Not enough people are talking about the best 7” to come out of 2020. Not enough people are talking about Devil’s Dildo. The enigmatic Brooklyn-based duo just released their debut album, …Makes Me Cum! in November, and yes, it comes in the form of a satanic black-and-red [7”] dildo (with a removable USB drive containing the tracks). “Let the Devil inside you,” they say. It’s made easy with this iconic piece of paraphernalia.
This band has everything: Black wigs and Soft Skin™ Latex, seedy sex-motel photo shoots (a la Jane Pain Chardiet), their very own OnlyFans page and, most importantly, the sonic rage of a depraved hell previously unknowable to mortal ears.
They call themselves The Twins — that’s Debbie and DeeDee Dildo to you. Mechanized rhythms and furious, distorted bass dominate the six tracks with fiendish vocals piercing and permeating through our souls. A maelstrom of drums and scree on opener “Sedentary” immediately thrusts us out of our mothers’ collective filth and into an existence for which we will never be fully prepared. DeeDee’s voice traverses with ease from ghastly highs to sobering, near admonishing lows, describing our nightmarish rebirth, “You’re kicking, you’re screaming,” while chaos reigns all around.
Alluring drums and Debbie’s dubious melody prod delicately at our flesh on “Joy.” The Twins are toying with us, instilling a tension founded in pop sensibilities and quietude, like a piano wire scraping delicately against our skin with every vocal note held out. And then, suddenly, the mighty garrote digs in. The rhythm hammers punishingly, with images of destruction abound. Skin is removed to show bloodladen muscle, removed to show deathly white bone, and all is feel-bad and devilishly fun again. This is the first of a few times Devil’s Dildo tickles before full penetration.
Feedback and fear carry us into the irresistible delight of “Butcher Baker,” as in “Nightmare Maker.” It’s curious. It’s playful. it’s rather ominous, until it’s full-on uproarious. “Who’s that lurking outside your door?” they ask. I don’t know, but do let Him in. “Rotting” is something of a grower, not a show-er. Its three-note simplicity consumes slowly, starting at our feet and gradually making its way up until we are swallowed whole, eviscerated by fuzz. These days, it feels pretty good to feel nothing.
The album closes at its catchiest and most agreeable. While their subject matter would suggest the unholiest of unholies, “Exorcism” and “Silence” are both beautifully placed reprieves — still intense and mystifying, but enough to leave us wanting more of that Devil’s D. The Twins are our friends, they want to assure us. How can we invite Them inside if there is no trust?
…Makes Me Cum is out now on Muddguts Records.