While most other darkwave bands of their generation were rushing into cold and melancholic music, Austrian band The Devil & The Universe have been following a different path since 2013, creating disturbing, rhythmic instrumental music where electronics and occasional bursts of distorted guitar follow frenzied percussion, without ever losing their sense of humour, as evidenced by the goat masks worn by the trio. Their goatwave is a difficult concept to pin down: depending on the album, The Devil & The Universe borrows more or less from tribal industrial, batcave theatricality and metal, without ever losing its mysterious and captivating atmospheres. However, the 2022 album GOATopia and its EP GOATopian Landscapes, which are colder in tone, showed a surprising evolution towards electro-industrial. This year, The Devil & The Universe presents an album entitled Occult Pleasures, which seems at odds with this evolution; in any case, we can't wait to see what the goat band has concocted this time.
As expected, Occult Pleasures marks The Devil & The Universe's return to more familiar sounds and structures: cold electronic tones take a back seat, although there is no shortage of synthesiser layers, and we find samples of voices and sounds of all kinds (clinking, breathing, etc.) creating an atmosphere of nocturnal ritual, while the haunting rhythms of the percussion lead the dance in the foreground. The album contains several enjoyable instrumental tracks, particularly Sonic Gnostics, where the combination with electronics is particularly successful. Lovecraft wrote in his short story The Shunned House that the prayers of a man named Paul Roulet were "neither said at the right time nor addressed to the right person": as always, this is the impression we get from The Devil & The Universe!
However, there is more to Occult Pleasures than that. Unlike the 2019 album :Endgame69:, which was in the same vein, The Devil & The Universe decided this time to move away from instrumental music by collaborating with several artists on the vocals – well, yes, of course, have you ever heard a goat sing? The band had already done this a few times in the past, notably collaborating with Sieben on Christmas (yes, yes) 2020, but this time around, no fewer than five of the nine tracks feature guest vocals! The Devil & The Universe has chosen its fastest and heaviest tracks for this, such as the title track with metal accents sung by Alex Svenson of Then Comes Silence, which is very catchy, and the result is even more successful when the trio's music is combined with the voices of darkwave female singers: the duet with Çağla Güleray from Ductape on Shadow Projection and the one with Aux Animaux on Beelzebub Unchained are marvels, at once hypnotic, energetic and bittersweet. And finally, there is the long final track Hadal Ritual with Hungarian artist Zsüd, who has recently been making waves in Central Europe: this time, The Devil & The Universe takes the time to build up its heavy atmosphere before sending us hurtling down the slope into darkness with the singer; it's irresistible!
More than just a return to their usual style, Occult Pleasures is an album on which The Devil & The Universe brings new depth and variety to their mysterious music, having carefully selected the voices to carry it. There is certainly no shortage of occult pleasures on this record!
