Resurgence I: Descent Through the Abyss

Alpha Draconis Records seems to specialize in releasing albums that seem uninspired at first, but bloom upon close examination. The label's CD re-release of Vrolok's 'Resurgence I: Descent Through The Abyss' is a perfect example of just such a paradigm. Now, I'm about the last person in the world to hear Vrolok; it's a band that's most certainly gotten around in the USBM scene, and is not exactly a low profile entity anymore. And yet the band somehow escaped my attention for many years, probably because it's hard to motivate myself to try out yet another one-man USBM project. I'm pretty glad that I received this album, though; while it's not something that jumps out at you instantly, it is a very unique and quality release in its own right, which only gets better the more you dissect it.

The most unusual aspect of Vrolok is that the guitars are by far the least important part of the compositions. The riffing is fairly standard dissonant USBM tremolo, but is pushed into the background of the production, and mainly functions as a layer of semimelodic noise that isn't meant to be the focus of the music. On the contrary, the bass takes a much larger role than normal, and is in fact more crucial than the guitars, despite echoing mostly the same riffs. The bass guitar is much more audible than the 6-stringers, and adds a smooth, swiftly running stream of low sound to the tracks. The proverbial meat of the music, though, is based on the interaction between vocals and drums. Melody is almost entirely forgotten in Vrolok's music, at least on this album, with any and all sense of harmony pushed far into the background, leaving you with minimalist, incredibly violent and vehemently misanthropic music that, while adhering to the basic tenants of black metal, is like little you've heard before.

Vocals: a mid-range black metal scream that is differentiated by others via delivery; in this case, a dogmatic, commanding tone that washes across the music in a savage frenzy of occult brutality. They seem distorted at first listen, but they actually appear to be natural, just having their human origin eroded away by both vitriolic delivery and the natural degradation as a result of 4-track production. Lyrics are not released and aren't very important; the idea communicates itself pretty clearly through the neverending barrage of frothing screams. The other, much more creative part of the equation, is the drum machine. Much more carefully programmed than most, the rhythms rest on a bed of black metal convention (blast beats and double bass, mostly), but with additional voices added over the top. Snare in particular is carefully employed, keeping steady rhythms but also bursting into quick, extremely short rolls of three or five notes. Cymbals are also programmed very deliberately, with the particular cymbal voice briefly changing during the course of a rhythm; perhaps two quick shots of ride cymbal will burst from nowhere, or a sudden flurry of crash cymbals across the sonic space will arise. The programming seems to be highly influenced by hardcore techno and industrial; many of the rhythms are club percussion reinterpreted into a black metal context. It's highly unusual, but also highly effective, and creates a very unique feel, particularly when combined with the very clipped, inarticulate nature of the drum sounds themselves (reminding me, interestingly enough, of the sounds chosen by Jeremy Christner on Great American Desert's split with UK band Drear; also interesting because Christner later contributed guest vocals on the band's next album- perhaps it's an unusual influence we're hearing, one way or another).

Keyboards are used with a moderate frequency, most obviously on the (two, on this version) outros, 'Flight Of The Hellhorde''s organ interlude, and the dark, shifting ambient textures of 'Darkened Mountains Of Lord Satan's Empire'. Even though these portions with keyboards make up a good chunk of the album, they seem to sort of drift by without a great deal of notice, at least when compared to the ultra-rhythmic black metal that the album shares. Black metal/ambient/black metal/ambient, it's a pattern that anyone in the USBM scene is familiar with, but here it seems to have a bit more importance in the whole scheme of the album. The ambient portions, though rather suited more as background sound than a very focused listening experience, appear to actually have some context. Other bands throw in ambient breaks in a desperate bid to seem unique (despite the fact that every band uses ambient breaks now), but Vrolok actually puts some importance on them, instead of writing a 5-note keyboard melody, looping it for two minutes over some spooky sound effects, and ending it abruptly. It's probably unsurprising, considering that Diabolus is the mastermind behind dark ambient superstar Vomit Orchestra as well, but it's nice to see effective dark ambient being used in the black metal context.

While the general combination of elements on 'Resurgence I: Descent Through The Abyss' don't seem like anything special, the end result is much more than the sum of its parts. By simply inverting the traditionally emphasized elements of black metal, Vrolok has crafted an album that is able to adhere in some way to the tenants of the genre, but also go in a new direction, even if it is roughly alongside the well-worn path of other artists. This album is a good example of USBM being more than a one-trick pony; indeed, the variation and creativity of construction on this album is much, much greater than many other artists, and is worth your time to examine.

The first full-length effort from the one-man band of VROLOK is a sickening success. Here one finds some twisted black metal, with a very clean sound, even though it is a cassette release. The album explodes into consistent blast beats with simplistic riffing and excellent vocals. This remains relatively the same for the entire album, but the excellent overall quality of the music prevents it from becoming redundant and boring. The fourth track is a great cover of VON’s classic track, “Veadtuck”, which acts quite well as an interlude between the 2 halves of the tape. The best part of Resurgence is definitely the vocals. They’re a mix of Xasthur and Abyssic Hate: cold, harsh, and distorted. Adding this to the music which supports them, and you’ve got one hell of an album.