Deafheaven’s ‘Ordinary Corrupt Human Love’ Humanizes The Heavy Music Experience

Deafheaven’s album Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, out now, proceeds without pause through style after style. At times, you’re listening to a black metal release, and at other times — or, really, at the same time — you’re listening to a soft, moody pop release. In between, you’ve got flowing, straight up “rock” music that would be at home in something you hear on the mainstream radio.

At its core, the record is human, which if the title is anything to go by is what the band was aiming for. They don’t sound like they’re trying to make a musical product as much as they sound like they’re pouring their metaphorical guts out through the music they play. They don’t seem too interested in conforming to musical standards, which may leave them and their music off base for some people. However, for those looking for a decidedly personal, standard liberated experience with music, the new album from Deafheaven may be just the right fix.

The seven tracks of the album vary in length and style, but each one blends into the next in what is more an elaborate, delicate tapestry than it is an exercise in seeing how tightly and wildly tracks can be packed together. “Night People” features popular singer/songwriter Chelsea Wolfe, but the musical “softness” that one might associate with her work doesn’t end there. “Near” is gentle as well, and there are tastes of softness through the whole album.

For some purists, that may be too “corrupting” to let them enjoy the release, but it’s not as though Deafheaven seems to care.

The record stands out not for individual bursts of energy or callbacks to this or that great artist or this or that great stylistic innovation. Ordinary Corrupt Human Love is more than ordinary because of how it near seamlessly blends those themes together. It’s at times tense, at times relaxed, and at times unsure of which one it is, just like we are in our lives. As much as a record can be, it’s human — intensely and forcefully human.

5/5 Stars

Listen to it below.