Live Review: Deafheaven & Pain Of Truth | Trinity Centre, Bristol | 16/06/25
Adding a pair of headline dates to supplement their appearance at this year’s Outbreak Festival, blackgaze superstars Deafheaven take to Bristol to show off cuts from their new album alongside US East Coast HxC flag bearer’s Pain Of Truth.
Pain Of Truth
The sun is taking no prisoners on the large crowd gathered outside the Trinity Centre, excited as they flood into the community centre venue to see fast rising stars in the global hardcore scene, Pain Of Truth. Having previously supported the likes of Malevolence and played Outbreak fest numerous times, the pure blooded beatdown east coast hardcore act might seem a bit odd opening for the esoteric journey’s of Deafheaven; but clearly a lot of the audience tonight have come down early to catch the hotly tipped act. Frontman Michael Smith is an energetic maniac, constantly fanning the flames, demanding all the hardcore kids throw down in the pit and extracting every ounce of energy he can from the room.
Even the most ardent black metal fan in the room can’t help but throw their fists up and feel the call to mosh their brains out as Pain Of Truth show off just why they maintain this high level of buzz around them. Despite the doors opening fifteen or so minutes late, the band still get to thrown down the gauntlet of fourteen tracks through their opening set, leaving the walls covered in almost as much precipitation as those throwing down in the pit. One thing is for certain, Pain Of Truth could play anywhere at any time and win over scores of new fans.
Photo Credit: Taya Llewellyn (@synthesizephoto)
Deafheaven
After a monstrous tour across the US to support their new album Lonely People With Power, San Francisco blackgaze five piece Deafheaven return to Bristol for one of two headline dates in the UK throughout their European summer festival run. Having only played Outbreak the day prior, you might expect a slightly stripped down offering, however Deafheaven are here to deliver a full length set for the sold out audience. Little room is left in the stifling heat of the venue, the aesthetic holdover music of 50s crooner tunes fade away into the ambient introduction of ‘Incidental I’, welcoming the band to the stage before opening with the crushing ‘Doberman’. Even from the first track, the band are sounding phenomenal, all the details tucked away in the layers of melody are replicated with ease.
The pits are already stirring as the vicious beast beats of ‘Magnolia’ cause a full eruption. Frontman George Clarke has always had a good handle on his crowds, tonight is no exception; either bounding around the stage nailing his ferocious vocals, acting as some kind of demented conductor for the band, or he’s down on the pit barrier directly in the front rows face and antagonising them to go harder. A throwback to 2015’s New Bermuda with the uncompromising ‘Brought To The Water’ fits into the early set like a glove, bolstering the power of the new tracks. Even with the band notoriously crafting long songs, the set is melting away; the angular nod of ‘Sunbather’ gets a huge reaction from the diehards in the room and brings the intensity down a touch, following into ‘The Garden Route’ for more post tinged ambient energies and dreamy nodding.
LPWP lead single ‘Heathen’ keeps the audience locked in, with George introducing the following track ‘Amethyst’ as “my favourite moment in the set and of the new album”. It shows, as he manages to top his energy so far with the most impassioned performance of the entire set. However, as the band use ‘Incidental II’ as a little breather/encore break, as the heavy electronics hit and the band return to the stage, the energy shifts, leading to the real best moment of the set and the album: ‘Revelator’. The track hit like a tonne of bricks on a glass forge, shattering everyone and everything. The crowd get perfectly baited by the anti-climax bridge and damn near look like their souls leave their bodies when it comes crashing back in. Set staple and debatable masterpiece ‘Dream House’ signals the end of the night is near, the highly emotional anthem still ringing as one of the band’s best tracks, with many in the audience feeling the emotional weight in therapeutic forms.
The band closes out the night and their set with the quaint, uplifting and powerful ‘Winona’, maybe a showing a change in the band’s outlook themselves to leave things on a positive note, as they historically closed with the emotional heft of ‘Dream House’. Deafheaven are on what is without a doubt the hottest run in their career thus far. No one would have ever suspected the blackgaze outfit might be the ones to start unifying the depths of the metal underground with the hardcore scene at large, but somehow they’ve been given the reigns and are in complete control. Whether it’s the confidence in their (almost certainly) AOTY topping new album Lonely People With Power, the lunatic response they’ve been getting from their increasingly popular live offerings, tonight is easily one of the best sets Deafheaven have put on in a decade plus of UK shows. By the time their marquee performance at Damnation festival rolls around this November, there is every likelihood that Deafheaven would have already conquered the world.
Photo Credit: Taya Llewellyn (@synthesizephoto)
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Trinity Centre