Considering the roots of speed and thrash metal can be traced back to the UK with bands like Venom and Motörhead, it was the American and European acts that enjoyed the most success during the mid-late eighties. The Big Four were selling records by the bucketload, Germany had its very own “Teutonic Trio” (which would itself eventually expand to a foursome), and even Canada and South America were producing top-quality acts.
“The second mouse gets the cheese” is a maxim which pretty much sums up the career of UK Folk Metal innovators Skyclad in a depressingly pithy nutshell. The first band to be labeled with the now commonly used Folk Metal tag, their pagan image, costumes, and use of fiddles seemed to constantly draw nothing but unwarranted mockery from certain quarters.Continue reading
There used to be a time when side projects and “super-groups” were a big no-no in Metal. You had your band, you knew your place, and that’s where you stayed or else. Nowadays of course, you can’t walk down to the shops without another twenty bands trading members and forming new acts in the time it takes to buy a pint of milk and a cucumber sandwich.Continue reading
Ask most people who hate Cradle Of Filth what they sound like, and they’ll get it wrong. The pervasive image of the band amongst younger Metal fans is that of pop-heavy, dance-floor filling Metal-lite, and though they must take some of the blame for the ubiquity of that image themselves, musically it just doesn’t fit a band who never dropped the solid core of Maiden, German Thrash and blast-beats that defined their sound. No, for all their leather man-skirts and guy-liner Cradle do not sound like that – but vocalist Dani’s new side-project most certainly do.
Devilment’s musical language is built on the combination of catchy, groovy riffs and the kind of sinister dance beats that filled 90’s Goth clubs. Song-writing is the absolute key here, and Devilment really have a tight grip on it – discrete, catchy songs with plenty of character, based around sharp hooks and driving riffs. Yes, riffs – catchy songs and Goth-club vibes aside, The Great & Secret Show (Nuclear Blast) is a Metal album, just one that eschews the posturing and macho sincerity of traditional Metal.
Dani’s presence is, of course, likely to be one of the big draws here, and existing fans will find his performance both familiar and surprising. The bi-polar extremes of his older performances are almost entirely absent, with the growled vocals completely excised and the testicle-piercing shrieks he’s infamous for barely present. Instead he dwells almost exclusively in a mid-paced speak-snarl reminiscent of the spoken-word vocals he used in Cradle, but with the portentous melodrama replaced with a knowing grin. Combined with his newly-indulged fondness for puns and joke song-titles (‘Even Your Blood Group Rejects Me’ is either brilliant or the exact opposite), he seems to be reinventing himself as the Goth Martin Walkyier – and doing a surprisingly good job of it.
There is nothing “extreme” about The Great & Secret Show, and little of the blood-and-thunder melodrama that traditional Metal is built around, but if the idea of catchy, groovy Pop Metal with dance sensibilities and a prominent sense of humour appeals, you could do a lot worse.
7.0/10
RICHIE HR