You Must Be Certain of the Devil by Diamanda Galás (1988)
#2
In 2025, I was lucky enough to take a deeper dive into Diamanda Galás’ daunting and horrifying discography. Galás is a figure who I have venerated for years without finding her music to be all that accessible, mainly because I love her theatrics, her vocal terrors, and above all, the work that she has done to raise questions about global issues. Upon listening to more of her records, though, I found that there is also a lot to love about her from a purely musical standpoint - and for no record is that more true for me than the final installment of her “Mask of the Red Death” AIDS trilogy: You Must Be Certain of the Devil.
On this record, Galás makes use of her gospel influences to glorious effect - sometimes reminding me of Nick Cave if he was a woman and also, completely insane. The instrumentals are dark and forebearing, and pair the earthiness of gospel with subtle, chilly electronics: I love what the deep, industrial bassline of “Double-Barrel Prayer” does for the track’s dark atmosphere, and the rickety percussion on “Let’s Not Chat About Despair.” Above all, though, I am completely in love with this record’s title track. Not only does it provide a bit of levity from the darkness of the remainder of the album with its sticky vocal melodies (I think it’s Galás’ most catchy song???), but I also think the hooting and hollering in the track’s midsection is incredibly cathartic. In short, I think that for anyone looking to get into Diamanda Galás but feeling daunted, You Must Be Certain of the Devil is a great place to start - especially for enthusiasts of gothic music.