“It’s totally Star Wars, isn’t it?” smiles the man known to most as Dani Filth, while a suitably grandiose instrumental blasts out from the speakers facing us.
It’s an apt reference: not only is the ‘motion soundtrack’ version of his new band’s song Even Your Blood Group Rejects Me epic as hell, but the studio we are sitting in (Turan Audio Ltd mastering studio in Oxford) is completely filled with space-themed memorabilia. It’s here that the studio’s owner, Tim Turan – a man who has worked with legendary bands from Rose Tattoo to Emperor – is finishing the mastering of The Great And Secret Show, the debut album from Devilment, with Dani, the band’s producer and ‘seventh member’ Scott Atkins, and the group’s guitarist, sampler and co-founder Daniel Finch, watching.
“I’ve been playing for 20 years,” says Daniel. “I was in band called 13 Candles when I was younger but that finished and I got married, started a family and basically gave up playing. But I missed it and started writing material a few years ago – then I became friends with Dani, played it to him, and it went from there.”
The band have continued moving at a rate of knots since we first revealed the project earlier this year, recording around Dani and Scott’s hectic schedules, crafting their debut full-length and winning a deal with Nuclear Blast Records in the process.
“It’s colourful, it’s groovy and it’s a little bit-off-the-wall,” explains Dani of the album. “There are elements of thrash. It’s guitar-driven but like Cradle it’s got six members and there are female vocals. It’s also catchy with lots of big choruses, and the songs are streamlined. If you compared this to poets, then it’s more Roald Dahl than Byron or Shelley. It’s more contemporary [than Cradle of Filth].”
While Dani admits that he probably is going to find it strange being in a support band again, it’s also obvious that the group has rejuvenated him. And that’s something reflected in Devilment’s often tongue-in-cheek lyrics and a sense of, dare we say it, fun.
“You wouldn’t get a song called Girl From Mystery Island on a Cradle record,” laughs Dani. “There have been times when we had to rethink parts because I thought, ‘Hang about – this is sounding too Cradle!’ I’d say Devilment is a bit more avant-garde… or maybe avant-a-clue!”
_The Great And Secret Show will be released later this year via Nuclear Blast _
