Post-metal, doom, sludge and a blackened form of progressive metal are just some of the tools Edinburgh five piece DVNE employ to create their sonic soundscapes along with a variety of vocal inflections that range from clean and mellow through to gnarled growly and harsh. DVNE, Victor Vicart (guitar,/keyboards,/vocals); Allan Paterson (guitar,/bass); Dudley Tait (drums); Daniel Barter (vocals) and Maxime Keller (keyboards/vocals), were formed in 2013 and have over time built themselves a reputation as one of the finest British bands in the field of underground progressive metal today. a feat achieved by releasing a series of EP's and albums that are the true definition of the word "progressive", each release marking an evolution in the bands skill as both musicians and songwriters. This year (2024) DVNE release their highly anticipated third full length album "Voidkind", (Metal Blade Records) and if you like your progressive metal complex and intricate with a heavy blackened edge then you really need this album in your life.
"Summa Blasphemia" opens proceedings and apart from a very brief keyboard intro comes out of the traps spitting and snarling, things do settle down here and there but on the whole what you get is a full on assault of crunchy riffs and incredibly powerful drumming supporting a mixture of clean and harsh vocals that are seemingly coming at you from all angles, the band have stated that they wanted to strip away some of the studio frills and layers that marked their last album, "Etemen Ænka" and go for a sound more akin to their live shows and if this track is anything to go by then it would seem they have achieved that goal. "Eleonora" follows and although not quite as intense and full on as its predecessor the song still carries a fair amount of punch despite it also featuring a decidedly restrained post-metal/alt-prog flavoured middle section. "Reaching for Telos" sees DVNE really brandishing their prog membership card for all to see its guitar textures, a mixture of fractured chord voicings and crunching refrains, are complimented by subtle keyboard colourings over a groove that is in constant flux. If it were not for its mellow and languid middle section you could easily mistake "Reliquary" for groove metal or hardcore such is it furiosity while "Path of Dust" goes in the completely opposite direction, the song serving as a gentle and serene moment of tranquillity before the raucous "Sarmatæ" pins the ears back with its sludgy riffs, clean /harsh vocals and thunderous rhythms. We are given another moment to catch our breaths with the lush keyboard piece "Paths of Ether" but any respite your ears may have garnered is soon shattered by the off-centred loud/quiet/loud dynamics of "Abode of the Perfect Soul", a truly face melting slice of blackened prog metal. Last but one comes "Plērōma" where we find DVNE at probably their most accessible, a real toe tapper of a song boasting a vocal that for its most part is kept clean and melodious with those harsher vocals allowed only the briefest of windows to make their presence felt. Finally we arrive at "Cobalt Sun Necropolis" a nine minute plus epic that goes through a myriad of changes along its journey, languidity and brutality being just two of those changes, this is a song with fan favourite written large all over it.
Many may have thought that DVNE had reached their peak with "Etemen Ænka" that there was no possible way they could ever top such a hugely impactful release but those "many" underestimated how much more these guys had (and still have) in their locker, what they had in that locker was "Voidkind" probably the best black edged progressive metal album to come out of the British Isles in an age.
Check it out ....
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