DEVILMENT — the British band led by vehement frontman Dani Filth of CRADLE OF FILTH, will release its new album, "II: The Mephisto Waltzes", on November 18 via Nuclear Blast Entertainment.
The first trailer for the CD — in which Filth and DEVILMENT's Lauren Francis talk through the album's concept and artwork — is available below.
Dani had this to say about the follow-up to 2014's "The Great And Secret Show": "Everybody in DEVILMENT is very excited about the prospect of releasing our latest album, 'II: The Mephisto Waltzes', which we have worked extremely hard on.
"The album is definitely a step up from our debut, featuring a more mature, dissonant presence coupled with a darker edge, yet at the same time utilizing our better musical assets to deliver a unique metal hybrid. I don't even know what to classify it!"
Dani's crew has meticulously pieced together a second blood-spattered batch of deranged anthems that brings vastly more color, intensity and lyrical versatility to this band's spectral palate. 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 longtime collaborators Lauren Francis (keys and vocals), Colin Parks (guitar), Nick Johnson (bass) and new drummer Matt Alston, Dani has arrived at the telling moment where DEVILMENT become a genuine force to be reckoned with.
Regarding the album's artwork, Dani revealed: "Winner of many international awards, the artist for the new DEVILMENT album is Elena Vizerskayaaka Kassandra, whose photography and photo-manipulation perfectly complements the mysterious and magical world of DEVILMENT.
"Elena's work is sometimes compared to Dali and Magritte due to the complexity of artistic figures and the perceptible amount of layers, something to be felt and not necessarily understood, exotic dreams filled with reflections and allusion.
"I have been a fan of Elena's work for a long while now and had originally wanted to utilize it for the CRADLE OF FILTH album 'The Manticore And Other Horrors' as far back as 2011, which only fell through when band politics intervened and an in-house label artist was used instead.
"In conjunction with Elena, the booklet was compiled and further augmented with illustration by Dan Goldsworthy, who has also undertaken album artwork for the likes of ACCEPT, HELL, XENTRIX, GLORYHAMMER and SYLOSIS, amongst others. His contribution to the album has provided it with a minimalist dark uniformity, punctuated by slick and classically macabre imagery, the perfect balance to Elena's gorgeously vibrant photography."
"II: The Mephisto Waltzes" was produced, recorded, mixed and mastered at Grindstone Studios by close friend and long-term collaborator Scott Atkins (CRADLE OF FILTH, BEHEMOTH, SYLOSIS, SAVAGE MESSIAH) between March and July of this year.
Dani added: "Scott has worked very closely with the band to share our vision and we are very proud of the finished result, especially the megalithic production values and the hammered-home emphasis on songwriting."
DEVILMENT recently announced an extensive U.K. tour which will commence this December. The run will kick off on December 6 in Colchester, taking the band through eleven U.K. cities — before wrapping up at eminent Southampton venue, the Engine Rooms on December 19.
