"Black Brick" is a single by the American metal band
Deafheaven
Deafheaven is an American post-metal band formed in 2010. Originally based in San Francisco, the group began as a two-piece with singer George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy, who recorded and self-released a demo album together. Following i ...
. The song was released for streaming and download on February 27, 2019 through
Anti-
Anti- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph Records. While Epitaph's focus has mostly been on punk rock, Anti-'s roster includes gospel (Mavis Staples), country (Merle Haggard), hip hop (Sage Francis, The Cou ...
records.
"Black Brick" is an unreleased track from the band's ''
Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
''Ordinary Corrupt Human Love'' is the fourth studio album by American band Deafheaven, released on July 13, 2018 through Anti-. The title of the album was inspired by Graham Greene's 1951 novel ''The End of the Affair''.
Release and promotion
On ...
'' sessions that was released as a stand-alone single.
The track was a surprise release that didn't receive any marketing or promotion prior to release and coincided with the start of Deafheaven's March–April 2019 US tour with
Baroness
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher th ...
.
Critical reception
Music critics praised the track for being one of Deafheaven's heaviest songs to date
with many critics noting that it differed greatly from the other songs from the ''Ordinary Corrupt Human Love'' sessions.
Other critics noted elements of
thrash metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...
and compared it to the darker and heavier material on their 2015 album ''
New Bermuda''.
In his write-up for "Black Brick"'s release, Andrew Sacher of ''
BrooklynVegan
''BrooklynVegan'' is an American online music magazine founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, United States and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, ...
'' wrote: "It's darker and more evil than Deafheaven almost ever sound, with mile-a-minute thrash riffs, metalcore chugs, and other devil horn-worthy sounds worked in to their usual post-black metal approach. It's the first song they released since
being nominated for a Grammy (but losing to
High on Fire
High on Fire is an American heavy metal band from Oakland, California, that was formed in 1999. Matt Pike, the band's frontman and founder, also plays guitar for doom metal band Sleep. High on Fire won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Metal Per ...
), and if you thought Grammy exposure would make them want to go in an even softer direction, you thought wrong."
''
Revolver
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
'' said of the song: "Not only has the single dropped seemingly out of the blue, but it's also Deafheaven's heaviest offering yet, a fully necro blast of sepulchral grimness. The seven-and-a-half-minute cut is a B-side from ''Ordinary Corrupt Human Love'', and one can only wonder how different the album would have felt as a whole with its inclusion."
In their review of Deafheaven's performance on their tour with Baroness, the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
August Brown wrote: "The new, writhing single 'Black Brick' pulls more from classic thrash, and its sudden peals of violence put everything else around it in sharper focus. Texture and drama are baked into these songs, and sequencing them well clearly matters a lot to this band."
References
External links
Black Brickon
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...
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2019 singles
2019 songs