DEVIL DOLL

Heavy ? Yes, this music is quite heavy. Grotesque dark cabaret ? Yep, checked and confirmed. So what's so good about this music that some are excited enough to give 5 stars and others do not understand and rates with 1 ? Probably the atmosphere. You have to like certain kind of entertainment, certain style that accompanies this. I like old (ancient?) movies, these silent films that may seem funny to some (people in "slow motion", scary monsters that aren't scary to us anymore, when we saw Alien, Scream, I don't know, The Ring for example and other blood flicks like zombie films) and I don't deny that at times, this is just ridiculous for someone from this "age", but let's be honest. I feel the desire to pay them respect. Like youngsters should do to elders. Music is strange, optimistic, nice guitar solos are switching its place with piano backed, spoken voice dominated "songs". Quite a lot instruments, but I mostly hear piano and strings. Some may have problem with getting accustomed (instantly, without time to prepare) to "dead" & "live" passages. Plugged and unplugged working hand to hand, struggling which of them will rule over this dark land. Yes, quite dark it seems.

The questions are: Is this combination good enough to be interesting, be good and even work at all ?

4(-), for the idea that is quite remarkable. Anyway, I like it, even some parts are terrible. Not necessarily spoken ones.

I just lost a couple nights of sleep....

DEVIL DOLL is the scariest band I have ever listened to, ever. And also, probably the most unique band also. DEVIL DOLL is a band that blends classical, metal, opera, art rock, and goth to name a few. Their bandleader, a mysterious man by the name of Mr. Doctor, is perhaps best described as the Slovenian version of Mike Patton. Listening to The Girl Who Was... Death is like listening to a horror opera soundtrack with vocals provided by Gollum.

IN addition to the creepiness, many of the passages do not transition well, and oftentimes the good parts of the song abruptly become more piano passages. Whenever I wasn't freaked out, I was somewhat bored.

I cannot recommend TGWW... D simply because it isn't my cup of tea, but also it is as acquired of a taste as any difficult album can be, what with it's incredible length.

3.8 Stars

If you haven´t heard Devil Doll I recommend you this album. For me this it´s not the masterpiece, but I think it´s the most easy-listenable record from Devil Doll.

The voice or Mr Dr??? is exactly what you see in the previous reviews. It´s like hearing Gollum singing in Rivendell. But that´s exactly what I like. It´s not scary... it´s a little uncomfortable.

The orchestration is excellent... The music excellent... I think this kind of music is very risky, and I appreciate that a lot, not everyone will like this kind of music, but -now that I´m posting in a prog forum- I recommend you to hear this album, if you don´t like it it´s completely understandable, but hearing this just once won´t hurt you.

If you like this album I recommend you The girl who was... Death.

Spend 72 minutes being serenaded by Gollum

You remember Gollum from the "Lord of the Rings" films? That voice, my preciousssss? Well, imagine that voice singing and speaking in enthusiastic narration for over an hour to orchestration and pseudo-metal music. I understand his intent was to sound like that and he has talent but nonetheless it made for a pretty painful experience.

"Dies Irae" is certainly a unique musical experience and I want to begin with the good stuff. This is a beautiful example of musical construction venturing into many different realms and it deserves points for daring and originality. It's a mixture of rock and classical music that unfolds like a theatrical event, with dark themes and lots of spookiness. Many of the highlights for me involved the orchestrations, the strings, and the gothic soprano vocals that come and go. But the unique qualities and the nice pieces of performance cannot come close to saving this from two factors. First, the vocals as mentioned above. The music is almost never allowed to escape the wicked grip of these ludicrous Gollum vocals for the entire length of the album. Now if you are able to embrace these vocals and even enjoy them you may well have an excellent experience. I was not and it took away all of the enjoyment. Second, the music, while well constructed as mentioned, left me under whelmed and unconvinced. To be clearer I was bored silly by "Dies Irae." I respect very much the risks taken in attempting something like this and I'm glad to have heard it but it falls pretty flat. Even in the rock sections the drums and guitars sound pretty vapid and predictable. There is an album that fans of Devil Doll and dark symphonic/metal simply must hear. It attempts similar things as "Dies Irae" but is much more successful, bathing the listening in not only the splendid dark themes but also in gorgeous black melodies and much more fun. That album came out about a decade later and was called "Switch on Dark" by Antonius Rex. It remains one of my favorite discoveries of recent years.

As for Devil Doll I cannot quite call this a good album. The Japanese mini-lp sleeve edition I have is beautiful of course, a luxurious gatefold with glossy paper and cut openings with an insert of artwork. Also comes with a nice lyrics booklet. I would certainly recommend DD fans give it a shot but newbies should consider the vocal element before dropping big bucks on the import as I did.

The Girl who Was... Death is the debut album from Italian/ Slovenian progressive horror rock act Devil Doll. The album was released in 1989. Devil Doll is different from anything I´ve ever heard before even though their music consists of many known elements from various genres.

I hear both goth rock, soundtrack horror movie themes, Classical music, a bit of heavy rock and also Cabaret style pieces. The Girl who was....Death is one long song. The time in my display says 66:06 minutes but there are really only 38:48 minutes of music before about 25 minutes of silence and then about 2:00 minutes of sound again. A very annoying and deceiving way of making an album IMO.

The music is very well composed and I´m entertained all the way through the album. The vocals from Mr. Doctor ( What a lame name) have the right lisping accented Dracula quality to match the lyrical horror theme. I´m actually reminded of Filthy Danny from Cradle of Filth more than once because of the theatrical vocal style ( Mr. Doctor don´t use extreme metal vocals though).

The musicianship is excellent and in addition to guitar, bass, drums and keyboard/ piano we´ re also treated with both violins and harp, and a big choir. This is truly epic music.

The production is good even though the most heavy parts are not that well sounding in my ears.

The music on The Girl who was....Death is truly progressive and epic music, but not really to my taste and I can´t give the album more than 3 stars. I´m a big horror movie fan, but the music just doesn´t create the kind of images in my mind that I think it´s supposed to. This is a good album though and I strongly suggest that you take a listen to see if you´ll be captured by the unique sound of Devil Doll. They certainly deserve the attention.

The second Devil Doll's album is not so stunning as their first masterpice... But it's still a marvellous piece of art!

Maybe the problem is that this album is too similar to The Girl Who Was... Death, so it's not so surprising. It also lacks the incredible quality of the last symphonic Devil Doll's opus, Dies Irae. Nevertheless, this album is special in the Devil Doll's discography... It's divided in two songs! The rest of the Devil Doll's albums are just one track.

This fact gives Eliogabalus some variety... The first song, Mr. Doctor, is a bit heavier than the second, with splendid heavy riffs greatly accompanied by strings and a great drums sound. The last part of this song is brilliant, having a bizarre circus feeeling, and with a really proper ending marked for the accordion played by Mr Doctor himself.

The second song, Eliogabalus, is even darkier, slower and more ambiental... The piano is the dominant instrument in this part, with long instrumental passages, being the Mr. Doctor's voice not so present. This is also a fact wich is different from the first album: the Mr.Doctor's vocals are not so variated, and not so strident as the first band's album... And I miss it. There are people who hate the Mr.Doctor's way of sining, the sprechgesang, but I love it... And I wish in Eliogabalus it would prevail like the other albums, but it doesn't.

Nevertheless, the quality of the album is sublime... And if you've heard other Devil Doll album, and you like it, you'll also love Eliogabalus.

Conclusion: even darker than The Girl Who Was... Death, this two sided album is maybe a bit under it in terms of quality. And maybe it's too similar, despite it has a different structure, a different use of instruments, and Mr. Doctor sings in a bit different way. But the ususal Devil Doll's quality is still here, and so are the catchy melodies, and this irresistible mixture between classical music, horror film soundtrack, gothic and heavy metal. But if you have not heard any Devil Doll album yet, I think that their true masterpiece, Dies Irae, is their best point of entry. But if you choose Eliogabalus, you'll also be happy with your purchase, because this album is excellent.

My rating: ****

One of the most occult bands in the history of progressive rock.DEVIL DOLL's project is dominated by the figure of Mr.Doctor,the main man behind this band.What we meet in their first album is somekind of symphonic rock orchestra with lots of gothic elements and weird vocals...Mr.Doctor doesn't exactly sings,I could say that he whispers,he pronounces words,sometimes he even make strange noises with his voice...Really dark situation...As for the music,''The girl who was...death'' delivers excellent symphonic rock with great violin themes and majestic keyboards,a sound similar to the SAVIOUR MACHINE works...I'm not blown away by this album but this a very unique progressive/dark/occult rock experience and if you have the chance check this out...if you are not afraid of the dark!

The first official Mr. Doctor's release, made after the still unreleased The Mark of the Beast... And his first absolute masterpiece!

In The Girl Who Was... Death you will find all the elements that make the Devil Doll's music so special... The true original way of singing (or speaking) Mr. Doctor has, the marvellous orchestral arrangements (the strings are great, and so are the Eduardo Beato pianos...), the classical music influences, and some heavy riffs mixed with this odd and obscure feeling this music has.

This album (or song...) is structured like a kind of symphony, with a main theme around the whole song is constructed... This is just what a good progressive song should be! But the wealth of the music included here is beyond the frontiers of progressive... Or course you can give this music the name of progressive... But also classical, dark, ambiental, cinematic, gothic... Devil Doll is just the representation of the brilliant and rich mind Mr. Doctor's mind, and it's really difficult to describe it in just a few words.

The style of The Girl Who Was... Death is the typical from Devil Doll. Maybe a bit heavier than the rest of the discography, and less ambiental and not so dramatic like the following Eliogabalus, but with more quality in my opinion. I dare to say that after the incredible Dies Irae, this is the best Devil Doll's efforth... And of course, the sound and the production of the album are brilliant, like every Mr. Doctor's work. Every instrument (and there are manhy of them...) sounds cristal clear, not only the strings and keyboads, but also the strong drums and powerful bass. This album could have been made yesterday, because its timeless style and its marvellous production, wich still sounds really actual, although this album was made almost 20 years ago.

Conclusion: the first Devil Doll's masterpiece... If you are interested in hearing something really different, beyond the frontiers of progressive rock then you should try this album. And if you like the dark sounds, with a lot of classical, old movies and heavy influences, then Devil Doll is your group, and The Girl Who Was... Death is a perfect album to start with them. An unique, genuine and unrepeatable band!

My rating: *****

I developed an interest in this group from listening to the streaming song featured on PA, but of course had quite a difficult time finding a copy of the disc. Eventually I just happened upon it at my local used record store and without a second thought purchased it.

Unfortunately, after a few spins I was not so enthusiastic. On the good side, the lyrics are well written. There are some good orchestral arrangements and some heavier sections which add good contrast and keep it interesting, although they aren't exactly the greatest riffs I've ever heard. On the bad side, this CD definitely places the vocals at the forefront, and they are atrocious (and that's coming from a death metal fan). Mr. Doctor has a voice reminiscent of Dani Filth from Cradle of Filth. The lyrics are well written as I said, but the vocals just wear on me so fast. Maybe if the music were more of a presence. For the most part this disc is ambient background music and Mr. Doctor squealing about something or other. Here and there there are the good arrangements which keep me from hating it, but I certainly wouldn't recommend this to any of my friends.

I consider myself pretty open-minded, but there's something here I just can't get past. Maybe it'll click at some point in the future, as there are bits I quite enjoy, but overall this disc just doesn't do it for me. Somewhere between 2 and 3 stars, leaning toward 2....

In my opinion this last Devil Doll album is thier best. Solid metaphorical lyrics, frigthtening athmospheres, a great orchestral backround and Mr. Doctor in control of his amazing voice. And if you add the superb but short vocal cotribution of Norina Radovan and the grat work of Francesco Carta on piano, the result is the most mature and solid Devil Doll album.

Using as references B horror movies (including little tributes to Bernard Herrmann) and poetical dark lyrics, Dies Irae is an album which starts with a powerful and hard intro that turns into an almost conceptual album full of sudden variations, constant style changes and scary slow piano sections, everything build to emphasize Mr. Doctor gloomy vocals. Full of memorable sentences ("behind every kiss, a potential Judas", for example) the music slides between symphonic prog and hard metal, making a powerful mixture of different styles and emotions.

Amazing album. Totally recommended to any prog fan specially those who really enjoy dark albums with some decadent touches...