THE GIRL WHO WAS ... DEATH

Devil Doll's musical style can be described as a blend of symphonic prog, goth rock, and horror film soundtracks. Though some of Mr Doctor's more pretentious stunts - such as only recording one copy of the band's debut album, The Mark of the Beast, and keeping it for himself, or producing 500 copies of the first run of this album and then burning 350 of them at a concert - might come off as ridiculous attention-seeking, there's no denying that at least on The Girl Who Was Death the man has concocted an intriguing blend of styles which don't obviously go together.

With a concept based around celebrating the classic TV series The Prisoner and a typically eccentric vocal performance by Mr Doctor himself, the album is certainly an acquired taste, and the album is somewhat let down by Mr. Doctor's vocal style, which is more suited to some sort of campy Hammer Horror effort, not the more cerebral affair which The Prisoner was. It's a bit of a chunky listen, and one which doesn't quite maintain a high standard all the way through its running time, but an interesting experiment nonetheless.