There are many sludge doom bands today, but among them, Dvell deserves to be brought to the attention of listeners, as one of the new names capable of displaying an ideal interpretation of the subgenre from the very first attempt. Preceded in january by the single Mother, Quiescent is in fact the debut full length for the Californian band, but the competence and ease in handling the material is that of the most navigated realities. Where nothing is created and everything is transformed, Dvell opt for a straightforward version with post-metal veins and a non-marginal melodic component that emerges also thanks to a valuable and particular use of synths. The titles of the four tracks (Mother, Father, Son and Daughter) each foreshadow the members of a classic family, which, judging by the disturbing sound content, must not exactly be one of those plasticised ones featured in biscuit advertisements. Guitarist Ezra Bettencourt vocally expresses a certain disgust within a substrate in which the tension is always very high, with the absence of interlocutory passages despite Quiescent‘s running time of more than an hour; Dvvell never let up until the last note of Daughter, the final track that proves to be as explanatory as ever of the US quartet’s prowess.

2022 – Transylvanian Recordings