American black-metal trailblazers Deafheaven announce their return to New Zealand this July, presented by Banished Music. The band will perform two exclusive headline shows in Auckland and Wellington, joined by special guests Nothing.
Formed in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2010, Deafheaven have spent the past decade and a half pushing at the emotional and sonic boundaries of modern metal. From their debut Roads to Judah, to the genre-defining breakthrough Sunbather, and subsequent records like New Bermuda, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, and Infinite Granite, Deafheaven have continually redefined the limits of heavy music while confronting themes of alienation, addiction, family history, and self-perseverance.
The tour follows the release of their 2025 album Lonely People With Power. Their sixth album and first for Roadrunner Records arrives as both a culmination and a reckoning , an album that embraces the band’s full identity after years of evolution. Produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck collaborator and producer of Infinite Granite), the record captures Deafheaven’s innate ability to merge melody with brutality, and pain with poetry. Through reflections on masculinity, inherited trauma, family, and self-perception, the album grapples with the idea that while we can’t fully escape our past or our nature, we can choose how we move forward. Ultimately, Lonely People With Power stands as one of Deafheaven’s most expansive and human statements.
The album has drawn praise from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The Line Of Best Fit, Kerrang and more, and features collaborations with Interpol’s Paul Banks and Boy Harsher’s Jae Matthews.
Revered for their transcendental live shows, Deafheaven have toured the world over, performing at festivals such as Coachella and Primavera Sound, and sharing stages with artists ranging from Slipknot and Knocked Loose to Chelsea Wolfe and Mono. They’ve received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Metal Performance and continue to command a reputation as one of the most compelling live acts in heavy music.
Joining them are American shoegaze outfit Nothing, whose latest release A Short History of Decay has been described by Pitchfork as “fresh and exciting.” Their fifth album and first for Run For Cover Records further expands the band’s sonic scope, delivering the most refined and immersive iteration of Nothing to date.
Deafheaven return to New Zealand at their most expansive and unrelenting. Don’t miss the chance to witness one of heavy music’s most boundary-pushing bands at full force.
