Woe- Withdrawal was pretty good.

Thanks, it's on my list.

Ive heard Sunbather a couple times now and i still dont really think its all that great. I tend to think if i want to listen to this shoegaze-y black metal stuff id much rather hear Alcest, Angelic Process, etc.

As for other metal this year, im behind as well but Das Tor by Paysage D'Hiver is some exceptional black metal (possibly their best black metal release) and Tetragrammaton by Monolith Deathcult is also really great. Both are in my top 5 albums of the year so far.

After several listens I've gotta say I don't quite understand the hype. It's good but, like the above poster said, has been done before and arguably done better. I'd probably rate it 3.5/5

In a nutshell it's black metal disguised as post-rock. But I sort of wish it was one or the other, the vocals kind of bring it down in my opinion. It takes away from the nice musicianship.

The vocals are so buried in the mix :-/

Yeah, it feels like the two are vying for position with one another. It's a nice concept but flawed somewhat in its execution, I like the post-rock type vibe but the vocals have to compete with it. It gets a little messy with the two overlapping without particularly complementing.

Goddamn I'm in love with this album. I seriously have not listened to anything else since I downloaded Sunbather

I listened to it, and I liked it, but I didn't really love it. I'll listen to it again before I come to a decision.

If you folks like Deafheaven, you should check out Bosse-de-Nage. They're fiddling with the same formula, but I'd say do it a bit better.