12. Deafheaven
black metal/post-rock/shoegaze
I like black metal, Ive got a lot of time for it; have done since I was young, long-haired, obsessing over Emperor and reading up on all the goings on in Norway associated with it. Thus, it is not in a negative manner towards black metal that I say this; Deafheaven have managed to make black metal sound beautiful. Deafheavens recent album Sunbather was recently reviewed HERE, and I agree that Sunbather is one of the albums of 2013. The band blend their brand of black metal with post-rock, shoegaze and post-metal, and in doing so create a sound that stretches the boundaries of black metal. It is a sound that still retains the intensity and abrasiveness of traditional black metal but boasts a sense of melody that is genuinely, gorgeously, lush in its soundscape. Even the shortest songs feel like epics. http://youtu.be/GfbLWHT7vUU