Review Summary: ...a yin to both the more ethereal Asheran and the polished Etemen Ænka
Dvne is a progressive metal band from Scotland. Even though they released their first EP in 2013, the same year when the band was founded, it wasn’t until 2017 they released their first full length album called Asheran. By that point, the band already had developed their core sound; heavily inspired by post-metal with a tinge of prog rock and high-pitched vocals.
The debut album turned out to be very successful in terms of creating atmosphere and bombastic buildups. Even though production was a major complaint the band also released the vinyl mix in digital format, which sounds perfect and adequate to what they were going with on that record. Heavily inspired by Mastodon, The Ocean, Tool and early Baroness, the band released their follow up album “Etemen Ænka”. On this occasion, musically speaking, the band went for a “larger” sound. Bigger riffs, heavier moments, elongated interludes and the inclusion of female vocals saw the band aiming for a more “epic” feel overall when compared to their previous effort. At the same time, the production saw a significant overhaul just as much as the vocals, which sounded better and cleaner overall. Though this approach saw the band sacrificing a bit of the atmosphere of the debut, they retained most of what fans were looking for following up an album like Asheran, and also the middle eastern elements where still present here as well (listen to “Sì-XIV” or “The Crimson Path” for reference).
Enter Voidkind. So far, if you aren’t familiar with the band, then this album isn’t a bad place to start at all since it is a very immediate album, but if you are already a fan of the previous records then this may come as a surprise. In general, Voidkind is… well, a different kind of Dvne. While this isn’t a total departure from the band’s core sound, this sounds stylistically different in terms of composition and production. Keeping the usual cryptic science fiction themes, “Summa Blasphemia” takes no time in introducing the album’s overall aggressive vibe. The snare drum is right at the forefront and the music sounds very dense, as if a wall of sound clouds the listener while entrapped in the constant heavy riffing throughout.
At first, personally speaking, I was a bit taken aback with the more “garage” sounding approach and the immediacy of the songwriting but by the time I got to “Reliquary” I got what they were going with and, while unexpected, it was a pleasant surprise. The quieter moments serve as short breaks within the songs (which are shorter than on previous releases, for the most part) and the songs rarely focus on buildups. “Sarmatæ” may be an obvious exception of this, clocking at only 4 minutes but never losing any steam from beginning to end, closing with what might be the most explosive moment of the album. The harsh vocals (courtesy of guitarist Daniel Barter) also sound rawer. A couple of good examples are the ending bit of “Reliquary” and the beginning of “Abode of The Perfect Soul”, but the clean vocals (by guitarist Victor Vicart) also go unhinged in a couple of moments like in the ending of “Eleonora”, going for a higher pitch and almost shouted performance. In contrast, “Reaching for Telos” and "Plērōma" retrace some of the more atmospheric moments from Asheran.
At this moment, this very well may be my favorite album of the year. After several listens, I keep getting impressed by how fresh and consistent this hour listen is. It is a very intense experience and one I’ll keep revisiting in the following days or weeks. It almost functions as a yin to both the more ethereal Asheran and the polished Etemen Ænka, and in turn it also works as a closing trilogy to a first chapter of the band’s catalog. I hope there’s more to come and now I’ll seriously take heed on what these guys might bring next.
