Album Review: Superheaven - 'Superheaven'
Superheaven make their return with their first album in 10 years.
The American alt-rock band released their debut record in 2013 as Daylight before switching their name to what we know now and following up with their sophomore effort, Ours Is Chrome, two years later. But fans have had to wait another decade for their next album creating much anticipation for what it will entail. The band have split, got back together and played one-off reunion gigs in the time that’s passed, but things got real as they brought out the single Long Gone in late 2024, before announcing a full length self-titled LP. They’re set to embark on a huge North American tour across April and May and will be visiting festival in Europe during the Summer, even gracing the UK’s Outbreak Fest in London and Manchester.
The album begins with a bang on Humans For Toys, making sure listeners know that 10 years hasn’t hampered the band’s ability to make a strong impact. Squealy guitars and a pumping drumbeat lead the song, met by an enigmatic performance from frontman Jake Clarke.
That energy continues into Numb To What Is Real. The verses are quieter and little stripped back whilst it’s chorus is a real highlight of the album. It’s heavy, booming and powerful but at the same time pensive and sensitive. It works to create a gloomy and eerie atmosphere that endures through the rest of the album.
The base of each song is crafted on top of a gritty, fuzzed-out soundscape that's populated and given life by hazy alternative melodies, and a strong vocal display. The lyrics are longing and cathartic, with an endearing level of passion tinged with pain.
Lead single Long Gone is impossible not to headbang to. The riff is meaty and muscular and does an excellent job at leading from the front. It goes straight from this into Hot Head. As the fastest and shortest song on the record its aptly named and it certainly does not waste a moment of its one minute and a half runtime.
The album ends on a really strong note with Stare At The Void, Next Time and The Curtain. They look to cap off an experience of a record and do an excellent job. They’re the three longer tracks, and they use that time to indulge and explore in the album’s hypnotic shoegaze vibes. It’s so easy to get lost in Clarke’s smooth but unyielding voice and a cacophony of fuzzy guitars. Superheaven’s final words to us on their closing track are ‘I don’t want to waste your time’, and no, they certainly didn’t.
With this new release, they’ve made it feel like no time has passed. They’ve picked up right where they left off with all that same grunge-y grit, whilst at the same time clearly evolving as a band and as people. After ten years, they still understand each other. They thrive on the interplay between each member and much of the instrumentals plays out like an unspoken conversation between old friends. The album was engineered by Superheaven’s very own Jack Clarke and Zack Robins, so it feels like an even better representation of the members themselves and how they want their music to sound.
It will no doubt quench the thirst for new music that fans have been forced to endure and acts as an excellent addition to Superheaven’s rich discography. Let’s just hope there won’t be another decade wait for their next effort.
Words by Lucas Jarman
