I don’t read much music press these days, it’s so bloody expensive in this part of the world, so I not only missed Devilment’s debut album from 2014, but also weren’t aware of the background of the band. I also hadn’t read the press release by the time I played this the very first time, and as soon as it started blasting out of the speakers I was immediately reminded of Cradle of Filth with the lead vocals, powering guitars, keyboards and soaring high vocal counterpoints. So, I wasn’t surprised too much to see that this band has been put together by Dani Filth with long-time collaborators Colin Parks (guitars) and Nick Johnson (bass). For this release, they have been joined by drummer Matt Alston and Lauren Francis (keyboards and vocals).
Dani explains. “There’s no real theme to this album as such. The title of the first album just encapsulated what we were doing, that madcap, Alfred Hitchcock vibe. This time everything is bigger, bolder and more distinctive. If you view CRADLE as 19th century literature, then Devilment is more Roald Dahl but with a bit of Sylvia Plath thrown in. There’s a lot of wacky humour too… but it’s pretty fucking dark overall!”. Anything that has Dani involved is always going to be linked to BM, but in very many ways this is much more of a Gothic album, with many different styles. It isn’t always heavy, as the piano introduction to “Full Dark, No Stars” displays, and the clean guitars and duet within this song shows again the strong musical sensibilities and thoughtfulness of Dani, which is often overlooked due to his persona. If I was going to compare this to just one CoF work, then it would probably be ‘Dusk’, but that is unfair to both bands. There is no doubt that CoF fans are going to seek this out, but this is a different beast in many ways, one that broader reach and melody without ever “selling out”. This is well worth discovering.
