Ángel David Revilla Lenoci, better known as Dross Rotzank or simply Dross, is a Venezuelan YouTuber and writer who currently resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Biography
Ángel David Revilla was born on July 16, 1982 in Baruta, Caracas, Venezuela. With Italian and Spanish ancestry, Dross initially described himself as an atheist, but later declared himself an agnostic atheist. He studied journalism and communications at the Universidad Santa María, graduating in 2007 with a degree in mass communication. The story of Dross began when he was a video game critic for sites like Vandal and MeriStation. After engaging in a debate over game consoles, specifically the superiority of the PlayStation 2 over Dreamcast, he was banned from these communities. At that moment, his character El Troll was born. Dross seized this opportunity to open his own website, El Diario de Dross, where he combined black humor with macho and fascist elements, all expressed in the voice of his character. Revilla also took on controversial topics such as the existence of God and the debate over reproductive rights. He has since carved out a niche in the horror genre, scaring millions with his videos and books. Revilla has considerable popularity throughout Latin America, though his appeal is broadening to Spanish speaking audiences across the United States and Europe. He adopted the nickname Dross after Darren Drozdov, a former WWF wrestler whom Revilla mistakenly refers to as Warren Droz.
Career
As a YouTuber
Revilla began his career by writing game reviews for websites like Meristation and GameFAQs, but quickly moved to creating blog content at El Diario de Dross, where he explored provocative topics using a distinctive recipe of storytelling and dark humor. By 2013, a lifelong interest in the paranormal led Revilla to begin creating horror and conspiracy-themed videos. This move generated major global success for Revilla, and propelled the DrossRotzank channel to over 18 million subscribers. He became the most subscribed horror-genre creator on YouTube, as well as the first to reach over 13 million subscribers in any category in the country of Argentina. Revilla currently runs two additional YouTube channels, Los Vlogs de Dross and Mi Querido Mussolini, which features the adventures of his mascot and pet, an Oscar fish named Mussolini. His Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts boast millions of devoted fans and followers. Aside from creating digital content and writing, Revilla travels throughout Latin America to headline large events and to appear at book signings. In 2018, his work as a digital content creator and social media influencer was recognized with the prestigious Martin Fierro Digital Award: Special Award. Revilla is currently working on his next novela.
As a writer
His first novel, Luna de Plutón, was published by Planeta in Spain and Latin America in 2015 and became a best seller in a few weeks. His second book, El Festival de la blasfemia was released in 2016, and a sequel to his first book, Luna de Plutón II: La Guerra de Ysaak, in March 2017. Valle de la Calma was published in 2018. In June 14, 2017, Revilla launched a series of stories entitled Dross cuenta 3 historias de terror. The series concluded on October 29 of that year. On August 1, 2019, the author launched his most recent work, El libro negro, exploring topics of the deep web and cosmic horror. The book became available in Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay on September 1, 2019, and will be available in Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador on November 1, 2019. As of September 6, 2019, El libro negro was the number one bestselling book in some countries of the Americas.
