ‘Em All. For those who couldn not make it out to Michigan for the festival, you can watch the complete multi-camera performance down below thanks to the internet fan community known as MilanicaChannel.

Photo Credit: Billboard

Available in exchange for the coins in your couch on iTunes, the U.K. rockers have a brand new single called Do I Wanna Know? Debuted on the band’s spring 2013 US Tour, the slow building rocker also has an official music video for the song. You can check it out down below.

Thankfully, Spin is streaming the entire album a week before release. Head over there to check out the 47 minutes of dreamy post-rock/post-hardcore/post-post goodness.

Palms will hit the road in support of their debut disc next month. For dates, head here.

While Revocation has made us laugh in the past, this time out it appears the band means business. The group describes the new record as fast and FUCKING PISSED and it is hard to deny this claim upon listening to The Hive. The riffs are meaty, the vocals beefy and this track will no doubt get kids from coast to coast smashing into each other when the band unleashes it on the 2013 Summer Slaughter Tour.

Revocation is set for an August 6th release in North America. You can pre-order the album here. You can also check out a brief trailer for the album here.

Photo: Robin Laananen

Fans eager to hear new music from the two creative minds of The Mars Volta can properly kick off their week now. After the group split last year, singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala went on to found Zavalaz, and is currently playing his first few live dates with the group; meanwhile, guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez continued with his project Bosnian Rainbows, whose self-titled debut LP has finally been made available for streaming.

Set for a June 25th release, Bosnian Rainbows has can be streamed over at NPR, or below. You shouldn’t go in expecting The Mars Volta, but the results might be pleasantly surprising anyway:

Bosnian Rainbows’ forthcoming tour dates are as follows:

June 24, 2013 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
June 25, 2013 – Los Angeles, CA @ First Unitarian Church
June 26, 2013 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
June 27, 2013 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Aug 02, 2013 – Cork, Ireland @ Indiependence Festival
Aug 16, 2013 – Groningen, Holland @ Noorderzon Festival
Aug 17, 2013 – Hasselt, Belgium @ Pukkelpop Festival
Aug 31, 2013 – Copenhagen, DE @ Vega w/ Tomahawk
Sept 01, 2013 – Oslo, Norway @Rockefeller Music Hall w/ Tomahawk
Sept 02,2013 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Debaser Media w/ Tomahawk
Sept 04, 2013 – Helsinki, Finland @ Circus w/ Tomahawk
Sept 06, 2013 – Berlin, Germany @ Berlin Festival

Saturdays at Bonnaroo act as the penultimate crescendo of over half a week of music. It’s the day where attendees are the most comfortable, be it in suggestive outfits or obscene costumes. Energy levels are multi-peak endeavors, spiking throughout the day as folks attempt to conserve their energy for the legendary Saturday Superjam. A particular high point early on in the day was a particularly aggressive set from Death Grips. And really, what more would you expect from a trio who pit punk with hip hop in a knife fight?

Portugal. The Man treated press to a short set before they took the “Which” Stage, making for a double-whammy of psychedelic rock and acting as a special acoustic treat. Kicking things off at both sets with feel weird jam of the summer Purple Yellow Red And Blue, the Alaskan band was reinforced in harmonies and spot-on in instrumentals. Weird Al genuinely surprised the band as well as fans when he came on stage midway through their set, sitting in on accordion. New tracks from their recently released Evil Friends LP fared fantastically and Portugal. The Man, oozing confidence, closed their set on a high note with their stellar cover of Helter Skelter that meandered into Hey Jude.

Riding high on that same train of swagger was Nas, who stayed high energy for his entire set. Mixing equal amounts Illmatic fervor with the rather chill (for Nas, at least) Life Is Good, the emcee was clearly enjoying himself as he traversed the What Stage. Nas continues to reinvent himself not only in his sets, especially in the festival setting, but his sound.

Chan Marshall has struggled with stage fright for years. Never shy about her insecurities, the talented songstress was visibly nervous when she hit the Which Stage before dusk as Cat Power. Marshall shook with trepidation as she opened with The Greatest off her eponymous breakout LP. Though minor tics made her visceral fears all the more explicit, behind a microphone Marshall was breathtakingly confident, breathing new life into relatively fragile tracks spanning a large portion of her career. To witness an artist at their most human, either absent-mindedly fixing their hair or tensing their hands in the case of Marshall, is to explore performance’s uncanny valley, an area that is almost too close for comfort. Suddenly the intrinsic barrier between talent and attendee has been broken and yet a bond is forged. Marshall’s tenacity and bravery are what endears her to fans and ultimately propels her.

Acting as the evening’s de facto folk act, The Lumineers were decent, yet wholly unremarkable. Their decision to play mega-hit Ho Hey as just their fourth song boded terribly for the rest of their set, acting less as crowd appeasement and more as a desperate attention grab to keep fans engaged. Bonnaroo took a definite risk in placing The Lumineers on such a late spot on one of the main stages but their demographic of mostly teenage girls were still pretty thrilled to see them.

As I’d previously mentioned in Antiquiet’s Day 1 coverage, due to a medical emergency Mumford And Sons not only cancelled three tour dates around Bonnaroo but were forced to cancel their headlining appearance at the festival as well. Jack Johnson, who’d sat in on ALO’s set that same Thursday evening, was tapped to replace the Americana superstars. Johnson is a veteran of Bonnaroo and the move wasn’t necessarily shocking but certainly not well-received. His lengthy set was feel-good and jammy. No surprises there. Sadly there was no supplementary footage of the Curious George movie or bananas on stage so I took the liberty of adding them into my photos.

It was only fitting that an epic fireworks display (courtesy of Adult Swim, of all things) would precede R. Kelly’s set. Sadly or perhaps a blessing in disguise, there was no accompanying water show. R. Kelly didn’t pee on anyone and he certainly didn’t take an underage bride. Probably the most risque thing the crooner did was continue to hold a lit cigar as he sang his way through mega-hits like Ignition (the remix) and I Believe I Can Fly. You best believe some babies were being made that evening, as that is the R. Kelly M.O. Don’t believe me? Look up his song Pregnant.

To go from the egregious inanity that is R. Kelly to the egregious hilarity that is Weird Al was a surprisingly apt way to end the evening. Though the parody superstar never sang Trapped In The Drive-Thru, his performance was an impressive, multi-faceted beast roaring hits and hilarious snippets from Yankovic’s fake interview series. Those visuals made for a fluid performance as Weird Al wormed his way through song-appropriate costume changes and instrument swaps. The believability of his Fat ensemble was uncanny. Though the Superjam may have gotten you more legendary bang for your buck, (shoutout to Brittany Howard for showing the fuck up and rocking a cover of Satisfaction!) Weird Al’s solid performance proved a worthy contender.

Traditionally, Friday is the true start date of Bonnaroo, with every stage being utilized. Taking the rather large Which Stage, Of Monsters And Men proved that no matter how great you may sound, how tight your harmonies intertwine, or how strongly you may be feeling your music, a predictable set can completely thwart your momentum. As much as I’d like to be impressed with how far the band has come based solely on just how much they’ve been touring off of breakthrough debut album My Head Is An Animal, it’s to the point where the six-piece has gotten so tried and true that they’re boring. Not even mega-hit Little Talks could breathe life into their set.

Even before DIIV truly began to get into the groove of Bonnaroo, they’d dropped a bit of a bombshell. After a bit of instrumentals, frontman Zachary Cole Smith immediately dedicated their set to their keyboardist “who just quit this morning.” As if getting to Bonnaroo weren’t stressful enough for the former four-piece, their now three members attempted to carry a highly anticipated set with the stark absence of keys. A lone synth sat in front of a drum riser serving as a constant visual reminder of the missing piece. Though DIIV was jovial, jokingly introducing themselves as Earl Sweatshirt (whose slot they filled) their set was marked with misfires more than anything.

Conversely, Passion Pit was absolutely electric. It’s a low blow to simply dismiss frontman Michael Angelakos as being manic but there may be no other way to describe the Passion Pit mastermind’s wide-eyed stage antics. Bringing forth a decent mixture of material from the acclaimed Gossamer as well as debut LP Manners, Passion Pit could clearly do no wrong given the squealing audience that swooned before them.

Not enough can be said for just how rock solid Foals’ performance was at “This” Tent. Foals is the type of band you give either a quick, dismissive listen to or you set aside as tepidly engaging background music. Though rarely concerned with engaging with their audience, the British quintet more than made up for it with seamless instrumentals. New material was on display, with each standout track coming straight from the recently released Holy Fire. Never underestimate the power of strong band dynamics both musically and fraternally. Foals were clearly having fun and that energy was just enough to keep a crowd engaged and enjoying themselves.

This guy said he was Paul McCartney.

On their own, legendary artists such as Paul McCartney get almost an immediate free pass to either phone in their sets or legitimately do whatever the hell they want given their widespread appeal and status as musicians. Either Sir Paul was feeling particularly introspective or his comprehensive performance is a direct reflection of just how damn good he is and how badly he wants to keep up that level of showmanship. From a Foxy Lady jam to a surprisingly solid cover of Lead Belly’s Midnight Special, the former Beatle pulled out all the stops, eliciting three encores and playing for a total of almost three hours. Wings and Beatles tracks were traded almost evenly. McCartney brough out the big pyro for Live And Let Die before closing with Hey Jude. Those three subsequent encores added eight songs to the already weighty set.

Macca’s epic, pyro-driven conclusion delayed English indie darlings The XX by almost half an hour but that didn’t stop fans from forgoing the last of Live And Let Die among many other epic classics to scream their heads off for a dream pop act. The XX have a very specific aesthetic that correlates with their minimalistic riffs and ebbs and flows of synth sensations. It’s a striking aesthetic that one would assume doesn’t require that much upkeep and yet the trio acted disinterested from the start. Mega-hit Crystalised felt scattered, stripped down to its bare minimum and robbed of any cohesion. Given the amount of fog engulfing the stage and billowing out towards the hundreds in attendance, it appeared that the hazers were doing more work than the band itself.

Also delayed to the stage was ZZ Top, who presumably rocked out with The XX during Paul McCartney’s set. First, a bit of advice straight from This Tent: if you’re headed to a ZZ Top show with the high expectations of rock solid musicianship and legitimately uncheesy songs, then goddamnit, you’re doing it wrong. For their age and for what they are, ZZ Top are the masters of kitschy garage rock. Their entire set was crowd-pleasing and predictable, yet they wore their cheap sunglasses and dueling beards/guitars well. Apparently inspired by Macca, the Texas trio expanded on his Hendrix riffs with a full-blown cover of Foxy Lady that was every bit as hospitabily gruff as frontman Billy Gibbons’ voice still seems to be. After their relatively short set, about half of the tent left while a good few hundred folks stayed on for what promised to be a psychedelic endeavor in the form of Animal Collective.

If Animal Collective were to be embodied in a single chunk of time it would almost certainly be between the hours of two and four in the morning. The ultra-late night set was a feast for the eyes and ears, with large inflatable tentacles or spikes if you prefer a less animalistic comparison. (but who would when it’s AC?) The foursome certainly knew their audience as well as their own strong suits, drawing mostly from their breakout eight LP Merriweather Post Pavilion. Understandably, My Girls was the piece de resistance, functioning as the ultimate auditory accompaniment to flashes of spindly lights and the occasional cascading fog.

It’s another year on the farm and despite rumors of tight security, the inebriated masses have overtaken Manchester. Early into the festival came the news of drastic line-up shifts in the form of DIIV’s show postponement and Earl Sweatshirt’s cancellation. DIIV graciously took the Odd Future MC’s slot for which many are grateful. Though Mumford And Sons had canceled three dates surrounding Bonnaroo in the wake of bassist Ted Dwane’s medical emergency involving a blood clot on his brain, it appeared the band spoke too soon on committing to ‘roo and pulled out Thursday evening only to be replaced by Jack Johnson.

Despite the surprising Johnson move, Bonnaroo was off to a great start with SoCal indie rockers Milo Greene at the That Tent. The relatively egalitarian quintet traded harmonies as effortlessly as they interwove instrumentals, opening with the short and sweet Wooden Antlers before launching into Don’t You Give Up On Me. A particular highlight of Milo Greene’s set was a spot-on cover of Sufjan Stevens’ Chicago which delighted and legitimately surprised a packed crowd.

Buzzband Twenty One Pilots had been on festival radars since their high-energy (albeit short) set at the mtvU Woodies during this year’s SXSW. For as many fans who were chanting along to Migraine and Holding On To You, both crowd-pleasing anthems played early on in their set, there were just as many folks completely unaware of what they were about to witness. The duo donned skeletal costumes, with lead singer Tyler Joseph running circles around the stage, eventually swapping a piano for a ukelele, which only furthered his energetic outbursts. Twenty One Pilots is one of the few gimmicky bands who can legitimately pull of the hyper stage antics, though they’ve (thank you, god of graciousness) dropped the “hi, we’re Twenty One Pilots” schtick between every other song.

One of the strongest things Bonnaroo has going for it is quality sound and production that rarely, if ever, bleeds into another stage or tent. The conflict-free music is only made difficult by just who to see and when. To preface my brief mention of Ariel Pink, I do admit that I was warned. I was warned that he was awful, egotistical, insufferable; the types of polarizing adjectives to denote either musical genius or just general douchebaggery. Though I never got a legitimate read on Pink’s persona, the one thing that was striking was just how painful he sounded. Feedback reigned supreme in a set that only had the crowd at one song at the most. The novelty has worn off.

Sister band Haim was a breath of fresh air comparatively. For those of us who’ve more than worn out Haim’s critically acclaimed Forever EP and are aching for more, a live performance is a fine way to satiate the sonic palette. Better Off took on new life in a live setting, its moody lyrics and churning percussion spiked with a ferocious spirit similar to the snarling Riot Grrl groups that came before them and helped pave their way. Not to pigeonhole the band as a niche act; they’re far from it. Haim had an impressive show of aural evolution and confidence that garnered a massive audience and an equally crowded photo pit. Given their performance, it was completely warranted.

It’s no secret that a majority of festivals thrive on corporate sponsors in a symbiotic relationship of brand recognition and unnecessary swag (read: free shit). All this Bonnaroo the Ford Fiesta Garage will be serving a heaping helping of said swag, along with quite a few intimate performances, including Maps & Atlases and DIIV. Maps & Atlases played to a sparse crowd of mostly media Thursday night, though their energy and the performance space made it feel more like those in attendance were witnessing a practice session in a band member’s garage. The Chicago band came in as last-minute replacements for DIIV, who are now set to play Friday at 2pm. Either the spontaneity of the announcement was too much for the band or they were just off their game, but Maps & Atlases were lethargic.

Purity Ring came on like a band possessed. The duo is equally known for their sound as their aesthetics, with Corin Roddick acting almost as a conductor atop a riser and slightly hidden by his signature light-up vibraphone. Alternating lights and shadows along with Roddick’s percussion propelled Megan James’ madwoman antics as she skittered about the stage. Though audio issues prevented the band from starting on time, fans stuck it out and were greatly rewarded. Understandably, the brunt of Purity Ring’s material came from their sole album, the breakout LP Shrines, yet the set kept the crowd on their toes.

The man and myth combination that is Father John Misty closed out my first night of Bonnaroo. Deliberately mispronouncing the festival’s name and providing just enough stage banter to keep the set cohesive, Misty and co. played the entirety of Fear Fun, closing with his breakout single Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings. Though no Father John Misty show is necessarily bad, it was clear from the limited time slot that intimate settings and more standalone performances are the environments FJM most thrives in. Banter along with stronger band dynamics and the occasional cover are the common surprises of a Father John Misty show and he just didn’t have enough time to provide either. Fests aren’t for everyone but FJM still provided a strong introduction to his brash, chaotic world.

There are two types of people in this world. Guitarists and drummers. Even if you’ve never picked up a guitar or taken a seat at a set, you should figure out which one you are. If you don’t believe this theory, you should check out Japandroids sometime.

Here’s how it went down here in Chicago at the Metro Tuesday night.

The duo opened with Adrenaline Nightshift. Japandroids is one of those bands that can change your mood in a split second. I go from pissed off to amped with the crash of a cymbal. If this sounds strange, you might be a guitarist. I’m so affected by Brian’s energy it’s almost frightening.

The bearded man in front of me with long red hair and a Pearl Jam t-shirt on moves his right hand up and down in unison with Brian’s strumming. He knows what he is. Arms flailing like a madman, David keeps the rhythms going while Brian dances around the stage possessed by his guitar.

For just two dudes from Vancouver, these guys know how to put on a show. The lights seize around the room and appear to be powered by the energy of the music. I smell a joint light up behind me and the last point on the checklist of “Are you at a rock show?” is crossed off.

Brian pauses before the second song, “That was just the warm up. You ready?” And onto Fire’s Highway they turn…

About halfway through their set, Brian tells us they saw Metallica on Sunday. The crowd cheers in approval. Brian informs us, “Yeah, David wanted to challenge Lars with this next song.” David laughs it off and the crowd chuckles. Now the drummers in the audience get to have some fun as the band launches into Heart Sweats.

As the song gets going, I notice my head gyrate to every crash of the cymbals. I know what I am. X O X O X! X O X O X! they yell in unison, as the cymbals and bass drum take over. David launches into a short solo as the drummers of the crowd cheer him on. I think to myself, “…yeah, fuck Lars. David’s got this one.”

At the very beginning of the show, Brian announced that this would be Japandroid’s last show in Chicago for a while. Their tour has taken them around the world and it’s starting to wind down. There was a slight pang of palpable sadness in the crowd when this was said. However, no one was shocked or upset. It’s been over a year since Celebration Rock was released and you could tell that the guys are eager to move on to the next step.

They’ve been lauded since their almost-didn’t-happen breakthrough in 2009 with Post-Nothing. They’ve made their statement with Celebration Rock. What’s next for them? Hell if I know. All I know is there’s one hell of a guitarist and one fucking drummer up there killing it.

“Alright guys, this is gonna be our last one…” Brian tells us. Finally an end is in sight for my bloated bladder.

There they go again, changing my mood in the blink of an eye. Crashing into For The Love Of Ivy with more intensity than I thought possible from two human beings, Japandroids quiet my pain. Moving towards the drum set, Brian jumps on top of the bass drum and the two musicians attack each other with sound. The strobe lights are blinding and the music is deafening but no one cares. Utter chaos is breaking out on stage and this is what we came to see…

As the last chord fades, I realized I have to piss again.

So, figure it out yet?

No? Well, shit. I can’t do it for you. Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock may help you though…

We are sad to say that Kim Deal has decided to leave the Pixies. We are very proud to have worked with her on and off over the last 25 years. Despite her decision to move on, we will always consider her a member of the Pixies, and her place will always be here for her. We wish her all the best.

The Pixies last performed in late 2011, but recently had a very successful Kickstarter campaign to release the book A Visual History. Deal has spent her time as of late with The Breeders who are currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of their mainstream breakthrough Last Splash. No word on who The Pixies will find to replace Deal.

A few hours ago, Boyd debuted the lead single from the upcoming four song EP, Compass. We will save you the snarky commentary about discovering that songs coming from a place that sucks, and let you make up your mind on Where All the Songs Come From for yourself down below.

Compass will drop on June 25th. Head over to the band’s official Facebook page for more information.

After the conversation, McCartney hit the stage for the remainder of the episode, performing both various Beatles (I’ve Just Seen a Face, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!, and Lady Madonna) and Wings cuts (Hi, Hi, Hi and Listen to What the Man Said). Additionally, Macca performed the Beatles’ track Birthday as a web exclusive, which you can check out here.

Courtesy of Hulu, you can stream the full episode down below.

McCartney’s “Out There” tour continues throughout the world for the remainder of the summer. Check out the remaining dates below.

6.15 Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Festival
6.22 Warsaw, Poland @ National Stadium
6.25 Verona, Italy @ Roman Amphitheatre
6.27 Vienna, Austria @ Ernst Happel Stadion
7.7 Ottawa, ON @ Scotiabank Place
7.9 Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
7.12 Washington, D.C. @ Nationals Park
7.14 Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse
7.16 Milwaukee, WI @ Miller Park
7.19 Seattle, WA @ Safeco Field
7.23 Quebec City, QC @ Plains of Abraham
8/9 – 8/11 San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Festival
8.12 Winnipeg, MB @ Investors Group Field
8.14 Regina, SK @ Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field

One of the more exciting treks later this year will feature Between The Buried and Me performing Future Sequence from front to back. Joining the band for the trek will be The Faceless, The Contortionist and The Safety Fire. You can check out all the dates via the poster below.

Head here to read our review of BTBAM’s stop at the Wiltern in Los Angeles earlier this year.

With bassist Ted Dwayne being hospitalized earlier this week for surgery on a blood clot in his brain, Mumford & Sons will not be able to make it down to Manchester for the annual music festival this Saturday night. Here is the statement from the band:

Dear friends,

Ted, Ben, Marcus and Win

Update:While Bonnaroo looks for a last minute headliner, Jack Johnson has been announced as a replacement for Mumford and Sons. The same Jack Johnson who released a song that sounds like every other Jack Johnson song earlier this week. If you didn’t click the Jack Johnson link, feel free to enjoy the clip of Mumford & Sons at Bonnaroo 2011 down below.

Okay, so it was a Bud Lite Concert Stage and the parking lot happens to belong to Disney who just happens to be the parent company of ABC who just happen to have a popular late night show called Jimmy Kimmel Live. You can watch both I Will Steal You Back and Damages down below.

I Will Steal You Back:

Damage:

Now that you have enjoyed both performances from Jimmy Eat World, read our review of Damage here.

After a handful of North American gigs, AWOLNATION is about to head to Europe for summer festival season. Head to their official website to check out where you can catch the band. To read our recent interview with drummer Hayden Scott, head here.

Album opener Dream House may be the most perfect song here. Although I’d heard bits and pieces of the band’s debut record, 2011’s Roads To Judah, it was this song that first really pulled me in. Both the tone and the pacing of this track can be viewed as a sort of microcosm of the album as a whole. It’s enormously heavy, but only in such a way that shows that “heavy music” can refer to a huge gamut of different sounds. For the first five minutes, the band is forever surging forward while dancing around a slew of rhythmic change-ups. Drummer Dan Tracy is at his best here, jumping seamlessly from machine gun blast beat to splashy syncopation, and finally to swelling thunder crashes during the song’s grandiose back end. While the opening five minutes use a lot of the sounds characteristic of U.S. black metal, there’s an overtly uplifting feeling at work here. Whether it’s the result of some strategically placed bright, major chords or something to do with the precise pacing (or a combination of the two at work), it comes across as, rather paradoxically, sunny black metal; this is extremely heavy music that wouldn’t be terribly out of place blasting out of the windows of a car gliding down the Pacific Coastal Highway.

It’s tonal curiosities like this, among the other disparate sounds Deafheaven toys with on Sunbather, which have put the band on the receiving end of criticism and derision from some black metal purists. Calling them out for deviating from the traditionalists’ ideal of what U.S. black metal should sound like, though, is sort of missing the point with this band. I don’t think there’s much to gain from exhaustively detailing exactly why Deafheaven should or should not be considered a black metal band, because there’s a much more interesting conversation to be had in examining the parts of that genre that the band throws together with sounds that are more often associated with post-rock or shoegaze. Vertigo, the longest track at 15:11, begins with an intro that, frankly, doesn’t sound like any subgenre of metal. Eerily arpeggiated chords laced together with a lead guitar melody that keens like the wail of a distant siren gradually build up the tension until a sudden burst of noise hits, a reminder that this is indeed a band with roots in extreme metal. After the fury subsides, though, they slide into an extended coda that sounds closer to brainy post-rock, something more akin to the sounds of former touring partners Russian Circles.

If there’s one element at work here that sounds distinctly metal at all times, it’s Clarke’s voice. He sings in that cold, raspy hiss that’s become a near-universal trope of black metal, not once adopting a more conventional singing tone. This is perhaps his smartest move as a singer: by remaining silent on the album’s more quiet, prettier passages, he lets McCoy’s guitars breathe and establish their own emotional character. The gently plucked, almost pastoral guitars that populate Irresistible don’t need any kind of vocal accompaniment; sandwiched between Dream House and the title track, they’re given the space they need to stretch out and convey a sense of calm in the eye of the storm. The fact that Clarke’s voice only appears during the more intense sections of each song also allows him to maintain a carefully orchestrated consistency: through all of the record’s emotional ups and downs, he’s always lurking slightly in the background, seething with a conflicted mix of longing, heartache, wonder and elation.

There’s a palpable sense of a deep yearning throughout Sunbather. Clarke’s lyrics read like the anguished notes of an outsider surrounded by the lives of others he’d prefer to his own. This is never more apparent than on the title track, which describes an idyllic summer scene in affluent suburbs, and the crushing effect that seeing this can have on someone peering in from the outside. Clarke’s narrator isn’t jealous of the possessions of others, though. It’s not the big houses or white picket fences that cause him to retreat homeward and “break bones down to yellow and crush gums into blood,” but the picture of happiness that these physical trappings represent. Clarke isn’t envious of wealth; he’s just chasing after a distant ideal of unattainable bliss.

McCoy’s swooning guitars reflect and amplify this sense of longing. Sunbather is an album positively brimming with emotional peaks and valleys, and a great deal of this comes from the varying textures of the guitars. There’s plenty of intense, frantic tremolo picking, but these are tempered in equal measures by hushed, ornate passages and big, melodic riffs that build into enormous, skyward-soaring hooks. Album closer The Pecan Tree plays out essentially in that order. The opening salvo of blast beats and searing guitars thunders along until just after the 4:00 mark, and collapses into hushed, delayed guitar notes over a simple piano melody that gradually builds into a towering behemoth of a riff that sounds not unlike the more grandiose moments on any Mogwai record.

Underneath all that heroic bombast in the album’s closing moments, Clarke’s lyrics are more desperate here than perhaps anywhere else: “I am my father’s son. I am no one. I cannot love. It’s in my blood.” This is perhaps the most clear example of this tone of triumphant despondency that runs throughout the record: even while sounding as though they’ve just finished vanquishing their enemies and setting all things right in the world, Deafheaven can’t help but look inward at what they see to be the crushing shortcomings of their own lives. It’s this kind of relentlessly conflicted worldview that makes Sunbather so emotionally exhausting. It’s a stellar record, albeit not the easiest to listen to. Not because it’s bleak throughout, but because it slingshots back and forth between bliss and defeat so often and with such great, bounding strides.