Lonely People With Power by Deafheaven

Deafheaven Lonely People With Power

83
ChoruScore
13 reviews
Mar 28, 2025
Release Date
Roadrunner Records
Label

Deafheaven's Lonely People With Power reasserts the band's appetite for dramatic contrast and melodic breadth, delivering an album where blackgaze fury and shoegaze shimmer collide. Across 13 professional reviews the record earned an 83.08/100 consensus score, and critics consistently point to an invigorated balance between crushing heaviness and carefully crafted beauty. Early scorers like “Doberman” and anthemic moments such as “Magnolia” establish the album's opening salvo, while sprawling pieces like “Amethyst” and cinematic closers including “Winona” and “The Marvelous Orange Tree” provide the emotional payoff reviewers praised.

The critical consensus emphasizes recurring themes of emotional literacy, masculinity and guilt, and a tension between artifice and authenticity that the band negotiates through texture, dynamics and guest vocal turns. Reviewers repeatedly identify the best tracks on Lonely People With Power as those that marry merciless riffs with memorable melody: “Doberman” emerges as the most frequently cited highlight, with “Revelator”, “Amethyst” and “Magnolia” also named across multiple outlets. Critics note the record's return to heavier terrain without abandoning the tunefulness of previous eras, calling the songwriting tighter and the production more cinematic - qualities that make many reviews read like a celebration of a band refined rather than reinvented.

While praise is dominant, some reviews temper enthusiasm by pointing out moments of maximalism or artifice; still, the prevailing view among music critics is that Lonely People With Power is a compelling, often thrilling statement that restores Deafheaven's heft and expands their palette. For listeners asking whether Lonely People With Power is worth hearing or which are the best songs on the record, the professional reviews converge around a handful of definitive tracks that demonstrate why the album resonates as both brutal and beautiful.

Critics' Top Tracks

The standout songs that made critics take notice

1

Doberman

10 mentions

"barn-burning pit anthems like “Magnolia” and “Doberman,” the latter having a stank-face inducing, shimmering breakdown"
Sputnikmusic
2

General guitars/vocals (album-wide)

1 mention

"he’s back to shredding his larynx about 90% of the time."
Variety
3

Revelator

9 mentions

"“Revelator” takes its position as the proxy title track seriously, sounding utterly apocalyptic"
Sputnikmusic
barn-burning pit anthems like “Magnolia” and “Doberman,” the latter having a stank-face inducing, shimmering breakdown
S
Sputnikmusic
about "Doberman"
Read full review
10 mentions
90% sentiment

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

Incidental I

7 mentions
35
00:56
2

Doberman

10 mentions
100
06:34
3

Magnolia

12 mentions
100
04:14
4

The Garden Route

10 mentions
82
05:48
5

Heathen

10 mentions
85
05:02
6

Amethyst

9 mentions
99
08:14
7

Incidental II (feat. Jae Matthews)

9 mentions
82
04:20
8

Revelator

9 mentions
100
06:24
9

Body Behavior

9 mentions
100
05:23
10

Incidental III (feat. Paul Banks)

9 mentions
74
02:08
11

Winona

11 mentions
92
07:28
12

The Marvelous Orange Tree

12 mentions
100
05:37

What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 15 critics who reviewed this album

Critic's Take

The record finds Deafheaven embracing the sublime showmanship of artifice while still delivering ferocious moments, and the best songs on Lonely People With Power - notably “Doberman” and “Winona” - prove that balance. “Doberman” rips open the album with blast beats and echoes of earlier wrath, while “Winona” is a cyclone of light that forces the listener to stop and feel the intensity. The band’s willingness to mix shoegaze prettiness with brutal dynamics means the best tracks here feel both catastrophic and gorgeous, a return to a reconciled Deafheaven sound. This is an album that melts faces, but only after it has carefully staged the spectacle.

Key Points

  • “Winona” is the best song because its synth swells and relentless drums create an overwhelming emotional cyclone.
  • The album’s core strength is combining shoegaze prettiness and brutal dynamics into a meticulously staged, artful spectacle.

Themes

artifice vs. authenticity loneliness and power sonic evolution and genre blending apocalyptic and biblical imagery
Sputnikmusic logo

Sputnikmusic

Unknown
Mar 31, 2025
100

Critic's Take

Deafheaven's Lonely People With Power is presented here as a dazzling triumph that finds the band escaping their own shadow, and the reviewer's enthusiasm centers on standout tracks such as “Winona” and “The Marvelous Orange Tree”. The writer repeatedly praises the return of the metal - George Clarke's banshee shrieks on “Incidental II” and the urgency on “Body Behavior” are highlighted as career-high moments. The narrative stresses that tighter songwriting makes each song vital, noting that barn-burning anthems like “Magnolia” and “Doberman” scorch with diabolical riffs. Overall the critic frames these best tracks as evidence that this album is not just the band's strongest work, but a necessary, timely masterpiece.

Key Points

  • “Winona” is the best song due to its ambition, choir-backed climax, and a standout drumming performance.
  • The album’s core strengths are tightened songwriting, a successful reinfusion of metal intensity, and thematic weight on power and empathy.

Themes

power and loneliness masculinity and guilt trauma and connection political critique sonic evolution

Critic's Take

On Lonely People With Power, Deafheaven double down on their blackgaze signature with standout moments like “Amethyst” and “Body Behavior”. The record moves between blast-beat fury and shimmering synth interludes, and the three “Incidental” pieces stitch the hour together as conceptual breathers. “Amethyst” emerges as a centerpiece with nearly-nine-minute scope, while “Body Behavior” is called the most interesting and brightest sounding track. Fans hunting for the best songs on Lonely People With Power will find both heavy riffs and unexpected pop-tinged moments rewarded.

Key Points

  • “Amethyst” is the best song for its sweeping nine-minute scope and contrasts between spoken word and harsh vocals.
  • The album’s core strengths are its genre-blending blackgaze sound, dynamic shifts between blast beats and ambience, and cohesive incidental interludes.

Themes

blackgaze genre-blending ambience vs. heaviness conceptual interludes
90

Critic's Take

In this review Jem Aswad frames Deafheaven's Lonely People With Power as a clear return to form, where the best tracks - notably “The Marvelous Orange Tree” and “The Garden Route” - reclaim the band's signature shredding and towering guitar textures. Aswad's prose emphasizes how the guitars are "more carefully crafted than ever" and how the closing opus feels "so epic in scale" that it resonates like a film finale, which makes “The Marvelous Orange Tree” an immediate standout. He also singles out quieter, more frequent softer moments and guest turns that add variety, elevating songs such as “The Garden Route” into essential listening for fans seeking the best songs on Lonely People With Power. The narrative is that this album refines their strengths rather than repeating past triumphs, so listeners searching for the best tracks on Lonely People With Power will find those rewards in these expansive moments.

Key Points

  • The best song is the closing epic “The Marvelous Orange Tree” because it is described as a trademark, cinematic, epic-scale finale.
  • The album’s core strengths are refined, towering guitar textures, a return to heavier vocals, and more effective softer moments and variety.

Themes

return to form guitar textures vocals shift guest vocals dynamic contrast

Critic's Take

Deafheaven's Lonely People With Power finds its strongest moments in bold, volatile shifts and standout songs like “Revelator”, “Incidental II” and “Winona”. The reviewer's prose highlights the album's cavernous blackgaze fusion and the sublime quiet-to-loud dynamics that make the best tracks - especially “Revelator” - feel unpredictable and thrilling. Guest turns on “Incidental II” and “Incidental III” are singled out as artistic flourishes that elevate the record, while retro stompers like “Heathen” and metallic rushes like “Magnolia” further punctuate its strengths. Overall the critic frames these best tracks as evidence that the band continues evolving its signature blend, offering both delirium and triumph for fans and newcomers alike.

Key Points

  • The best song(s) excel via the album's quiet-to-loud dynamic, with “Revelator” singled out as most effective.
  • The album's strengths are its vast blackgaze soundscapes, dramatic dynamics, guest features, and art-rock ambitions.

Themes

blackgaze fusion quiet-to-loud dynamics art-rock aspirations guest vocal features analog horror atmosphere

Critic's Take

On Deafheaven's Lonely People With Power, the best tracks are where old ferocity meets new melody - songs like “Doberman” and “Heathen” that compress the band's strengths into compact, devastating statements. The review reads like someone relieved to hear the group reclaiming its heft, so the best songs on Lonely People With Power feel like confirmations rather than detours. “Magnolia” and “Body Behavior” also stand out: one is unabashed metal for actual metalheads, the other foregrounds a bouncy, revealing bassline. Overall, the album's smartest moments are when Deafheaven reconciles the tunefulness of Infinite Granite with the crushing dynamics of their earlier records.

Key Points

  • “Heathen” is best because it balances Infinite Granite's pop instincts with Deafheaven's heavy, anthemic dynamics.
  • The album's core strength is reconciling tunefulness and overwhelming power into compact, memorable songs.

Themes

return to heavier sound masculinity political/emotional statements loss and family history integration of pop and metal elements

Critic's Take

From the first surge of the opener trio to the closing reveries, Deafheaven’s Lonely People With Power feels like a genuine rebirth. Watkins revels in the sheer scale and bombast, pointing to “Doberman”, “Magnolia” and “The Garden Route” as an opening run that leaves restraint behind. He frames middle moments like “Amethyst” and “Revelator” as proof the band are not merely retreading old ground, and praises closing tracks such as “Winona” for blending shoegaze elegance with the group’s trademark heft. The tone is celebratory and emphatic: this is Deafheaven restored to a lofty, unmistakable form.

Key Points

  • The best song(s) emerge from a thrilling opening run that abandons restraint, with "Doberman" leading as an exemplar of the album's renewed force.
  • The album's core strengths are its maximalist production, successful fusion of shoegaze and heavy dynamics, and a matured, unmistakable identity.

Themes

rebirth maximalism shoegaze influences maturation hybrid heavy/indie sound

Critic's Take

Deafheaven's Lonely People With Power lives and breathes in its strongest moments, and the best tracks - “Winona”, “Amethyst” and “The Marvelous Orange Tree” - are where the record's magic trick works. Brenna Ehrlich frames the album as a suite that oscillates from raw aggression to flitting beauty, making “Amethyst” a standout and “Winona” the gargantuan centerpiece. The closing pair, with “Winona” bleeding into “The Marvelous Orange Tree”, turns a song about suicide into something like rebirth, which is precisely why listeners ask which are the best songs on Lonely People With Power. This is a record where melody, pain and poetry collide, so recommendations for best tracks naturally land on those three luminous moments.

Key Points

  • “Winona” is best for its epic scope and the haunting transition into the album's rebirth-themed closer.
  • The album's strength is its fusion of melody and metal, balancing aggression with painterly beauty.

Themes

loneliness isolation rage beauty vs aggression rebirth
80

Critic's Take

Deafheaven's Lonely People With Power feels like a reunion with the things that made them thrilling, and the best songs prove it. Tracks such as “Doberman” and “Magnolia” announce themselves with startling, stately aggression and icy, thrashing riffs that nod back to black metal while sounding utterly of the band. The record is, in the reviewer's phrasing, both their heaviest and most balanced, rounded record - moments like “Winona” gun ahead on blastbeats then open into glassy melodies. For listeners searching for the best songs on Lonely People With Power, those three stand out as the clearest examples of the album's reclaimed ferocity and compositional ambition.

Key Points

  • Doberman is the best song because it immediately restores the band's startling, stately aggression.
  • The album's core strengths are its regained heaviness balanced with rounded, melodic moments and post-punk influences.

Themes

return to heaviness balance and rounded sound post-punk and Radiohead influences black metal nods

Critic's Take

Deafheaven's Lonely People With Power is an artistic triumph, and its best tracks - notably “Doberman” and “Amethyst” - show the band marrying melody with muscular riffing in ways that feel both epic and immediate. The record revels in heavy, New Bermuda-like aggression while retaining Infinite Granite's lighter touches, so the best songs on Lonely People With Power pulse with contrast and grandeur. From the opening punch of “Doberman” to the tenor-shifting textures of “Amethyst”, these tracks demonstrate why this is Deafheaven at the peak of their powers.

Key Points

  • “Doberman” is best for setting the album's tone with epic, muscular guitars and immediate impact.
  • The album’s core strength is blending New Bermuda’s metal power with Infinite Granite’s shoegaze melody to produce grand, textural songs.

Themes

metal and shoegaze synthesis contrast of heaviness and melody anthemic guitars textural interludes

Critic's Take

Deafheaven have fashioned on Lonely People With Power a record built from texture and contrast, where the best songs - notably “The Garden Route” and “Body Behavior” - act as twin peaks of catharsis and shimmer. The reviewer delights in how gorgeous stretches like “Body Behavior” and the clean vocals that open “Heathen” temper the band’s exhilarating heaviness. Praise for “Magnolia” as relentless and for “Amethyst” as a gradually developing piece of structural metallic genius underscores why those tracks stand out. The narrative closes by naming Lonely People With Power as one of heavy music’s more singular and engrossing statements, its heights almost heavenly.

Key Points

  • The Garden Route is best because it delivers intense emotional catharsis and is singled out as the strongest track.
  • The album’s core strengths are its layered textures and balance between exhilarating heaviness and melodic, shoegaze-tinged moments.

Themes

texture contrast between heaviness and melody shoegaze-metal fusion emotional catharsis

Critic's Take

Deafheaven return with Lonely People With Power as a band rebalanced between fury and dream, and the best tracks - notably “Doberman” and “Revelator” - show why. Joe Goggins writes with relish about Clarke reawakening his roar on “Doberman”, and the altitude changes that make “Revelator” a miniature drama. The album’s emotional literacy, its cinematic scope and those dreamy interludes make these songs the standout moments and answer the question of where the best tracks on Lonely People With Power lie.

Key Points

  • The best song, "Doberman", is best because it immediately restores Clarke's roar and sets the album's direction.
  • The album's core strengths are its emotional literacy, dynamic shifts between heaviness and melody, and cinematic, dreamy interludes.

Themes

genre tension emotional literacy trauma and grief cinematic scope dreamy interludes

Critic's Take

On Lonely People With Power, Deafheaven return to bruising intensity while keeping their melodic sweep, and the reviewer's ear is drawn to the best tracks for clear reasons. The ferocious opening highlight “Doberman” sets the scene with breakneck tremolo riffs and blastbeats, making it one of the best songs on the album. The album highlight “Magnolia” serves as a lyrical and emotional centerpiece, its line "I owned everything thought to be suicidal mania" underscoring the record's themes. Closer listens also reward slower burners like “Amethyst”, so the best tracks on Lonely People With Power balance brutality and lush melodicism with striking results.

Key Points

  • Doberman is best for its ferocious energy, tremolo riffs and blastbeats that define the album's return to heaviness.
  • The album's core strengths are a balance of brutal intensity and lingering melodicism, plus thematic focus on loneliness and power.

Themes

loneliness narcissism power sonic heaviness melodicism