SACRILEGIUM

Despite Devil Doll having no bad releases, at least for me, there will definitely be a 'least favorite' amongst the masterful discography that Mr. Doctor has accumulated. For me, this least favorite comes in the form of Sacrilegium, their 1992 record. This is easily the weirdest that Devil Doll has ever gotten. While I consider them to have always been an avant-prog band, Sacrilegium is certainly where they pushed the limits through the gothic prog medium that they mastered.

This is where they return back to their single song epic ideals, with a 40+ minute track that weaves through macabre fusions of dark classical and symphonic prog methods. The suite is very abstract, which I think does make the listening experience a tad confusing, especially coming off from more streamlined pieces of The Girl Who Was...Death and Eliogabalus. This is the big reason why I am not quite as into this one as all the other Devil Doll releases, as even though I do appreciate the more artsy direction that Mr. Doctor is going for here, and with pretty great parts throughout, I kind of wished the layout of the album didn't feel like going through a confusing spiral in tone and structure.

But, don't fret, as this album is still immaculate in a lot of ways. Despite the confusion, the music is still genuinely top notch. There are a lot of moments that remind me of Univers Zéro's Hérésie, as well as some pretty big classical scores like Igor Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps, and Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, creating this dynamic mixture of rock in opposition and more classical in grained roots that I really enjoy.

You cannot forget about the gothic rock too. While that element is certainly more toned down in comparison to previous releases, the genre still flourishes quite well in the more guitar driven parts. Sometimes the album reminds me of some of the weirder practices that groups such as Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and The Cure have practiced, making for quite the detailed experience.

Also, with this being more of a direct rock opera, about a man recounting his rather miserable life in his own coffin, I can talk about how amazing Mr. Doctor is as a voice actor. He most certainly can really make his voice sound like completely different people to the point where sometimes I wonder if he had hired some people for certain characters on this album. He knows how to really explore dread between multiple different persons with his voice alone. It's like hearing interviews between different people based on their experience with death, but sung over by Mr. Doctor himself, doing his impression on them.

While Sacrilegium may not be my all time favorite record that Devil Doll produced, the fact that even my least favorite is still of this high quality proves a lot to the beauty that Mr. Doctor can craft not only for himself, but for his listeners. Another high recommendation from me in this band's catalog. Again, I think this band has NO bad releases.