Deafheaven have spent their career moving away from black metal and toward something stranger. Lonely People With Power is the band’s sixth album, and it arrives with a mission statement: make the music feel bigger than any one genre can hold. Across twelve tracks and 62 minutes, the San Francisco group builds a record that sounds like a heavy rock band trying to become a concept album about loneliness and power.
The record opens with a brief instrumental piece, Incidental I, that sets a mood rather than a destination. Then the album’s first major statement arrives, and it is a statement.
The Opening Run
Doberman (6:34) opens the record with a guitar riff that refuses to settle into any familiar groove. The song builds slowly, layering melody over a slow, patient rhythm, until it reaches a peak that feels less like a climax and more like a release valve opening. It is the album’s thesis in motion: tension that resolves itself rather than snaps.
Magnolia (4:14) follows with a more straightforward rock pulse, though it never quite lets the pace relax. The song is a reminder that Deafheaven can still write a hook without losing the intensity that defines their sound.
The Garden Route (5:48) is the album’s longest stretch of pure build-up. It is a slow, atmospheric crawl that rewards patience, even if the payoff takes a while to arrive. By contrast, Heathen (5:02) is a shorter, sharper burst of energy, its riff driving forward with a sense of urgency that the earlier tracks lack.
The Middle Stretch
Amethyst (8:14) is the longest track on the record, and it earns its length. The song drifts through a series of movements, shifting from clean guitar lines to heavier, distorted passages, before settling into a final, quieter passage that feels almost fragile. It is the centerpiece of the album, and it demands attention throughout its full runtime.
Incidental II (4:20) and Revelator (6:24) form a quieter pair, both leaning on atmosphere over brute force. Revelator in particular has a slower, more meditative quality, its melody winding around a steady pulse rather than pushing forward.
Body Behavior (5:23) brings the energy back up, with a riff that feels closer to classic rock than anything else on the record. It is one of the most immediate songs here, and it shows the band at their most accessible.
The Back Half
Incidental III (2:08) is a short instrumental bridge, tying together the album’s two halves without drawing attention to itself. Winona (7:28) is the longest track after Amethyst, and it shares that song’s patient, building structure. The song builds slowly, layering guitars and vocals until it reaches a final, cathartic release.
The Marvelous Orange Tree (5:37) closes the record on a note of quiet resolution, ending the album with a sense of closure rather than a final push.
Ranking The Tracks
| Track | Length |
|---|---|
| Amethyst | 8:14 |
| Doberman | 6:34 |
| Winona | 7:28 |
| Heathen | 5:02 |
The album’s three longest tracks are also its best. Amethyst stands tallest, followed by Doberman and Winona. The shorter instrumentals (Incidental I, Incidental II, Incidental III) do the necessary work, setting moods rather than carrying weight.
The Verdict
Lonely People With Power is a dense, ambitious record that mostly delivers on its promises. The long tracks like Amethyst and Winona reward patience, while the shorter pieces keep the album moving without ever losing focus. The weaker moments — Revelator and Body Behavior — are not failures, but they do not rise to the level of the album’s peaks.
- Amethyst
- Doberman
- Winona
- Heathen
- Magnolia
- The Garden Route
- Incidental III
- Incidental II
- Incidental I
- Revelator
- Body Behavior
- Incidental I0:56
- Doberman6:34
- Magnolia4:14
- The Garden Route5:48
- Heathen5:02
- Amethyst8:14
- Incidental II4:20
- Revelator6:24
- Body Behavior5:23
- Incidental III2:08
- Winona7:28
- The Marvelous Orange Tree5:37
