Mind Noise Network
Devilment -
The Great and Secret Show
By Rob Dixon - 7 January 2015
Writing a review about the latest spin off of Cradle of Filths Dani Filth it would be too easy to spend the whole review comparing Cradle to his new project. As someone who is neither a fan nor hater of CoF, I am going to steer clear of any comparisons and rate this based on its own merits. I was asked to write a review and not a novel after all !
Whilst Devilment have been around for some time, The Great and Secret is their first full album release and the album artwork is an impressive Victorian Gothic image which sets the tone for the music within.
Opening track Summer Arteries starts off moodily and slowly with tight guitar riffs and a solid backing guitar that would not be out of place on an early Joe Satriani number, this then makes way for cacophony of drums and heavier guitar accompanied by the traditional Dani Filth screams.
The solid guitar licks continue and particularly stand out on 'Girl from Mystery Island' with other mentionable tracks including 'Living with the Fungus' and the title track.
Vocally, you get what you would expect from Filths voice, a strong range of guttural shouts, rasping singing and high octave bellows. The range is tested to the maximum in bhangra sounding Mother Kali.
The main issue I have with this album is that almost all of the tracks sound the same, not sure I have ever come across a Horror metal progressive album before, and based on this I'm not sure I would go looking for one. At times it was difficult to tell where 1 song had finished and a new one had started.
Many people are calling this Dani Filths new side project or ego boost. Call it what you will, on an individual track basis - it works. This is more down to the accomplished music work than the vocal performance.
With a new Cradle album likely in mid 2015, it would be a shame to see Filth not focussing his efforts on a band that shows some good potential on this first showing, however, if he were to leave the band and be replaced with a different vocalist, the band could still be set for success with the solid base that they currently have. I only hope that the recent departure of guitarist Daniel Finch does not impact on the success of the band in the future.
Stand out track - The Great And Secret Show
Catch Devilment at Hammerfest in March 2015.
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1/20
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