Black Sun Empire

Operating out of Utrecht, the Netherlands, the three-piece collaborative known as Black Sun Empire is now in its 10th year of tearing up dance floors and producing tunes both technically proficient and powerful. Comprising darkstep/neurofunk producer Rene Verdult and the DJing brothers Milan and Micha Heyboer, the band offers a uniquely trancy yet grimy tech style of drum 'n' bass that can be sweeping and captivating in scope.

Next week their homegrown Black Sun Empire Recordings label releases the Bullet in the Head 12-inch, spotlighting the crew's collaboration with Viennese beats-and-bass mercenary D.Kay on the song of the same name. The tune begins with mock sirens that descend into a driving, pointed rinse-out. As with all of their material, it transcends your typical cookie-cutter d 'n' b and points to even more experimentation to come. "We'll use anything if we really like it, which sometimes means we're influenced by sounds that the typical d 'n' b fan might not like," Milay says. They'll undoubtedly learn to live with it.