dvne

Best of 2021: Buke and David Stepanavicius of Atræ Bilis share their favorites and more!

opethbodom1 Comment
Best of 2021

David Stepanavicius of Atræ Bilis is no stranger to the podcast as he and Buke discussed Apexapien at length back in November and it was such an electric discussion that Buke reached back out to have David on again to discuss all things Best of 2021. The two catch up a bit since last time then launch into their biggest disappointments of 2021, their Honorable Mentions, and their collective Top 10. They also discuss Best of lists in general and how an artist / band views list season, how music usually finds David and how much labels play a part in it, whether Chris Barnes or memes are better, upcoming things for Atræ Bilis, and so much more. You’ll definitely want to keep a pen and paper handy as they cover a ton of great albums, forty in total. No surprise here at all, this is an excellent discussion! 

Continue reading →

Best of 2021: Zyklonius’s List

Zyklonius2 Comments
Best of 2021

Huh, it appears that I blinked and a whole year went by just like that. Luckily there was metal, a lot of it in fact, to the extent that none of the albums on my list ended up on our staff’s combined list, which shows just how much diversity there is, in terms of releases, genres and our respective tastes and preferences. With majestic hails to the bands whose releases enriched my life in the past 12 months, the following contains my 20 favorite albums of the year. I hope you will find something that intrigues, excites and animates you. 

Continue reading →

Album Review: DVNE – “Etemen Ænka”

Chris2 Comments
Dvne - Etemen Ænka

My first exposure to DVNE came late in the cycle for their sophomore album Asheran, but it was enough to put their crushing blend of sludge and progressive rock/metal onto my end of year list for 2017. It took a few years before appetites were whetted with the Omega Severer single/EP, and now we have the proper follow-up in the form of Etemen Ænka. This one is a little more of a grower, the songs more up front and in your face, but as things start to expand (particularly on the second half) all the reasons I came to love the band in the first place begin to flower.

Continue reading →

Initial Descent: March 14 – 20, 2021

JoshLeave a comment
OLDE – courtesy of Samantha Carcasole

Last week was a week. Here’s hoping this one isn’t. Who’s ready for live shows? Anyone got a wager for when that’ll be? Will we ever get back to normal? All pertinent questions that no one really has an answer for, but all are questions that burn in all our minds. News to no one, I get it. Anyway, we can dream…I guess. Moving on to some new metal, and at least that rubs me the right way; OLDE are back with their outstanding brand of blue collar doom/sludge (seriously, this thing rules and consequently, this band can do no wrong), Mare Cognitum are still excelling at cosmic black metal, Dvne get massively heavy and surprisingly subdued at the same time (it works, trust me), and how about some slam meets deathcore from Distant who actually do a great job at crushing this genre combo. Go get all these new tunes and dream for the day when we might actually get to see all this live again.

Continue reading →

CANTO: Abbath, Dvne, Kankar, and More

Corey1 Comment

I’m finally listening to some new stuff off the latest Harakiri For The Sky. It’s fun.

  • Looks like Abbath has jumped back into the studio to record the third album under his name. It sounds like it should be out sometime later this year, only two years removed from 2019’s Outstrider. I rather enjoyed the previous two efforts, so this is good news to me.
  • Serving as a preview for their upcoming new album, Etemen Ænka, Dvne has released a live video for “Towers”. The album, if you need a reminder, drops on March 19th through Metal Blade Records.
  • Scardust, the progressive/symphonic metal group out of Israel, have announced some lineup changes. Here is the kick-off announcement, but if you scroll their Facebook page you’ll get the full rundown. Sounds like their first live performance together will be announced soon as well. Good stuff.
  • And we’ll close with some black metal. Kankar, out of Germany, revealed the second track from their upcoming new album. Give “Dunkle Millenia” a listen below, the title-track from their newest effort, which is set for a March 19th release through Eisenwald.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb