Saturday night at the Varsity in Dinkytown was one to remember. The twin cities have played host to a lot of great heavy shows already this year, but my slightly unbiased opinion is that the best of the year just took place this weekend. You really had it all no matter your interest at this one - the quiet-loud, easygoing dynamics of Trauma Ray, the in-your-face death metal insanity of Gatecreeper, and (at this point) industry veterans Deafheaven once again redefining what it means to leave absolutely nothing on stage.

Texas’ Trauma Ray opened the evening, an eclectic motley crew silhoutted against deep green strobes as they rumbled through their tried-and-true shoegaze rockers. They put out a new album last year - Chameleon - and they largely played material off of it. I find Trauma Ray to lean a bit heavier than your average shoegaze - might be why Deafheaven put them on the tour bill - and I think frontman Uriel Avila knows this. After a few songs, he asked the crowd “have you guys heard of headbanging?” and insisted that the fresh crowd bob vigorously during the next track. This proved to be pretty easy as the next song “Bishop” has a metallic tinge to it and a pulsating, pushing rhythm. They definitely won over some fresh faces with their short and sweet set, and are an excellent example that revivalism done well can breathe new life into old ideas.

Desert born death metallers Gatecreeper played middle slot and really set the precedent for what the night’s energy would be going forward. Launching straight into material off of 2024’s “Dark Superstition”, the up-and-coming riffmasters demanded a circle pit right out of the gate and they most certainly got one. There’s a long history of taking metal very seriously and a whole culture of posturing wrapped up in that, so it’s refreshing to see a bad that mixes that aesthetic with an undeniable joy. Maybe that’s just the melodic death metal they absolutely stuffed their latest record with, but I think it goes beyond that.

Gatecreeper are without a doubt a very heavy and aggressive band, but “Dark Superstition” - and by extension their live performance - is suffused with a raw and pure glee, an intoxicating delight that perfectly combines against their technical virtuosity and knack for an incredibly memorable riff. There’s a wink - a nod - behind that mid-tempo riff on “The Black Curtain”, and I think it’s what has really propelled this latest release to the forefront of the metal scene. The fans seem to agree as well - a whole gaggle of them joined Chase “Hellahammer” Mason to scream “Undead, Unliving” in unison at the end of the aforementioned “The Black Curtain” and looked to be having an absolute blast for the entirety of it. Gatecreeper are going to continue to be a band to watch - whatever they do next is surely going to be the chance for them to take that jump into the stratosphere.

Deafheaven’s “Lonely People With Power” was a shock. It wasn’t a shock that it was good, as the quintent already have two genre-defining albums to their name and three other good-to-great ones to boot. What personally shocked me the most was how a band 15 years in could make easily the best album of their career and once again re-define their sound as they do it. Not only that, to juggle it against a powerful and touching thematic element while upping the intensity further than they ever before; to say it was exciting to see the material performed live would be an understatement.

This show marked the 4th time I have been lucky enough to see George, Kerry and co. perform material live and while I don’t mean to sound hyperbolic, this was easily the best performance they have put on. I am not certain if that’s because “Lonely People” is clearly an inditement of the modern world and so significantly easier to tap into as a well of artistic inspiration, or if they have simply grown as performers, but everything was better this time. George was more intense and more vulnerable, Kerry was more locked in and more intense, and Daniel Tracy was hitting his drums so hard that I am fairly certain you wouldn’t have needed the kit mic’d up for it to be heard by everyone.

What was really interesting about this show was the contrast between material presented. Deafheaven have long been a band at the intersection of two wildly different genres, and “Lonely” saw them integrate these sounds even further while pushing their black metal sound to the forefront. Songs were shorter, ideas were more focused, groovy sections hit harder and emotions ran higher. What this meant for the live show is there is now an interesting dichotomy at play between material of old and material of new. While “Dream House” and “Sunbather” are still certifiable blackgaze bangers, they seem almost awkward and clunky when lined up next to “Revelator” and the unbelieveable “Winona”, easily the best song they’ve ever written. New Bermuda’s “Brought to the Water” stood out the most, as that album features some of their most adventurous transitions and tonal juxtapositions, a skill they’ve now mastered but ironically highlights the flaws of earlier material now.

In a way though, this did not make the old material worse, or unpleasant, just different. It was fascinating to see material that a younger me would have absolutely lived and died by (and did) and acknowledge to myself that it was easily the least dynamic and interesting of the material they played. When your pedigree is as high as Deafheaven’s, though, that means you got to enjoy an hour plus of some of the finest working musicians in the modern metal space, and that’s a treasure to carry you over until they return.