We’re doing something a bit different for this week’s edition of BMF. Whereas we normally feature a single track, this time out I have chosen to share with you my thoughts on a landmark new black metal record. This Black Metal Friday marks the release of what may be the most highly anticipated black metal album of 2015. The controversial San Francisco band Deafheaven‘s third studio album New Bermuda drops today, October 2, 2015.

Deafheaven is a highly polarizing band within the black metal world. They play a blend of black metal and shoegaze with a heaping helping of psychedelic prog rock thrown in. Think Pink Floyd meets Darkthrone. Taking these sorts of liberties with the genre coupled with their hipster image has led many a purist to proclaim the band a bunch of poseurs cashing in on black metal’s current trendiness. But when people either love or hate your art, and are incapable of showing indifference to it, you must be doing something right.

The band’s 2013 breakthrough album, Sunbather, received a Metacritic score of 92, the highest that year for any metal album and denoting near universal praise. It would go on to top countless “best of” list at year’s end.

New Bermuda takes all of the beauty and brutality of Sunbather and ramps up the intensity on both. A mere 5 songs long, the album still clocks in at 46 minutes, enough time for Deafheaven to take us on an emotional rollercoaster from the heights of euphoria to the depths of despair and all points between.

You can check out the amazing track “Baby Blue” here below.

It is a stunning work that is sure to land at or near the top of a great number of critics’ “best of” lists for 2015 and continue to spark heated debate among black metal purists for years to come. I sincerely did not believe that any black metal album this year would even come close to rivaling Leviathan’s absolutely perfect Scar Sighted, which I reviewed back in April. Deafheaven has risen to the task and delivered their own slice of perfection in the form of New Bermuda.

Album Rating 10 out of 10

Deafheaven “Baby Blue”