5 Best Metal Albums Of July 2018
4. Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Ever since its initial conception, this list has been chopped and changed a lot. Gigantic names like Bury Tomorrow, Skeletonwitch and Immortal once had spots to call their own here, but were all knocked off by younger and far more underground entrants.
Deafheaven, meanwhile, have been the one, sole constant: their fifth album Ordinary Corrupt Human Love continued their transcendent ingenuity and widespread critical acclaim with yet more postmodern, shoegaze-flavoured black metal.
One of very few groups that feel equally at home in NME as they do in Metal Hammer, Deafheaven’s destructive beauty has made them the choice extreme metal band for everyone that enjoys sophisticated, progressive tunes, even if those people don’t necessarily always enjoy heavy music. Ordinary Corrupt Human Love is darkness and angst wittily conveyed, constantly riding the line between powerful fury (see: the punishing riffs and yelps of “Honeycomb”) and ambient, indie beauty (as found in the utterly gorgeous “You Without End”).
Sure, hipsters may desperately cling to Deafheaven like Kim Kardashian does to relevance, but Ordinary Corrupt Human Love never feels like it is pandering to its creators’ anti-mainstream demographics. In the end, it’s just emotive, inclusive and guttural mastery.