Roads to Judah is the debut album from San Francisco based band Deafheaven. In 2010 the band released a demo as a limited cassette and digitally through bandcamp. After receiving positive reviews from various blogs, the band was picked up by renowned label Deathwish Inc. Part of what makes this band so compelling is the inability to assign them to a specific genre. They have influences that include shoegaze, black metal, post rock, screamo and are on a predominantly hardcore label. Oh, and you’ll also hear the word “hipster” being tossed around. What makes Roads to Judah so successful is their ability to take all these seemingly disparate styles and blend them into a cohesive, and more importantly, enjoyable record.
Roads to Judah is an album of balance. The music alternates between beauty and brutality. The intensely personal lyrics are tempered with metaphor and abstraction. Rather than having schizophrenic switches from genre to genre, the different stylistic elements flow in and out of each other. The opening song ‘Violet’ is a perfect example of this. The track starts with a field recording (that includes what locals will instantly recognize as the beep of a clipper card on MUNI) and hazy, strummed shoegaze chords with droning lead guitar. Once the lead guitar peaks there comes a blackened blast that rivals anything by 1349. The albums centerpiece, ‘Unrequited,’ opens with a bluesy delayed chord progression with a Godspeed-style lead that weaves in between the individually picked notes. It is the perfect counterbalance to the blistering aggression of predecessor ‘Language games.”
Each of Roads to Judah’s four tracks exhibit excellent song writing and performances, but it’s the little moments that make the album so memorable. When all the other instruments drop out after a four minute black metal assault on ‘Violet,’ the simple delayed guitar chords are allowed to ring out and breathe. This one moment carries all the emotional heft of the song. The scathing vocals on top of clean guitar on ‘Language Games’ stand out from everything else on the album. Closer ‘Tunnel of Trees’ boasts the most extreme musical performances on the album, both heavy and melodic, but it’s the piano chords at the end of the song that tie the whole album together.
Deafheaven have created a beautiful and intense listening experience on this album. It’s hard to believe that it’s just their first, and it’s exciting to think where they’ll take their music in the future.
Roads to judah is available on CD and LP from Deathwish Inc. and features stunning artwork from Rainbath Visual. You can order it online, or better yet, go see them at one of their shows and buy one direct from the band.
Deafheaven remaining tour dates:
6/4/11 – San Francisco, CA – Elbo Room
6/5/11 – Los Angeles, CA – The Blvd
6/6/11 – San Diego, CA – Che Cafe
6/7/11 – Mesa, AZ – Nile Underground
6/8/11 – Midland, TX – Pine Box
6/9/11 – Dallas, TX – Bryan St. Tavern
6/10/11 – San Antonio, TX – The Ten Eleven
6/11/11 – New Orleans, LA – The Circle Bar
6/12/11 – Atlanta, GA – Archive Gallery
6/13/11 – Columbia, SC – Unit One
6/14/11 – Raleigh, NC – The Brewery
6/15/11 – Richmond, VA – Strange Matter
6/16/11 – Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
6/17/11 – NYC, NY – Cake Shop
6/18/11 – New Haven, CT – Lillys Pad
6/19/11 – Boston, MA – O’Briens
6/21/11 – Cleveland, OH – Now That’s Class
6/22/11 – Chicago, IL – The Albion House
6/24/11- Cheyenne, WY – The Crawlspace
6/25/11- Denver, CO – Blast-O-Mat
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