The current state of death metal is something that I feel we don’t appreciate enough as it truly is another beast to behold in all of its many forms and approaches that we simply didn’t get before the digital renaissance that we’re in now thanks to places like Bandcamp. It’s always the weirder end that tends to get my attention more, though, with acts like Howls of Ebb and Tchornobog being exactly the kind of shit that I really want more of. They may not be the weirdest, but Ysengrin is no less prolific and with their new offering this act has a stylish partner in crime.

As I said, this isn’t the weirdest death metal experience that I’ve had by any means nor is it the best that I’ve heard in recent times, but that doesn’t detract from the sinister grandeur that’s at work here with what both Ysengrin and StarGazer manage to accomplish together in a mere 20-minute album consisting of no more than three tracks. What we get with “D.A.V.V.N.” is an odd experience that’s filled with all sorts of light and darkness that’s constantly fighting for dominance while chaos is always in full bloom as we see both acts bring several phases to their material that makes the entirety of “D.A.V.V.N.” to feel like it’s split even more into different chapters with the bands as special narrators as they constantly change tone and pacing. With Ysengrin, we get two tracks with the first being a little over eight minutes long and an absolute rollercoaster that takes you on a special ride of versatility that shows the broad scope that the acts embodies as a whole with the following track showing a much more subdued but still intoxicating side of Ysengrin that we don’t always get to see but can always appreciate. Then it’s StarGazer that we get a track that’s very much like Ysengrin’s first, but StarGazer uses their over twenty year’s worth of experience to enable their song to evolve into an incredibly organic creature that brilliantly animates darkness and breathes life where Ysengrin begat death, albeit that life very twisted.

All that in play, “D.A.V.V.N.” becomes this wildly aggressive yet comfortably reined beast that’s so much more than what people can think death metal can do, but it’s because of acts like this that we’re able to view the genre in this sort of light and it’s something that I’ll never not appreciate and love. Ysengrin is a name that I’ve known only impresses and this is something that only further cements that, and StarGazer is a long-running act that continues to show their worth and one that still warrants plenty of attention.

“D.A.V.V.N.” releases on December 15th via Nuclear War Now! Productions!

PRE-ORDER “D.A.V.V.N.” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Ysengrin on Facebook here.

LIKE StarGazer on Facebook here.