Year: 202?
Label: Steinklang Industries
French Vologne’s debut tape, also on Steinklang (review), explored themes of unusual, dysfunctional minds and the deep recesses of the human psyche. As can be deduced from the title of this second tape, Vologne continue down that same path. And there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.
Stylistically, too, the French one-man act continue to explore the same marginalities of electronic music: power electronics, harsh noise, death industrial and splashes of dark ambient. Those who liked the first tape will feel right at home here.
Not everything’s the same, though. Vologne both consolidate and expand their sound, the latter leading Lost Illusions Turned Into Black Rage into some pretty unexpected territories. The latter part of Hide Your Cross takes a left turn into rhythmic noise, with a distorted, pounding techno beat dominating the track. A. Shock and Gone also contain rhythmic elements, but with less dominant and driving beats.
Vologne also experiment with putting vocals into a more central focus here and there. Both A. Shock and This Is Not Fair feature spoken word vocals prominently although not dominantly, and especially on the latter, their sheer venom makes up for not really being able to decipher what the reverbed, distorted and echoed voice is saying.
But, ultimately, this is more familiar than unfamiliar territory. By which I mean that Vologne still perform a brand of industrial noise that puts more emphasis on bleak, nihilistic and hostile atmospheres than sheer brutality. Analogue synthesizers rumble, crackle and pulsate, piercing feedback whines on top of it, and moments of blaring, deafening noise are subservient to a more controlled, structural power electronics form of industrial noise.
This is a good combination: a foundation of stuff reminiscent of the first tape, with a dash of elements that expand Vologne’s sound. Especially as none of the new elements supplant existing elements, but rather enhance them. The result is a tape that takes Vologne one step forward. It’s not a huge step, but nonetheless it is a step forward. And that’s the right direction to move in.
Only Death Is Real 