siLLy puPPy
When thinking of one of the most eccentric frontmen in the entire history of rock music, your mind may gravitate towards Alice Cooper or Arthur Brown for their over-the-top stage performances and shock value horror rock appearances. Or perhaps the unhinged insane asylum escape antics of Jim Morrison or GG Allin. The freakishly outsider ethos of Tom Waits or Frank Zappa even? Well, the award may very go to one of the lesser known enigmas to haunt the progressive rock underground, namely Mr Doctor who bedazzled the world with his Italian-Slovenian band DEVIL DOLL. Enigmatic and mysteriously anonymous for decades, Mr Doctor only publicly revealed his legal name as Mario Panciera in 2008. With a penchant for the controversial and excessively theatrical, Mr Doctor’s eccentric behaviors included recording a debut album titled “Mark Of The Beast” in 1987 and only pressing a single copy retained by the good Dr himself which has remained utterly out of reach of his cult-based fanbase ever since.
Named after the 1964 British horror film, Mr Doctor delivered a musical experience every bit as frightening and strangely demented. Add to his unorthodox ways, the good Doctor started two totally different versions of DEVIL DOLL, one based in Venice, Italy and the other in Ljubljana, Slovenia (then Yugoslavia) however after Slovenia was invaded in 1991 the two bands were merged. And that’s not even getting to the music itself which featured Mr Doctor’s wildly articulated experimental vocal style accompanied by a strange mix of symphonic prog, modern classical, folk music, gothic rock, dark cabaret, neoclassical darkwave, heavy metal and a theatrical operatic delivery system more akin to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom Of The Opera” than anything out of the rock paradigm playbook. With an abundance of instrumentation, the effect is bold, pompous and filled to the brim with sounds from guitars, keyboards, violins, bass guitar, drums and even a harp and tuba.
The band DEVIL DOLL released five of its albums from 1989 to 1996 however it has been claimed that many more were recorded and never intended for release thus adding an extra layer of bizarre eccentricity to the mix. With albums that primarily feature album long tracks that take wild rides through various musical genres, DEVIL DOLL emerged as and remains one of the most unique musical forces ever to exist. The first album available to the public, DEVIL DOLL’s debut album, THE GIRL WHO WAS… DEATH itself found an unusual way of being released. Originally pressed into 500 copies, only 150 were handed out during a live performances and then afterwards the remaining 350 LPs were set aflame. Now how’s that for erratic, eccentric and perhaps even a tidbit wildly acentric?
With a musical theme based on the television series “The Prisoner,” THE GIRL WHO WAS… DEATH traversed through an ever-changing musical rotisseries of varying themes and melodies with captivating metaphorical lyrics and of course Mr Doctor’s erratic and oft jarring vocal performances. While the running time displays 66 minutes and 6 seconds, the sole title track is in reality closer to 39 minutes followed by 25 1/2 minutes of silence and then as a hidden closing surprise, a sampling and reinterpretation of the theme song from “The Prisoner” TV series. The title track opens with a dark gloomy piano run and spectral vocalizations from The Devil Chorus and then goes full on dramatic. Histrionic build ups and militant percussive drive revs up the tension with a thundering crescendo of an introduction before Mr Doctor begins his draconian vocal gymnastics that admittedly are an acquired taste.
Sounding something like a mix of King Diamond and Current 93’s David Tibet, Mr Doctor’s vocals are unlike any other and unfortunately a roadblock for many to delve into the world of DEVIL DOLL. Musically the album features alternating mood swings that engage in accompanied piano rolls to fully fueled heavy metal bombast. The most metal leaning of the DEVIL DOLL canon, THE GIRL WHO WAS… DEATH is the loudest, heaviest and delivers the greatest contrasts but even during the metal madness moments Mr Doctor delivers bizarrely processed vocal contributions which is exactly what you would not expect. Lush orchestrations contrast greatly with prog and metal moments and church organs with creepy liturgic harmonies courtesy of the Devil Choir burst in unexpectedly. Violins come and go and well the only thing to expect here is the unexpected.
DEVIL DOLL delivered some of the most demanding genre-bending works of the late 80s and 90s and even at this stage in 2024 remains utterly unique, unapologetically idiosyncratic and timeless in its unorthodox approach to just about everything it unleashes. Despite all these wild rides into the unknown though, the music is melodically accessible and logically composed. Like a classic opera of the ages, Mr Doctor wove a tapestry of intricately designed cadences and motifs fortified by an arsenal of instrumentation and legion of musicians and vocalists to support an overarching theme. While the proclivities to take everything into the world of extremities is rampant from beginning to end, the music is composed in a traditional classical manor while the time signatures and hairpin turns and musical curveballs are more out of the progressive rock paradigm.
No doubt about it. Mr Doctor really is one of the most oddball eccentricities of the rock universe and only a single exposure to any DEVIL DOLL album will easily convince you of that argument. I’ve been a fan of this bizarre musical act after i picked up “Sacrilegium” some years back but all five of the albums are of the finest quality with this debut being no exception. Beautifully designed and deliciously even devilishly executed, THE GIRL WHO WAS… DEATH is a top notch release with a feisty spirit that delivers the most far-reaching expressions of the musical universe where a whole cauldron of influences is pieced together in a wild array of eclecticism that comes off as epic, enigmatic and utterly mind blowing. While whacked out of his mind in so many ways, the good Dr is a mad musical genius unlike any other. Sure the 25 1/2 minutes of silence is ridiculous but hardly a blemish on an otherwise perfect album.