THERE'S something in the room. Something inhuman; something monstrous. It leers without eyes, whispers without a voice, and takes hold with shapeless hands. It knows no bounds, cannot be silenced and smiles from the blind spots of the mind.

For as long as she can remember, Janine Shilstone has been haunted – though she has never met her ghost. She feels it as it stalks from the periphery, feeding off the stray horrors that prowl her consciousness. From calm to chaos, unwanted intrusive thoughts take on supreme significance; everything else is discarded.

She describes every day actions being hijacked by virtue of her condition. One moment, she is sitting comfortably, watching TV, driving her car, walking home from work, scrolling through her phone – reading a magazine article – and she feels a bite. An urgency takes hold, and she is compelled to action, under threat of horrific penalty.

Shilstone was diagnosed with thought-action fusion. It is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder that she has been battling since early childhood. However, it wasn't until a couple of years ago – when she and her band VUKOVI were making their second album Fall Better – that she was diagnosed and then finally able to give a name to the phenomenon.

"It nearly broke me," the singer tells The Weekender. "The only thing that really helped was actually singing about, talking about it, and being like: 'F*** you!' to it. That was what I had to do to not let it consume me."

Those who experience thought-action fusion may detail harrowing testimonies. It is characterised by a belief that thinking about a disturbing event makes it more likely to happen. While patients endure varying ordeals, for Shilstone there is a sudden and cruel sense of foreboding.

She says: "Basically, I feel like there's something following me about that determines all the things that happen to me – all the good and the bad. I've had it my whole life, but didn't realise it until recently.

"I've had it since I was about eight years old. My mum kept a diary about me. Now, when I first told her about it not too long ago, she thought it was stupid and rubbish and all that. But she felt really bad, so she went back and looked through this diary and found that I had actually said something about it back then. I mentioned that I felt something was following me around and I couldn't sleep. It was all in the diary.

"I was diagnosed when we were doing our second album. It came to the point where it was the only thing I could write about – I couldn't think about anything else. It was consuming."

"It rears its head. For example, if I'm driving and the traffic light is at green, this thing will say to me: 'If this light changes before you pass it, your whole family is going to die'. Or, if I see a bit of litter on the ground and don't pick it up, this thing says to me that I will pay for that later on. Then, if something does happen, if I get a bit of bad news, or if I drop my phone, then I'll think I'm being punished for something earlier on.

"Honestly, it can get really bad. I could be watching TV and taking a wee drink, this thing will say to me that if I don't swallow your juice before the advert finishes then your mum is going to die tomorrow. Then, my throat closes up and I can't swallow. That's when things are really bad – that's when it's at its worst. It can be so debilitating."

She adds: "When I was diagnosed, the psychiatrist asked what it was – was it a thing, a he, a she, a demon, a ghost? I could never put my finger on it – I just knew it was always there. And then when I would talk to them about it, it would be there in the room with me, and I wouldn't want to say too much about it… just in case.

"It became uncontrollable when something happened in my family – something horrific; something life-changing. That was when it really came to life. I felt like I had always had it under control but that triggered something.

Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser: VUKOVI are preparing future releases for 2021. VUKOVI are preparing future releases for 2021.

"With all the bad things that happen to you in your life, you feel like there is no control. So, I think I've created this thing – in my head – and blamed it for all those horrible things."

The diagnosis was a promising counter-attack. She was beginning to carve out a defence against the 'thing' that had plagued her for years.

It is perhaps a stroke of fortune that Shilstone had a vibrant creative output at her disposal – a healthy distraction she could pour herself into; a forum to help her process. For more than ten years she and bandmate Hamish Reilly have been serving up a flamboyant flavour of acerbic pop-metal that has hooked listeners from all over the world. VUKOVI has tremendous appeal as it makes a farce of tragedy. It is a sound that embraces the terror in an almost 'come and get me' fashion. In her ongoing war with dark thoughts, music is her weaponry.

"If you don't laugh, you'll cry," Shilstone reflects. "That's how I deal with dark situations. If I didn't do that, I think, I'd genuinely go mad.

"I was diagnosed when we were doing our second album. It came to the point where it was the only thing I could write about – I couldn't think about anything else. It was consuming.

"But that was me talking about it in, pretty much, all of our songs on that album. I was of the mind that: 'If I need to live with you; I better learn to get on with you and not let you beat me'.

"It has been so much better since all that, but it does rear its head. I go through stages where it pops back up again. It's all about trying to keep the head above water with it."

"I don't mind bearing my soul," she adds. "When I first spoke about it, I was unsure. I thought that no one is going to care, and they'd be like: 'Awww, poor you'. But it's like exorcising it.

"It's definitely not spoken about enough. But it helps. I'm much-more happy to talk about it now, and I'll just tell people that I have OCD. It's better to open about it and to not bury it or anything. It might help others feel better or encourage others to talk about it. It's not a happy thing to talk about, but life isn't happy most of the time."

The inner conflict of Shilstone's mind is, to an extent at least, echoed in her music. There is chaos, pain and trauma all cloaked in twisted pantomime.

"Our music is not one-dimensional... there is a lot more to it than just the first impressions."

But throughout it all, there is a defiance that makes a mockery of the dark. The negative thoughts could intrude here but they would be simply outgunned.

If Harley Quinn and the Joker could find themselves in a dread-filled dream sequence of a Quentin Tarantino cartoon, based on a Stephen King novel, where they knife-fight the Unikitty from The LEGO Movie, then we might be edging into the realm of VUKOVI.

But it's not a joke. These twisted lullabies are more than they seem.

"I can't be bothered with all these lovey-dovey tunes," Shilstone states "People want to listen to real lyrics about real problems. Music is an escape; you want it to give you some release. I don't see the point of singing about rainbows and happy endings.

"Our music is not one-dimensional; I think people see it for what it is on the surface, but don't look deeper. And that's fine – we don't mind that; people are enjoying it. But there is a lot more to it than just the first impressions."

VUKOVI started out as a four-piece, but the songwriting process had always been led by Shilstone and Reilly.

Most songs start from the ground up with melody forming the foundation before the other more expansive elements are integrated throughout. Shilstone is the skeleton; Reilly is the flesh.

The frontwoman ruminates: "I'll will try send a full song idea – a complete structure, but with just a piano, maybe me kicking the snare and my voice. I focus on getting a really strong melody. I need to get that top line first; for me, that's the most important thing. And then I send it to Hamish so he can f*** it up a bit.

"We're using a lot more synths but we're also stripping it down a lot. Instead, of having so many different parts in one song, we've pulled it back a bit – especially for these newer songs. It's much more raw and will be more about the fat, juicy guitar and bass tones, rather than more synths or intertwining vocal parts. It will be interesting to see the reaction to it."

The newest singles SLO and KILL IT have given their dedicated followers a taste of what they can expect next, with a third single likely to drop before the summer in time for festival shows. Uncertainty reigns over the viability of mass outdoor shows, but the band are still eager to hit the road in 2021. A tour has been discussed with dates around the UK before the end of the year.

Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser: Photo: Samantha GuessPhoto: Samantha Guess

A wave of exasperation erupts from Shilstone as she talks about performing once again. The prospect is both daunting and alluring. VUKOVI last played live in January last year, meaning it could be close to two years between sets.

"I will literally be ill," the singer says. "Just the thought of going on stage again makes me feel ill.

"It's just nerves, I think. I already get nervous; but not having played for so long, makes it worse. You'll wonder whether you've lost your touch. Just thinking about makes me feel like I'm going to have a panic attack.

"But I always get through it and fell absolutely amazing after it. I'm sure adrenaline will kick in after the first riffs, or the first vodka Red Bull."

The outlandish maelstrom that is VUKOVI is only just picking up speed. The band has cultivated a rich following from all corners of the world – Moscow and Chicago being the current primary listening stations on Spotify.

"Sometimes you just come to these crossroads – do I give up or do I just keep fighting? You have to weigh it up; look at what you have to keep fighting for and keep going."

They reach so many as they are a band that throws their arms open to the misfits. They offer a comfort and understanding, and a manual on how to defeat those inner demons. VUKOVI is less a carnival of the damned and more a carnival for the damned. A place where all those who have been outcast and marginalised can feel part of the same cause – a home for the forgotten.

And while the band may be the vanguard for many, it has its own ongoing conflicts to weather.

Fall Better was the opening salvo in Shilstone's OCD battle. A first step, a declaration of war. It was a crucial step for the singer, who had been previously unable to confront her ghost. Until then, it had been winning. Until then, it was pulling the strings. Facing up to the challenge ahead was a monumental chapter for the singer.

KILL IT – released on April 16 – is all about taking back control; taking the fight direct to the thing in the room. To not be scared of it anymore, is the ultimate victory.

A follow-up is in the works and is likely to be released in June this year. Fans are being warned to expect more of the same recalcitrance.

Shilstone continues: "Sometimes you just come to these crossroads – do I give up or do I just keep fighting? You have to weigh it up; look at what you have to keep fighting for and keep going.

"Our next track is going to be pretty, f***ing dark, but then what's new, right? It should be out around June or something and I'm so excited about it.

"It's hard to describe, but it definitely has one of the strongest melodies I have ever come up with and the lyrics are – though they are not finished yet – going to be pretty brutal.

"It's going to sound so ridiculously heavy – I can't wait for everyone to hear it."