{"id":208525,"date":"2025-06-23T20:16:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T20:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/208525\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T20:16:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T20:16:12","slug":"live-review-deafheaven-trinity-bristol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/208525\/","title":{"rendered":"LIVE REVIEW: Deafheaven @ Trinity, Bristol"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trailblazers of the blackgaze genre, San Francisco based quintet DEAFHEAVEN<\/b> have proven themselves to be one of modern metal\u2019s most reliable acts, drifting effortlessly from delicate atmospheres to ferocious screams and blast beats. With heavy hitters of the New York hardcore scene PAIN OF TRUTH<\/b> opening up the night in Bristol\u2019s striking Trinity<\/strong> centre, DEAFHEAVEN<\/b> delivered a night to be remembered.<\/p>\n

\"PainPain Of Truth live @ Trinity, Bristol. Photo Credit: Tom Bruce<\/p>\n

Despite only forming five years ago PAIN OF TRUTH<\/b> have already made a meteoric impact on modern hardcore\u2019s DNA, performing alongside heavyweights such as SPEED<\/b>, MALEVOLENCE<\/b>, A DAY TO REMEMBER<\/b> and DYING WISH<\/b> as well as releasing split EPs with SUNAMI<\/b> and AGE OF APOCALYPSE<\/b>. While their sound may come across a little barebones to fans of DEAFHEAVEN<\/b>\u2019s melodramatic mix of rabid black metal and swirling shoegaze, their stomping old-school hardcore quickly won over the crowd, churning up a frenzied mosh pit that covered most of the former church\u2019s floor.<\/p>\n

Storming through their lightning fast set, the Long Island-based four-piece turned even the most intellectual black metal beardstroker into a spin-kicking, knuckle dragging pit beast. Led by charismatic frontman Michael Smith<\/b>\u2019s barking vocals, PAIN OF TRUTH<\/b> mix classic east coast hardcore with metallic breakdowns and just a dash of hip-hop swagger for a brilliantly heavy experience.<\/p>\n

Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"DeafheavenDeafheaven live @ Trinity, Bristol. Photo Credit: Tom Bruce<\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible to talk about the state of black metal in the 21st century without at least giving a nod to DEAFHEAVEN<\/b>. Breaking free from the genre\u2019s underground origins full of church burnings and scratchy demos recorded on broken tape machines, DEAFHEAVEN<\/b> blend in softer, more ambient elements lifted from shoegaze and post-rock, giving their brutal black metal sound a luscious sheen. Off the back of their latest album Lonely People With Power<\/b>, a return to their more aggressive sound after 2021\u2019s Infinite Granite<\/b><\/a> dropped the screams for a more delicate shoegaze feel, DEAFHEAVEN<\/b> levelled Bristol\u2019s Trinity<\/strong> with a wall of black metal noise.<\/p>\n

Keeping their longtime fans happy, DEAFHEAVEN<\/b> stuck to their more menacing black metal material, ignoring the controversial Infinite Granite<\/b> <\/b>entirely, instead blasting through eight of Lonely People With Power<\/b>\u2019s twelve tracks as well as a handful of hits from their back catalogue. Confidently striding on stage to the track Doberman<\/b>, frontman George Clarke<\/b>\u2019s intense charisma is immediately clear with his sharp screams being heightened by his powerful leaps across the stage and into the audience.<\/p>\n

\"DeafheavenDeafheaven live @ Trinity, Bristol. Photo Credit: Tom Bruce<\/p>\n

DEAFHEAVEN<\/b>\u2019s appearance at Bristol\u2019s Trinity<\/strong> came across as a victory lap celebrating Lonely People With Power<\/b>, digging out some of the album\u2019s deeper cuts such as The Garden Route<\/b> and Heathen<\/b><\/a> and putting as big a spotlight on them as hits like Sunbather<\/b>. Although much of their older material was ignored, including albums Ordinary Corrupt Human Love<\/b> and Roads To Judah<\/b>, the band\u2019s fiery energy gave a passionate introduction to these newer tracks. Closing out on Dream House <\/b>and Winona<\/b>, DEAFHEAVEN<\/b> honoured both their past and their future with the song that broke them through to the mainstream into their latest release\u2019s biggest hit, ending a night dedicated to one of modern metal\u2019s most important acts.<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out our photo gallery from the night\u2019s action in Bristol from Tom Bruce here:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like DEAFHEAVEN on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trailblazers of the blackgaze genre, San Francisco based quintet DEAFHEAVEN have proven themselves to be one of modern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,83576,393,4884,83577,83578,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-208525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-deafheaven","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-pain-of-truth","14":"tag-trinity-bristol","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114734523119278427","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}