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 mountain-crumbling 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. Also factoring in how finale Cobalt Sun Necropolis weaves through 10 minutes of blunt force and space-age precision, Voidkind is a candidate for post-metal album of the decade thus far.
Every note’s perfectly placed to make this an album that demands re-entry again and again. Between this and Dune: Part Two, 2024 is already proving a spotless year for fans of batshit cosmic maximalism.
Voidkind is out April 19 via Metal Blade. Dvne play London's Desertfest in June.
