DVNE
Voidkind
METAL BLADE
Post-metal cosmonauts perfect their sonic universe
Dvne decree that all their peers can pound sand
IN 2021, AUTEUR extraordinaire Denis Villeneuve transformed Dune into a cinematic juggernaut: an instant classic of immaculate effects, world-building and set-pieces. That year’s second-best adaptation of Frank Herbert’s space-drugs bible was by the Scottish post-metal collective Dvne. Their second album, Etemen Ænka, siphoned the desert-strewn, acid-soaked grandeur of the book into a dynamic triumph. And now, by the Kwisatz Haderach, they’ve excelled themselves again.
With Voidkind, Dvne have doubled down on their idiosyncrasies and intricacies, making it nearly as dense as the mythology in Herbert’s near-600- page epic. Even if you’re an acolyte of Etemen Ænka, its follow-up could easily overwhelm at first. The five-piece offer the listener even less space to breathe than they did previously, tightening up their arrhythmic sludge metal bludgeonings while splattering their more meditative passages with avantgarde drumming.
However, like any truly magnificent odyssey, Voidkind rewards your patience.
There’s no groove-backed singalong to immediately cling to (à la last time’s Omega Severer and Sì-XIV), the sugary start to Plērōma notwithstanding. Yet, that doesn’t undermine the mountaincrumbling impact of when Reaching For Telos plummets from layered, dextrous guitars to primal chords and smashing cymbals three minutes in. Nor does it detract from the majesty of Abode Of The Perfect Soul’s latter half, which stacks melodic riffing, synths and heroic vocals high enough to reach new galaxies.