After a decade-long hiatus, Superheaven returns with a self-titled album that neither rehashes the past nor denies it. Instead, the band leans into the ethos of emotional distortion and layered catharsis that defined their early work while deepening their palette with sharpened sonic architecture and psychological nuance. With Taylor Madison and Jake Clarke splitting vocal and guitar duties, Joe Kane on bass, and Zack Robbins on drums and backing vocals, Superheaven is as much about rediscovery as it is reinvention.
“Cruel Times” reveals the palette of layered guitars that establish a hypnotic grunge vibe, blending clean and distorted textures in a way that blurs past and present. The tuned-down guitar adds punch, while the clean lines provide contrast through octave figures and melodic filigree. The lyrics resist romanticizing hardship: “Cruel times / We’ll never see ’em again” speaks as both elegy and revelation. The vocals stretch over the rhythm with long, expressive arcs that resolve into understated optimism, giving the track its emotional heft.
“Long Gone” offers a slow-medium grunge groove undercut by moodier harmonies and timbres. A driving backbeat locks in with the bass and low-end guitar, but the emotional tone leans mysterious rather than triumphant. The chorus swells with a wall of sound, full of guitar layers voiced to create maximum fullness. The guitar solo is not flashy as it weaves into the rhythmic fabric, enhancing rather than disrupting. Vocally, long arcs and moments of tension release mirror the lyrical content about absence and moving forward.
“Numb To What Is Real” captures a sense of dissociation both lyrically and sonically. The track begins with vocals and drums alone, introducing an exposed vulnerability before the band enters in full. Clean arpeggiated guitar textures briefly break the song’s saturation, providing a momentary sense of clarity. These shifts mirror the emotional fluctuations expressed in the lyrics—flashes of presence amid emotional fog. The repetition of the vocal motif underscores the song’s theme: the looping thought patterns of someone disconnected from their own emotions.
“Stare At The Void” leans fully into existential rock meditation. A steady eighth-note pulse in the guitar, bass, and drums creates a trance-like drive, while layered guitars explore the spectrum between rhythmic density and melodic air. The chorus expands into a textural bloom, with vocal harmonies and guitar bends that feel like emotional unraveling. Here, Superheaven sculpts sound into a metaphor: persistence in the face of absence, presence born of resignation.
While other tracks like “Hothead” and “Sounds of Goodbyes” reinforce the band’s strengths in tension and release, it is in these four highlights that Superheaven demonstrates its full artistic evolution. This is a band that no longer needs to shout to be heard as they speak in layers, in tones, in silence filled with intent.
Superheaven is less a comeback and more a reassertion of voice. The album doesn’t chase trends. Instead, it deepens Superheaven’s roots in grunge and shoegaze while gesturing toward an emotional vocabulary refined by time. For fans looking for dark tones of layering, dynamic pacing, and arranging emotion in sound, Superheave is a heavy, heartfelt return that invites listening and reflection. That’s the short of it!
