Consuming the Tangible

From April 23, 2024

Here’s something you don’t read or hear about everyday: band hires a permanent keyboard player, then makes sure their new album isn’t so focused on filling every ounce of space in the mix with said keyboards. It’s refreshing, and one of the highlights Scottish sludgy progressive/post metal outfit DVNE have taken to heart on their third full length Voidkind. I wouldn’t say there are a bevy of musical surprises here, but what is here has been refined and distilled to the essence of the band’s identity, and continues the band’s ascent as one of the premier groups executing this kind of music.

Read the rest over at Nine Circles.

I’ll be honest: haven’t really listened to this album that much since its release and addition to my end of year list. Does that mean Voidkind was a mistake of a purchase, or that the petal has dropped from the rose of DVNE (pronounced “DUNE” I believe)? Not really; listening back now, especially to more progressive leaning tracks like “Eleonora” and “Sarmatæ” remind me what it was about the band that interested me in the first place. I love that vibe they share with like-minded bands like Anciients (what’s with these bands spelling their names weird?) and even Mastodon – this has shades of the brutality the Georgia-based titans went for, particularly during their jump to the majors with Blood Mountain.

Going back through the album those final two tracks are still ridiculously killer, and almost tips the balance of Voidkind over to be more back-heavy. Both “Plērōma” and the nearly 10-minute “Cobalt Sun Necropolis” are so good they leave me wanting go back and go deeper than what I did for the original 9C review. I think that’s the beauty of having a large collection, which I don’t think of as a collection but more of a library, where I can go back and look over my entire musical history, crawling back into the past when I want or need to. This video from Phil Ashton of Now Spinning Magazine sums it up pretty nicely.

Also yes. I am of the age where I am mostly listening to other old guys talk about old music on the internet.