Thanks to Post-Trash for posting my top 20 favorite records of the year as part of its staff picks roundup.
Archive for Deafheaven
Post-Trash Publishes My List of 2025’s Top 20 Best Records
Posted in Lists with tags Agriculture, Deafheaven, For Your Health, Halo Effect, Mclusky, Messa, Orbit Culture, Ossuary, The Armed, Vildhjarta on 12/20/2025 by Kurt OrzeckFriends of The Bad Penny Share Their Top 10 Lists of 2025 Best Albums
Posted in Lists with tags Clipse, Curran Reynolds, Dave Clifford, Deafheaven, Heavy Halo, Justin Sinkovich, OvO, Pixel Grip, Primitive Man, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy on 12/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
The Bad Penny is rolling out its favorite albums of 2025 in five installments this year, with the first and second batches having already dropped. While the other three will plop down imminently, we’re smashing the self-indulgence and monotony by inviting some of our favorite industry folks to share their own top 10s with us and, by extension, you.
To warn off any complaints about corruption, misdealing or the coveted line in the sand between journalists and press folks, we laid down a strict ground rule: PR reps were not allowed to include any of their clients, past or present, on their lists.
We’re delighted by the picks that the participants received, as they run the genre gamut and include many albums of which The Bad Penny wasn’t even aware. Especially striking is that, among the combined 160 titles chosen by the … let’s dust off the old calculator here … 16 contributors, a tiny fraction appear on more than one list: Pixel Grip, Deafheaven, Clipse and Primitive Man. And each of those titles are only listed twice.
Thanks oodles to Tim Anderl of Sweet Cheetah PR, Caroline Borolla of Clarion Call Media, Brendan Bourke of The Syn, Dave Clifford of US/THEM Group, George Corona III of Terrorbird Media, Bruno Dorella and Stefania Pedretti of OvO, Brandon Gallagher of Trace Amount, Eddie Gobbo of Something Is Waiting, Austin Griswold of Secret Service Publicity, McKeever and Gosteffects of Heavy Halo, Curran Reynolds of Body Stuff (and The Chain), Michel Rowland of UTM Music Group, Justin Sinkovich of Solid Brass Records, Dan Volohov of Discipline PR, James Woodard of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy and Will Yarbrough of Season of Mist – not only for taking the time and care to craft such thoughtful top 10s and share them, but helping this website triple its UVs this year over last – and provide critical support to yours truly over the course of a 28-year career as a music journalist, rock critic and soon-to-be-lobotomized AI automaton.
Without further ado, here are the lists of the top 10 albums released in 2025 that some of The Bad Penny‘s favorite publicists and musicians graciously shared with us.
Continue readingFrom the Vault: Deafheaven’s 2017 Tour Setlists and First-Ever Show in Boise – An Analysis
Posted in Concert Reviews, Essays, Reviews with tags Bosse-de-Nage, Deafheaven, George Clarke, Mogwai, Shiv Mehra, Treefort, Treefort Music Fest on 09/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Deafheaven’s setlist from their show at Mardi Gras in Boise on 3.25.17
When Deafheaven played their first show in Boise on March 25 – at Mardi Gras, a venue typically reserved for wedding functions – they provided the five-day Treefort Music Fest with its only dose of shoe-gazing black metal. Continue reading
Deafheaven Frontman Dives Deep Into Each Song on New LP
Posted in Interviews with tags Deafheaven, George Clarke on 03/28/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
In my latest check-in with Deafheaven vocalist George Clarke, he provides a remarkably transparent account of each song featured on the new album that the Bay Area’s best band released today, the brilliantly titled Lonely People in Power. Read the full account courtesy of FLOOD.
Deafheaven, Whores, Elder, Intronaut Share Tips For Saving Money
Posted in Interviews with tags Deafheaven, Elder, Intronaut, Whores on 08/06/2024 by Kurt Orzeck
My series on how bands can break through without breaking the bank continues with clever, resourceful and amusing advice from rad bands including Deafheaven, Whores, Elder and Intronaut. Go to New Noise and get schooled.
Top 100 Best Live Performances Of 2023: Mars Volta, Be’lakor, Hexis, Covet
Posted in Concert Reviews, Reviews with tags Be’lakor, Cloak, Covet, Deafheaven, Hexis, Jason Isbell, Jesus Piece, Mars Volta, Portrayal of Guilt, Show Me the Body on 01/17/2024 by Kurt Orzeck
Treefort 2017: The Ultimate, Gorilla-Size Review
Posted in Concert Reviews, Reviews with tags Deafheaven, Doug Martsch, Grouper, Magic Sword, This Will Destroy You, Treefort on 04/12/2017 by Kurt Orzeck
Treefort 2017 delivered Deafheaven, Mac DeMarco, Grouper, Doug Marsch — and set a gorilla on the loose.
Check out my exhaustive concert review of Boise’s five-day indie-rock festival, Treefort — starring Deafheaven, Grouper, This Will Destroy You, Doug Martsch, Magic Sword and more — on Drowned in Sound.
The Violent Sleep Of Reason Episode 2, 3.29.17
Posted in The Violent Sleep of Reason with tags 1476, All Hell, Arkaik, Cut Up, Dead Meadow, Deafheaven, Ecstatic Vision, Ghost Bath, Gridfailure, Heaven Shall Burn, Ingrown, Isenordal, Loathe, Memoriam, Oathbreaker, Orm, Pallbearer, Slugdge, Today Is the Day, Valborg, Wicked City on 04/02/2017 by Kurt Orzeck
Orm’s “Orm”
The Bad Penny’s new program through Radio Free America, “The Violent Sleep of Reason,” focuses on new and upcoming heavy-metal releases. The show’s second installment featured new cuts by ORM, Cut Up and Isenordal.
The Violent Sleep Of Reason Episode 1, 3.22.17
Posted in The Violent Sleep of Reason with tags Ascended Dead, Ashen Horde, Crimson Throne, Deafheaven, Deletere, Dodecahedron, Ghost Bath, Khemmis, King of Asgard, Meshuggah, Obituary, Pallbearer, Telekinetic Yeti, The Moon and the Nightspirit, This Will Destroy You, Warbringer, Without Waves, Woe on 04/02/2017 by Kurt Orzeck
Meshuggah’s “The Violent Sleep of Reason”
The premiere episode of The Bad Penny’s “The Violent Sleep of Reason” radio show featured the song after which the show was named, as well as new cuts by King of Asgard, Woe and Dodecahedron.
The Bad Penny (beta) 