2024-04-15 07:00:43
(c) Alan Swan
The biggest pressure in the house Dne comes from the band itself. The French-Scottish formation, which grew into a quintet with the addition of Maxime Keller on the keyboard, was quite satisfied with their Metal Blade debut “Etemen Ænka”, but noticed on stage that something was missing. For the extreme proggers it was a form of directness that would complement the long epics in the future. In addition to the complex long format, there is on „Voidkind“ increasingly straight neck hits, accompanied by a more differentiated sound that deepens the mix of prog, sludge and all sorts of other sophisticated to rough metal subgenres.
Conceptually influenced once once more by the overarching narrative of a religious community over time, the opening “Summa Blasphemia” skilfully shows a slightly different approach. The individual instruments should be given more space, some of them placed on their own audio channels, which ensures significantly more volume. Victor Vicart is in impressive form on the front line. Anthemic clear vocals and infernal growls come together wonderfully, thunderous drums and gripping synthetics duel, while the guitars from left and right repeatedly attempt furious hussar rides. Barely sludge wisdom and subtle neo-prog come together in a chaotic, yet always rousing way.
Tracks like “Sarmatae” only work now because the quintet knows exactly what they want. At four and a half minutes, the track is almost radio-friendly, hits you head-on, pushes the elemental power forward and yet always finds moments of absolute sublimity. In “Pleroma” it becomes catchy, at times almost reserved and cautious – almost ballad-like for Dvne, only to reach boldly in the next moment. “Cobalt Sun Necropolis” also provides the dramatic hymn for what feels like half an eternity before the sky darkens and prepares the big departure. “Eleonora” is already waiting there, in whose chest – oh – two hearts beat. Wild escalation and technically adept sensitivity take the action to a new level.
Although the sometimes incredibly high level cannot be maintained over the entire playing time, Dvne take a huge step forward on their third album. The weird, peculiar, sometimes difficult to grasp mixture of the predecessors can still be found on “Voidkind”, it is just given a little more freedom, allowed to breathe and develop almost organically. There’s no skimping on the sludge extremes and deadly razor blade rides, but at the same time the classic prog parts seem bigger and more voluminous and go well with the brute force. They are hinting at big things here, leaving some room for improvement and knocking on the door to the really big hit. In this form it should only be a matter of time.
Rating: 8/10
Available from: April 19, 2024
Available via: Metal Blade (Sony Music)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DvneUK
Category: Magazin, Reviews
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