Edinburgh heavy prog pummelcrafters DVNE issued their Asheran full-length earlier this year and they’re set to hit mainland Europe to support it in October. Keeping company with France’s Crackhouse, the Scottish four-piece will his Germany, France, the Netherlands and territory closer to home as they go, and as you can see on the list of shows below — dutifully and probably incorrectly typed out from the poster by yours truly — there are still a few dates to be filled in, including one that DVNE will look to play on Oct. 28 before they meet up with their tourmates in Toulouse. I don’t necessarily believe in karma, but science and folkloric wisdom alike tell us that good things happen to people who help cool bands find gigs in time of need. That’s just an indisputable fact.

Info on the run and the poster came down the PR wire. Dig it:

Dvne & Crackhouse November Tour

Edinburgh based DVNE has announced European tour dates thoughout October and November in support of their latest album Asheran.

The band will be touring with French post-metal trio Crackhouse (Argonauta Records) from the 27th of October until the 18th of November. Both bands will be performing shows in France, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK.

DVNE & Crackhouse European Tour:
27.10 Tours, ESP, Gentiana, FR*
28.10 TBC**
30.10 Toulouse, Pavillons Sauvages, FR
31.10 Poitiers, Le Zinc, FR
01.11 Rennes, Bar’Hic, FR
02.11 Paris, Olympic Cafe, FR
03.11 Rouen, 3 Pieces, FR
04.11 Lille, Le Biplan, FR
05.11 TBC
06.11 TBC
07.11 TBC
08.11 Amsterdam, The Winston, NL
09.11 Tubigen, DE (TBA)
10.11 Muflingen, QL Tour Raum, DE
11.11 TBC
15.11 Edinburgh, Banshee, UK
16.11 Glasgow, Nice and Sleazy, UK
17.11 Newcastle, UK (TBA)
18.11 Sheffield, The Lughole, UK
*Crackhouse only
**DVNE only

Asheran is out now on 2xLP and digital via Wasted State Records, available HERE.

Asheran is a 60 minute tapestry of music, an epic narrative following the tale of the rise and fall of civilisations, the return of an empire thought millennia lost, and the world-spanning events that unfold as a consequence.

DVNE is:
Victor Vicart – Guitar, Vocals, Keys
Dan Barter – Guitar & Vocals
Dudley Tait – Drums
Allan Paterson – Bass

https://www.facebook.com/DvneUK
https://twitter.com/SongsOfArrakis
https://www.instagram.com/dvne_uk/
https://songs-of-arrakis.bandcamp.com/album/asheran
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wasted-State-Records/111088732018
https://twitter.com/wastedstate
http://www.wastedstate.com/

DVNE, “Thirst” official video

Edinburgh-based four-piece DVNE have been playing shows steadily around the UK since the 2014 release of their last album, Aurora Majesty, so they haven’t been completely absent or anything like that. Their name tends to pop up in all-dayer lineups and things like that. Still, with three years between that record and the forthcoming Asheran, which the band touts as being an hour-long concept piece set to a story about a lost empire (about which you can read more below), the sense I get is that maybe this record took longer to come together than the standard “well, we’ve got eight songs and here they are”-type release might. Call me crazy.

With just over two months to go before the July 28 release through Wasted State Records, there’s no audio unveiled as yet, but you can see the Eli Quinn cover art and the tracklisting here, courtesy of the band’s Bandcamp page, where both Aurora Majesty and the prior Progenitor EP (review here) are streaming. Dig it:

DVNE – Asheran

Asheran is a 60 minute tapestry of music, an epic narrative following the tale of the rise and fall of civilisations, the return of an empire thought millennia lost, and the world-spanning events that unfold as a consequence.

Rich with themes of science fiction, environmental issues, and both dystopic and utopic visions for the future of humanity, listeners can expect the album to bring the pure heaviness vaunted during Aurora Majesty, whilst at the same time being tempered by the combination of more mature progressive, genre-spanning, and often at times melodic song-writing the band are quickly making their hallmark approach.

Releases July 28, 2017.

— I —
The Crimson Path
Viridian Bloom

— II —
Thirst
Descent Of The Asheran

— III —
Sunsets Grace
Rite Of Seven Mournings

— IV —
Edenfall
Scion

Recorded and produced by Graeme Young at Chamber Studios
chamberstudio.co.uk

Mixed and Mastered by Tom Dring at Vagrant Recordings
vagrant-recordings.co.uk

Artwork by Eli Quinn
Facebook.com/eliquinnart

DVNE is:
Victor Vicart – Guitar, Vocals, Keys
Dan Barter – Guitar & Vocals
Dudley Tait – Drums
Allan Paterson – Bass

Jenni Sneddon – Vocals (Edenfall)

Release date: 28 July 2017 by Wasted State Records
wastedstaterecords.bandcamp.com

https://songs-of-arrakis.bandcamp.com/album/asheran
https://www.instagram.com/dvne_uk/
https://twitter.com/SongsOfArrakis
https://www.facebook.com/DvneUK
wastedstaterecords.bandcamp.com

DVNE, Aurora Majesty (2014)

On their debut EP, Progenitor, Scottish four-piece Dune successfully meld the varying impulses of metal and desert rock, creating a sound both vast and ambient that shifts smoothly into movements of big-toned crunching aggression. The resulting tracks are not quite stoner metal, which would seem to imply a Sleep influence — there isn’t one here — but a kind of desert metal which finds its variety furthered through the liberal implementation of interludes, particularly on side A of the transparent red, limited-to-300-copies Wasted State Records 12″ vinyl. Out digitally in December 2013 before this June 2014 pressing, it is a short release, topping out at just over 29 minutes, but in that time Dune showcase not only stylistic nuance, but a commitment to standing out in the vinyl form as well, both through the packaging, thick stock and including a liner the aesthetic of which matches the band’s sci-fi thematic, and through the curious division of the interlude “Pillars of Eternity” between the end of side A and the start of side B.

“Pillars of Eternity” is one of three included instrumentals on Progenitor, the other two being the intro, “Gravity Signal,” a building cosmic pulse and noise wash that leads directly into the Kyuss-meets-swirl opening riff of “Protostar,” and the closing linear build of “Orbital Remains,” which caps side B on an engagingly spaced-out note. Maybe because so much of the platter is dedicated to atmospherics it seems surprising when Dune give so much attention to vocal arrangements throughout. The band is made up of guitarists Victor Vicart and Dan Barter, bassist Simon Anger and drummer Dudley Tait, and everyone adds vocals in one form or another, though Anger is credited with backing vocals and Tait with “voice,” so there’s likely some distinction there. In any case, for “Protostar” and “Oscillations of Color,” Dune‘s riffy largesse is met with early-Mastodon growls, giving the EP a feel that would stand in line with sludge if the songs weren’t also so crisply produced or varied in themselves, “Protostar” breaking before its midpoint to a guitar-led ambient section and building back up to full-boar and an impressive solo from there as it rolls on past six and a half minutes. It feeds directly into “Oscillations of Color,” which uses guitar triplet gallop as a central riff around which a memorable chorus and proggy-feeling midsection (topped with distorted outer space spoken word, likely by Tait) circle.

The second vocalized track might be the most accomplished on Progenitor, but side B’s “When Planets Die” and “Red Giant” stand up to it — as did “Protostar,” for that matter — the subdued echoes of “Pillars of Eternity” leading the way out of side A and then, for just a few seconds, building into the drums and sparse guitar at the start of “When Planets Die.” A faster rush and churningly insistent, “When Planets Die” still holds to Dune‘s depth of arrangement and sense of overall control, also proving more straightforward without a break in the middle like the pair comprising the meat of side A, though a few last minute turns are head-spinning before the song ends cold and “Red Giant” picks up with a swell of feedback. I don’t want to spoil, because the arrival makes for Progenitor‘s most glorious payoff, but when the music slows and all the vocals come together on “Red Giant,” it’s reminiscent of the swaying that makes Hull‘s material so triumphant, and Dune might be the only other band I’ve heard do it so well. A driving chaos ensues, and they cap stomping before feedback rings out and fades, letting effects noise give way to “Orbital Remains,” the quiet guitars of which move into a satisfyingly desert-hued progression that gets an apex not overblown — there’d be no point in competing with “Red Giant” anyway — but still enough to make the finale more than an afterthought amidst all the pummel before it.

Dune have such a firm grip on their presentation, it’s easy to forget Progenitor is their debut EP, but there’s still room for them to grow as well. The peaceful vibing of “Orbital Remains” and the subtlety of its linear progression in particular speak to the potential for Dune to do more in their songwriting than offset clobbering riffs with guitar-effects interludes, and indeed, taken as a whole, Progenitor shows that evolution is already underway. It’s a righteously heavy two sides that the Edinburgh foursome have conjured to announce their arrival, and should be welcome for anyone who longs for a few meaner stretches than most heavy rock is willing to provide. Topped off by the Ross McKendrick cover art, whether you’ve read Frank Herbert or not, Dune‘s first vinyl has plenty to offer those who’d set needle to wax.

Dune, Progenitor (2014)

Dune on Thee Facebooks

Dune on Twitter

Dune on Bandcamp

Wasted State Records