Artist: DEVILMENT [DANI FILTH/ CRADLE OF FILTH]
Album: II - THE MEPHISTO WALTZES VINYL (2LP BLACK)

Release date: 2016
EAN/UPS: 727361385118
Media type: LP

The Mephisto Waltzes is a cracked and crazed rollercoaster ride!!

Menace hangs in the air. The faint sound of aquatic cackling breaks the silence as sharks circle their prey. Shadows darken and mutate. A blood red sky looms over a melting landscape. The twinkle of demons’ eyes sheds fractured light on a path into the darkness as »The Great And Secret Show« opens its doors for a second time…DEVILMENT have returned and this time the horror is real.

Formed in 2011 in the mystical county of Suffolk, England, DEVILMENT burst into the vexed consciousness of the heavy metal hive mind with their debut demo »Grotescapology« in 2012. Led by the unmistakably grim vocal gymnastics of CRADLE OF FILTH frontman Dani Filth, the band swiftly grabbed the attention of legendary music biz mover and shaker Monte Conner and were duly snapped up by his Nuclear Blast Entertainment imprint. In October 2014, these Albion-dwelling infidels unveiled their debut album, »The Great And Secret Show«: a whirlwind of pitch-black thrash metal riffing, multifarious gothic embellishments and a mean, mischievous streak a mile wide, it provided a telling and irresistible introduction to DEVILMENT’s uniquely perverse, surreal and vicious musical world, wherein werewolves, voodoo temptresses and mutant fungal strains ran riot. Immediately embraced by the malevolent faithful, it was a sturdy and convincing statement of intent that paved the way for the sustained dissemination of its creators’ wildly imaginative and unsettling vision.

“The album did really well!,” remarks Dani. “I don’t think anyone knew what to expect, but the album did well and we ended up with a support slot on the MOTIONLESS IN WHITE and LACUNA COIL European tour, so that got us out there and spreading the word. We didn’t tour further afield, so there’s groundwork to do there and that starts very soon. People have sometimes regarded DEVILMENT as a side-project but it isn’t: it’s another fully functioning band. It’s on an even keel with CRADLE OF FILTH, as we’re on the same label, but it’s an entirely different animal.”

Two years on from the jarring impact of their debut, DEVILMENT are once again primed to unleash fresh terror upon an unsuspecting world. With a refreshed line-up and a renewed sense of momentum, Dani’s crew have meticulously pieced together a second blood-spattered batch of deranged anthems that brings vastly more colour, intensity and lyrical versatility to this band’s spectral palate. Entitled »Devilment 2: The Mephisto Waltzes«, the second DEVILMENT record makes no splintered bones about its nefarious intent, offering a bewildering torrent of disparate and demented ideas and delivering them with refined, ultra-gothic panache and several jolting doses of Dani’s trademark verbal subterfuge. Assisted by long-time collaborators Colin Parks (guitars), Nick Johnson (bass), new drummer Matt Alston and Lauren Francis, Dani has arrived at the telling moment where DEVILMENT become a genuine force to be reckoned with.

“If we just do one album and then stop, everyone will think this was a side-project and it didn’t do very well!,” he laughs. “A second album is important for every band, but if you get past that it becomes obvious that this is the real thing. You’ve just got to get on with it and not wait for ten years! But this second album is much more experimental and more mature. There’s more emphasis on using a lot of different keyboard ideas and using Lauren (keyboardist Lauren Francis) more, but it’s a heavier record too because we didn’t want it to go all poppy!”

»Devilment 2: The Mephisto Waltzes« is a cracked and crazed rollercoaster ride through a twisted universe populated by grotesque monsters, deviant freaks and irresistible, ghoulish heroines. As lyrically vivid as it is musically mesmerizing, it veers from the ornate speed metal attack of 'Life Is What You Keep From The Reaper' and the grandiose stomp of virulent love song 'Hitchcock Blonde' to the schizophrenic punk-metal circus of the epic 'Shine On Sophie Moone' and the razor-sharp melodic thrust of 'Entangled In Our Pride', eerily quick on its scabby heels and barely pausing for breath along the way. Fans of Dani’s work in CRADLE OF FILTH will find plenty to relish here, of course, but DEVILMENT are a wholly distinctive unholy force, with an intuitive understanding of the value of shattering every mirror and stepping through into an alternate dimension where rulebooks smoulder and Hell’s gates are thrown open for an unhinged but celebratory knees-up.

“Yeah, it’s a totally different lyrical world from CRADLE,” 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!”

And there is more darkness to come. »Devilment 2: The Mephisto Waltzes« will slither into the mortal realm as autumn casts its disintegrating shadows. The band will then continue their stated mission of winning over the world’s blackhearted blaggards and students of subversion, hitting the road with a swivel-eyed vengeance and revelling in a fresh opportunity to delight, disturb and brutalise in equal measure. British heavy metal is in safe but bloodstained hands.

2LP (33RPM, 140g):

Side A
01. JudasStein
02. Hitchcock Blonde
03. Under The Thunder

Side B
01. Full Dark, No Stars
02. Shine On Sophie Moone
03. Life Is What You Keep From The Reaper

Side C
01. Dea Della Morte
02. Entangled In Our Pride
03. Hell At My Back

Side D (bonus)
01. The Seductive Poison
02. Father Dali


LINE-UP:

Dani Filth | vocals
Nick Johnson | bass
Colin Parks | lead guitars
Lauren Francis | keyboards & vocals
Matt Alson | drums