Skrol

Skrol - Martina Sanollová, Vladimír Hirsch, Tom Saivon

Skrol is a Czech avant-garde martial industrial band from Prague formed in 1995, active until 2004 and rejoined again in 2010. It consists of composer and keyboard player Vladimír Hirsch, singer Martina Sanollová and a non performing member, Tom Saivon, who provides noise structures and lyrics. The music is based on integration of neoclassical compositional principles into industrial structures, with heavy martial rhythms, symphonic arrangement of electronics, classical organ, strings and brasses.[1] The intense atmosphere is crowned by the ecstatic and extremely igneous expression of the singer.[2] This Czech trio has entered into the history of European avant-garde, combining military beats, industrial aesthetics, orchestral sounds, a rock formula and Slavic harmonies.[3]

Members

Biography and works

Skrol's activity started to evolve in 1996, consisting of composer, instrumentalist and sound alchemist Vladimír Hirsch, singer Martina Sanollová and lyricist and producer Tom Saivon. The creative principle of the band is based on neo-classical concepts with a congregation of martial industrial, with an attempt to attain an organic amalgam of the two on rudiments of rock music patterns. Vladimír Hirsch composed 5 instrumental albums for the band, that were stepwise recorded in the period between 1997 and 2000 and 4 of them were released between 1999 and 2009.[4]

The first album, Heretical Antiphony, released in 1999 by German label M.D.Propaganda Records. It is a religious epic composed of digitally manipulated string instruments, brass, classical organ, densely enhanced piano and drums combined with additional dark ambient dark ambient background and severe militant rhythms along with obstinate instrumental loops as a counterpoint to the melodic calmness.

The album Insomnia Dei was released in two editions, in 2001 on the U.S.label Chromozome / RRRecords and again in May 2003 on the M.D.Propaganda Records label. It is the most aggressive and heaviest martial industrial album from Skrol with a raw, dense and destructive sound, in which everything is submerged. The aggressive substratum of the music is supported by the emotional overlapping female and male vocals. The songs "Soaking / Movie Martyr", "Insomnia" and "Dei irae" came out as a 10-inch LP called Martyria on the LOKI Foundation label in August 1998, followed by the release of the full-length in 2001 on the US label Chromozome-RRRecords and again in May 2003 on the M.D.Propaganda Records label.

Dances & Marches for the Orphan Age was created over a period of seven years. The preference of uneven or incomplete rhythms is hard to miss. The dominant female melodic vocals assumes a distinctly sorrowful voice, sometimes non-verbal with a transcendental character, and the most important instrument here, not by its predominance, but by its content, is the organ, which has the role of disquieting and dramatizing the figurative, fierily symbolism of Saivon's lyrics. The album was released after extensive remixes by Vladimír Hirsch in March 2005 by the Portugal label Dagaz Music.

The last album of the band, New Laws / New Orders was recorded in 2000, but released after revision in August 2009 by the Argentinian label Twilight Records. With this album, the band eclectically closed the whole work of Skrol. Some of the tracks were reworked from earlier instrumental versions combined with previously unreleased material influenced by the contemporary solo works of Vladimir Hirsch. Skrol's action potential was reached in this album which oscillates between ritual, martial industrial and modern classical music influences.[5]

Some of Skrol's tracks also appeared on a few compilations. The track "Eternity Ltd.", was included on the compilation album Thorak, which came out on the label WAVS 2003 in September 1998 under the name "Ewigkeit" and "Fall A Prey", which was released in 2000 as part of a voluminous compilation on the Russian label AchtungBaby! with the name Behind The Iron Curtain / Ten Years of Madness.

The ritualistic trances of the singer who often sang in ecstatic frenzy combined with kinetic physical theatresque performance, while the two noise makers stood behind in terrorist masks, was a signature mark of Skrol's live performances. Skrol regularly appeared in many European countries, including tours in Great Britain in 1998, Germany in 1999, and their most successful "Fire Martyrs Tour" in June 2001 in the US, which was a combination of Skrol sets and the project of Hirsch and Saivon Aghiatrias. The band fully stopped its public appearances in 2002, but rejoined again in 2011. They play now regularly in their home country and participate in industrial festivals in Europe (Poland, Slovakia, Germany).[6]

Discography

Albums
  • Heretical Antiphony, CD, 1999 M.D.Propaganda (Germany), 38´
  • Insomnia Dei, CD, 2001 Chromozome Records (USA), distributed by RRRecords; 2003 M.D.Propaganda (Germany),
  • Dances And Marches for the Orphan Age, CD, 2005 Dagaz Music (Portugal)
  • New Laws / New Orders, CD, 2009 Twilight Records (Argentina)
  • Live, CDr, 2011, Integrated Music Records (Czechia)

10´´ :

  • Martyria, 10-inch, 1998 Power & Steel – LOKI Foundation (Germany)

Mini-album :

  • Aegis, CatchArrow Recordings, CDr, 1998
Appears on
  • Various Artists: Thorak (Ewigkeit), CD, 1998 VAWS 2003 (Germany)
  • Various Artists: Behind The Iron Curtain / Ten Years Of Madness (Fall A Prey), 2 CD, 2000 Achtung Baby! (Russia)
  • Various Artists: Wroclaw Industrial Festival / 10th Anniversary Compilation (Dei Irae II), digital, 2011 Bleak
Video recordings
  • What The Eye Have Seen Have Not Seen, 1998 Ars Morta Universum [7]

References

  1. ↑ Olivier Bernard: Anthologie de l´ambient (in French)
  2. ↑ Jepesen, Travis: Some Steps Towards the Reconstruction of Reality
  3. ↑ Gazeta.pl: Skrol
  4. ↑ Industrial Art: Skrol
  5. ↑ Vladimír Hirsch - Biography
  6. ↑ Cz Scene: Skrol http://www.czscene.cz/skrol
  7. ↑ Skrol Discography
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