renkls Similar to its predecessor in being a single track rendition of drumless doom. This time however, it's not focused on agony but ecstasy. It's also mercifully shorter then Victim One: Agony in being 52 minutes instead of 76. I will address a few little points of interest/niggles I have with this work. There are parts which sound like we're overhearing an orgy in some seedy downtown brothel, underneath the fog of a slow grating guitar rhythm. There hasn't been too much sound change between this and 'Agony' either. Maybe, just taking a stab at things, but this release deals less with the 'pleasure' associated with ecstasy, and more with juxtaposing the sensations of the pinnacle heights of pleasure with the darkest, cruelest aspects of pain. Sometimes in the music it sounds like both sensations at once, which I don't believe is an accident. Consequently, as I listened, I was reminded (like with 'Agony') of Naked City's Leng Tch'e. The cover art of that release, graphic though it was,was said to have been of a devastating impact on Georges Bataille, who included said photograph in Tears of Eros. He is quoted as thus:

"This photograph had a decisive role in my life. I have never stopped being obsessed by this image of pain, at once ecstatic and intolerable. I wonder what the Marquis de Sade would have thought of this image, Sade who dreamed of torture, (which was inaccessible to him) but who never witnessed an actual torture session. In one way or another this image was incessantly before his eyes. But Sade would have wanted to see it in solitude, at least in relative solitude, without which the ecstatic and voluptuous effect is inconceivable. What I suddenly saw, and what imprisoned me in anguish — but which at the same time delivered me from it — was the identity of these perfect contraries, divine ecstasy and its opposite, extreme horror. And this is my inevitable conclusion to a history of eroticism." — Georges Bataille.

Here, I feel this same concept is being driven home, albeit in a more sexually, physically draining fashion. I hadn't believed this was possible, whilst Leng Tch'e was based in agonies that are almost unimaginable, here the aspects of pleasure are addressed as being not as far from pain as we may hope for. In this way, I feel it is a fittingly difficult album, and one that I initally misunderstood. But by Vonn's motto of 'Doom through torture through doom', I understand now that they are presenting an intensely difficult listening experience as well as many allusions which bring up more unsettling questions. Listening through it again, I think that I understand the founding 'act' that this piece of music is based in, being that of either sexual abuse or rape. I may be incorrect in this assumption, but by the subtraction of 'human' musicality only to be filled entirely, by merciless near atonal guitar, I get the impression that Vonn is juxtaposing a physical act of 'amoral'/'inhuman' torture with a physical act of pleasure. But I cannot be certain, and this is treading dangerous moral grounds that make this album incredibly niche. Not only because it is a very limited self released effort - but the concept that underpins the entire 52 minute piece is very grim and menacing. Like with Agony, it does get deadening and repetitive, as time progresses and we stew longer in this mixture of torturous ecstasy, but I think for a once off experience of Vonn, this is likely a bit more accessible then their debut - though requires patience and an active mind. There is a lot at play that can be pondered, probably enough to easily last the albums length.

It is uncompromising (with the exception of the last five minutes which is the calmest Vonn have ever been; the aftermath perhaps?) and hopelessly dark. I would venture that it is less nihilistic then its predecessor in that it seems to have a much clearer motive - yet we are still drawn into a puerile cycle of guitar torrents where every chord seems drenched in suffering conditioned against the respective ecstasy of the vocalist/s. I may be exaggerating, but in the right environment, this album can be both confronting and highly valuable pondering material. That environment is most certainly not in your parents presence, I will tell you now.

renkls I've probably spent more time with this album then any (sane) person should. That said, I think now I understand all I need to understand about it. I have a distinct fascination with single track albums, and this being one, thought I should try it out. It is probably the darkest audial assualt I've heard, bar none. It probably surpasses Orthrelm's OV and Naked City's Leng Tch'e in the department of difficult listening, but it is probably in the aspect of artistic vision that I feel this album does not meet the previous two mentioned. It is huge, powerful, abrasive and almost completely inhuman. According to an interview that VONN had with a website (the only one on the internet I could find), they are practicing what they feel is 'true' doom metal. Being completely hopeless, remorseless, painful music. And in that respect, they get their point across indelibly. That said however, look at the length of the album - 76 minutes of singular, torturous noise. This is one of the longest single pieces of music dedicated to CD, but there is no real way to justify just how huge and monsterous this album is. In foresight however, we must realise that the central theme of the 'song' is torture. We have to, if we chose (obviously), go along with their uncompromising demands if we truly want to understand. After all, torture is not an act where the victim (listener) has a choice of how brutal or long the ordeal lasts - and while we as an audience have the ability to leave anytime, the victim does not until the bitter end. Of course, 76 minutes of drumless, pitch black misery is a long ask of anyone - and this is where some comparisons have to come into play. Torture as transposed to music has been done many times before. Naked City, in paving the way into the distinctive genre of Drone Doom Metal established the genre on this theme, with Leng Tch'e, a 31 (less then half this albums length) minute examination of the notorious chinese torture method. The screams that emerged in that piece were dark, uncompromising and harrowing. It builds, escalates upwards into a truly cacophonous noise of squeals and screams, before the victim finally perishes. It was a bleak, hopeless work - but its influence on the genre of doom metal has been felt far and wide. Vonn's Victim One: Agony, feels like it has taken influence from the direction of doom, yet has not expanded on the concepts of bleak hopelessness and suffering in any way except length. In that respect, it cannot measure up to the same scale as these influentual albums in my opinion. But they're not exactly the same journey - while Leng Tch'e established the genre, there has still, despite it being limited, progression from this idea. It is no longer a progressive, building work. There are no established patterns or tunes to cling to. It strips the genre bare as a truly bleak portrait of nihilistic cruelty. It approaches being completely unlistenable. It was a daring move to extend and push doom to its inevitable, meaningless conclusion, yet this is what I feel VONN have done. And for that alone, despite my indifference, I appriechiate the audacious viciousness of this CD. Do I plan on listening to it very much? No way.