Deafheaven just dropped a surprise EP, and it's exactly the kind of move that keeps this band essential. At Work In The Fields Of The Bomb arrived with little warning. Last month, guitarist Kerry McCoy teased it to Spanish site Binaural, calling it the "heaviest" and "hardest" thing the band has ever made. Bold words from the crew that gave us Sunbather in 2013 and the blown-out beauty of New Bermuda. But Deafheaven have always chased extremes, and this feels like a return to the blastbeat chaos of their earliest material.
Right now they're out on tour with Mastodon and Alcest, a lineup of heavy music heavyweights. Fans caught the EP at merch tables before the official release. Classic move.
If this delivers on McCoy's claim, it's a reset for a band that keeps reinventing what blackgaze can sound like. The streaks of ferocity are back. Go spin it loud, then dig back into "Dream House" and remember how far they've traveled.