DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA

I ask myself why "The Butcher's Ballroom" is on the top of my most-listened albums. Well, for me, there are many reasons. Since almost October 2008 I've been listening to this album and still can go on with it.

The prominent reason is the prevailing melancholic and dark atmosphere that starts jokingly/violently with "Balrog Boogie" and ends beautifully with "Pink Noise Waltz". Throughout the album I couldn't stop listening. The lyrics, wow, I just cannot believe how they mean to me. They mostly speak of love, failure, seclusion, corruption, bitterness of life and mysterious relationships which usually end in dark corners accompanied with lasting effects in our lives.

Musically, composed and arranged in the best fashion, the album is full of black and bittersweet melodies. Vocal lines are almost extraordinary. Guitar sounds cannot be better than what we hear in the album. At times, Contrabass and modern sounds and effects are two opposing forces that produce a united energy in the album- one takes you to the baroque era and the other brings you back to the 21st century. Diablo Swing Orchestra is really swinging (with Metal, Rock, Jazz, Baroque, Opera, and Folk) and that in one of the bloodiest of places: in a butcher's ballroom. Indeed, words cannot describe this true artistic masterpiece and do justice.

I think this album produces a psychological effect. If you feel lonely, you need to listen to it. If you feel exhausted, you need to listen to it. And 50 minutes is not a tiring journey at all for relieving your anxiety and depression.

This is the third album from this Swedish metal outfit, and the first full album I have heard from the group. I was surprised at how diverse their sound is on this album. What little I've heard from them sounded like a swing-influenced metal band with an opera singer. Granted, that is what they generally sound like but I was surprised, for example, at all the Middle-Eastern influence on this album; I wasn't expecting that. When they drift outside of the metal realm the results can be hit or miss. The lead vocals are a lot of the time done by a female opera singer but also non-operatic male vocals appear as well. The band now has eight members and there are a few guest musicians here as well. Besides your usual metal instrumentation, there is keyboards, wind instruments (mostly brass) and string instruments.

"Voodoo Mon Amour" starts the album with some metal swing (this is what I expected the whole album to sound like). Compared to some of the other songs this is one of my least favourite songs here. "Guerilla Laments" is a highlight. It opens with African style drumming...then goes into mariachi metal(?!). Nice vocal overdub effects. I've had the chorus to this song stuck in my head for days. Some of the drumming sounds Caribbean or Brazilian influenced. "Kevlar Sweethearts" is a symphonic folky ballad for the most part with some horn-laden metal at times. "Black Box" has a type of shuffle beat with fuzz guitar and techno synths. The singing here is at times weird: it sounds altered and in harmony but reminds me of Brian Johnson of AC/DC! One of the better songs, it should have been longer.

"Exit Strategy Of A Wrecking Ball" is a fairly straight-forward metal song with some cool spacey synths. Come to think of it with the male vocals here this almost reminds me of Muse. Just vocals and symphonic strings at times. Some brass shows up later. "Aurora" is basically just straight opera with some Middle-Eastern style music at the end. "Mass Rapture" also has Middle-Eastern influences, even the singing is done in a Middle-Eastern fashion. Nice mix of metal guitars and more spacey synths. "Honey Trap Aftermath" is basically some 1980s style white boy funk. Like "Aurora" I never really liked this song too much. "Of Kali Ma Calibre" is great majestic sounding symphonic metal. Some blastbeats here. Great drumming in general on this track. Just vocals and strings for awhile.

"Justice For Saint Mary" starts out as symphonic folk. A sinister sounding melody on strings later. That melody turns into metal at the end, just before turning into some kind of dubstep (?!). That last song really grew on me. A great sounding album with great performances. The music is diverse with lots of influences. Some songs I like a lot more than some of the other songs, so this isn't very consistent to me. A good album from 2012 anyway. My final verdict would be a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

Third one's a charm

Oh who are we kidding here? So was the first and so was the second, reason for which the Swedes from Diablo Swing Orchestra can safely be tagged as one of the most outstanding bands that came into being in the 00's. As one would probably expect, Pandora's Pinata came with a series of novelties from its two predecessors: firstly, the album sees a change in the group's line-up - drummer Andreas Halvardsson has been replaced by the more technical former Therion drummer, Petter Karlsson (who subsequently left the band in spring 2012), while session trombone player, Daniel Hedin and trumpeter Martin Isaksson, have been dubbed full-time band members. Secondly, unlike The Butcher's Ballroom and Sing Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious, where the group was still giving the impression of a metal band decorated with lavish operatic vocals and exotic dance rhythms, which contributed to their being generically classified as avant-garde metal, on Pandora's Pinata all these adornments are now intrinsic to their cryptic musical ensemble. Furthermore, DSO's dedicated followers will also notice a completely new array of arrangements, especially as far as percussion is concerned, but also for strings and the brass/horns sections. Also, another pleasant surprise is seeing guitarist Daniel Hakansson, whose subtly pretty vocal timbre could make him a perfect candidate for the lead singer of an indie band, take over leading vocals on countless occasions; plus, Andy Johansson's bass is more prominent than before.

Track-wise, the album debuts with the traditional swing rocker, Voodoo Mon Amour, which encapsulates features from both Balrog Boogie and A Tap Dancer's Dilemma; while the lyrics which comprise the two verses of the song are not the group's most fortunate, the unbelievably catchy and upbeat chorus makes up for a superb song finale. Following this, is Guerilla Laments, a veritable stoner samba wannabe, including Annlouice's beautiful vox and delicious horn and wild percussion segments. While Kevlar Sweethearts and How to Organize a Lynch Mob are marked by charming orchestral arrangements lead by classically trained Johannes Bergion's cello, Black Box Messiah comes forth with a fabulous chorus worthy of a J-Rock piece. Next in line is, Exit Strategy of a Wrecking Ball, with its heavy intro courtesy of Daniel and Pontus on electric guitars with a modicum of electronic effects, marks Daniel's first song where he takes full lead on vocals, and what a rendition! ' a menacing chorus delivered in a howling manner. On Aurora, a straight-forward acoustic classical piece, Annlouice Loegdlund makes a daunting display of her operatic vocal abilities, while Daniel provides lead on the oriental flavoured Mass Rapture. This is succeeded by another dance oriented track, Honey Trap Aftermath, which for some reason I find it reminiscent of Michael Jackson's Blood on the Dance Floor. Of Kali Ma Kalibre, an operatic mariachi spiced power metal bit, precedes the album's epic and arguably best track ' Justice for Saint Mary. This splendidly orchestrated song sees Daniel Hakansson taking the full lead of the vocals yet again, but the element of surprise comes towards the end when the electronically distorted instrumental kicks in, finishing the album in a dubstep-ish fashion, which attracted a series of negative criticism, claiming that the band was now sold out. My perception of this is that the group, with their extremely relaxed sense of humour, found an innovative and clever way to not take themselves too seriously... As you do.

Overall, the extensive waiting for this album was well worth it, and the band managed the impossible: combining the traditional DSO sound with cutting-edge components that still maintains a high level of interest in their music. Perhaps the individual tracks are not quite as surprising as some found on The Butcher's Ballroom, and perhaps the album's cohesion is not as compelling as on Sing Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious, but Pandora's Pinata's strong point of view has the potential of turning it into a classic.

4 stars!

Part cartoon, part live action, the steampunk 'Addams Family' meets 'Corpse Bride' film is complete but now needs a sound track. The producers have Trans-Siberia Orchestra, Epica and Madder Mortem lined up to perform the music, which has been written by Devin Townsend. Or they save themselves all that time and expense, and use this album instead.

I was expecting this to be a difficult album to listen to, but it really isn't. It's highly melodic and the quirky bits make sense in the context of the album. Look at the cover art .. if it looks intriguing to your eyes, then I pretty much guarantee you'll love this music. If you don't care for the films or bands I mention in the first paragraph, then save your money.

I'll give this 4 stars for now. If it has legs and doesn't grow stale after a dozen listens, then I'll upgrade to 5 stars. I can't tell if it is the band's novelty or genius that makes me smile like a loon as I listen, but I get the overwhelming urge to strap myself into a pair of ridiculous Goth boots and summon Cthulhu, with the opening chords. Should music be this much fun? Damn straight!

Not many albums out there like this one. This album has an astounding amount of creativity and uniqueness to it. They venture into grounds other metal bands don't dare tread by fusing their music with genres some would never expect to find in metal.

The genres these people incorporate into their metal are swing music, jazz, and circus music to name a few. And they let it be known right off the getgo, with an opening track that sounds like dance music for demons. The compositions on this album each have their own unique charm and are filled with huge amounts of energy and somewhat whimsicality.

And for something so unique and weird, it is very easy to get into as well, especially A Tap Dancer's Dilemma, whom I've shown to multiple non-prog fans who got enjoyment out of it. It is by no means poppy or generic though.

Of course, it's not a perfect album. I feel it lacks a real standout track, as it all just kind of floats along. There is also "Bedlam Sticks", which is quite an annoying song I find, with silly lyrics about cookies and it's the only song I find the vocals grate.

Still, the entire album is guaranteed to be an interesting experience for any first time listeners, and it doesn't take a metalhead to appreciate this one either.

Wow! Operetta with some metal arrangements! Show business is extremely inventive nowadays!

Debut album of this pop-swing-Latin-operetta Swedish band is catchy one! Songs are melodic and very simple,straight forward. But to make it attractive to as much auditory as possible, there are plenty of kitsch elements collected from very different musical directions.

Operatic female vocals over pop songs with some heavier guitars to attract some teen-rebels (did it work?) are quite impressive, but all that we heard on Therion albums. And to be honest, even Tarja Turunen sounded better (when she still tried to save very average Finnish symphonic pop-metal band Nightwish from total disaster). Plenty of acoustic guitar and Latin tunes sound almost fanny, Los Lobos and Tito & Tarantula from Tarantino movies soundtracks are far more authentic.

Swing in combination with teens hairy metal - lets name it avant-metal? OK, but for me it sounds more like nowadays clever rock'n'roll circus. Attraction for people who hates opera,real metal, real jazz, real avant, any real music. But who likes catchy melodies, accessible music and all kitsch in one package.

Must to note though - for such listener this album is well done! It's not cheap kitsch, it's the professional one. And it works - I am not really the one who will like this album, but I must agree this new Army Of Lovers (another Swedish band of similar musical direction) version is more attractive and possibly even will be more popular. One day.

Catchy metal music for metal haters. My rating is 2+,rounded to 3 - for new kitsch (anti)music concept.

Sweden's answer to Alamaailman Vasarat? Or else, Therion gone avant?

The album's formula is quite familiar. With its mix of jazz, operetta, avant-rock, folk with metal guitars it reminds me a lot of Alamaailman Vasarat. Due to the operatic vocals also Therion comes to mind, be it an incarnation of Therion in a Kletzmer-avant mood. As a final reference I have to mention Kaizer's Orchestra, that Norwegian noise-indie-polka-rock band that merges similar influences. Diablo Swing Orchestra is decisively more operatic and heavy metal though.

Just like Alamaailman Vasarat and Therion this sounds like one endless gimmick to me: the mix of styles is fun, but the songwriting is not remarkable enough to keep me engaged for 50 minutes. The poppy verse-chorus singalong songs are simply too average for that. I also don't hear much sincere emotion, intensity or originality in any of this. But it's sure fun for a couple of songs.

A nice album, but if I want challenging heavy-avant-kletzmer-rock I'll listen to the much superior Kaizer's Orchestra, not this operatic poppy-metal variation. 2.5 stars, upped as the album left me in quite a cheerful mood.

As a big fan of both metal and jazz, this band holds a lot of appeal to me. Even their name was enough to inspire my interest: Diablo Swing Orchestra. Sounds like a melding of three wonderful, albeit theoretically incompatible, genres. As is turns out, there is more than just that to DSO.

Right off the bat the opener, "A Tap Dancer's Dilemma", reminds me of a great swing song I played with my school's jazz band this year. The "jungle" beat on the tom lends a very energetic feel to this song, and the energy doesn't let up through to its completion. The vocals on this track, in my opinion, are the best on the album; very intersting and distinct voices are used, to great effect. There are beautiful travelling bass lines for most of the tune, one of my favourite things about swing music. The acoustic fills are tasty beyond belief. Like fried chicken, they are simultaneously greasy and fantastic. The first time I heard the first acoustic section, flowing into the bass groove afterwards, it practically exploded my brain it was so perfect. "A Tap Dancer's Dilemma" is unbelievably catchy, easily the easiest song to listen to on this album.

Next, we have "A Rancid Romance." While I can appreciate the creativity behind it, the latin feel does not seem to meld with the metal influence as seamlessly as with the swing/boogie of track 1. I do, however, love both opera vocals and upright bass. I find that this song gets worthwhile around 1:29 when the bowed bass and toms come in. From there until the end of the bowed bass fill (2:06) is the highpoint of this track. Overall, this tune doesn't maintain my interest as thoroughly as most of the others on Sing Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious. The "break down" does not sound very good to me, and the gentle strings ending is beautiful but feels out of place.

"Lucy Fears the Morning Star" is a song that I didn't fully appreciate on my first listen through, but it has really grown on me. The brass and timpani intro is just wonderful. This great track is very unique, and it excellently exemplifies a tension build/release cycle. The clean guitar and violin fills are all perfectly placed and executed. The percussion and horn section starting from 4:45 changes the feel in a good way. "Lucy Fears..." starts strong and gets better and better to a lucratively thrilling ending. The trumpet and upright duel is simply stunning; bravo!

"Bedlam Sticks" might actually be somewhat scary were it not so inherently silly. A fiendishly delightful romp about a cookie, this is definitely a standout track. And that is one hella-powerful sung note at the end.

Other than the cool delayed guitar intro, and the heavily layered acoustic interlude, "New World Widows" is one of the weaker and less remarkable songs on this album. The vocals don't feel as tight/cohesive with the track as others; feels like a filler track, but that might just be because I don't like it. The ending is uninspired.

"Siberian Love Affairs" is definitely filler, although interesting. It really establishes a mood.

"Vodka Inferno" is another track where the beginning is the weakest part (although by no means is it bad), and it gets better and better as it proceeds. The lyrics seem somewhat cliché'd, but I don't pay much attention to that anyway. The harmonized chorus is lovely, and the breakdown brings some genuinely kick-ass metal riffs, followed by fantastic interplay between the guitar and violin (or is that a viola?). The 'words so tender...' line is gorgeous, with a pretty acoustic strings background and very emotional sounding vocals. Then, there's some polka-style bass later; and, me being a tuba player, there's not much that I like more than polka-bass!

Musically, "Memoirs of a Roadkill" is so wrong, but so, so right. The bass and guitar riff combinations are downright odd, but they definitely grow on you. After the brief vocal "solo", ~1:30, the bass and guitar chord fragment parts that come back in almost sound like a jazzed up version of Primus' "Hamburger Train." The acoustic soloing is very tasteful. A minute long free-form classical guitar solo closes off this track on a very pretty note. This may be my favourite song from this album.

"Ricerca Dell'anima" annoys me right off the bat, with that single-note guitar "solo." Then, the surf riffing cheers me up a bit, then the woman's vocals, which don't seem as strong here as on any of the other songs, annoy me again, and then the rest of the tune does nothing for me. This one is weak overall, but at least the last 20 seconds are cool, with a rippin' fiddle shred.

The closer, "Stratosphere Serenade", grabs my attention right off the start, but gradually loses it. It's a good track but not terribly remarkable, and it lasts a little too long to remain exciting. Also, what kind of an ending for an album is that, a fadeout that lasts almost a minute? Well, it does it's job well enough, and being the only significant fade it stands apart from the endings of other tracks.

I really can't see anyone singing along with these Sing Along Songs, but listening to and enjoying them, certainly. It's almost a shame the album opener is so dizzyingly fine, much of the rest pales slightly in comparison.

Overall, I prefer Sing Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious to Diablo Swing Orchestra's debut The Butcher's Ballroom. One gripe I have about it is that the snare drum has more of a "heavy metal" tone to it, similar to those of Chris Adler and Mike Portnoy, and I would rather hear a looser, jazzier sounding snare like on their debut. It is, however, nice to hear more male singing on this album than the previous, lending more variety to the vocals.

Best tracks: Tap Dancer's Dilemma, Lucy Fears the Morning Star, Bedlam Sticks, Memoirs of a Roadkill

I could do without: New World Widows, Siberian Love Affairs, Ricerca Dell'anima

DSO is a group that has an interesting and "hell" story, a very sound alternative and not easily classified as the proposal is to mix elements from several styles, at least show that no prejudice. The musicians master their instruments with leftovers and this is evidenced by the versatility of them. The bases of the band are always heavy guitars mixing element called skacore (first track) and go sliding through acoustic bass with the tango while violins and metals give the sauce into the mix. Ok, I can not leave out the talent of its lead singer who inspired the musicians at the opera suggests inclusion of pieces of classical music as "Swan Lake". Quote everything that goes into this salad music is complicated, because sin can we at some point and leave aside some style! When you think that there will be repetition of something, then comes a Latin rhythm hand percussion added feature of the same region, involving interpretations verging on a musical. as you listen closely, it seems that they spent time with System of Down, that is evident both in riffs as the vocals again. Well, as we're talking about a band "Heavy" we can not perceive influences from bands "Heavy" with amazing vocals and keyboards. What is worth mentioning in the group and the disk in question is that despite such a mix that make the songs sound the same as being "of the album and how the history of their descendants that generation continues to mesmerize with their songs.

Keeping up the craziness

As far as genre blending and eclectic composing goes, this second endeavor of DSO keeps going in the same direction as its predecessor. The songs are presented in a somewhat more organized manner, as each song is representing a new country of inspiration according to the DVD promo clip released on the 2 disc edition of SASFTD&D. The songs are appointed Russia, Germany, France, Spain and UK as thematic backdrop for their composition. This only comes off clearly in the tracks A Rancid Romance (Spain) and Vodka Inferno (Russia) though. Incidentally, these are also the two strongest tracks on the album. As far as melodies goes this album is a bit harder to get into than their debut, and normally this is a good sign. But when I first got the melodies under my skin I was already bored with them. This might be due to the more typical song structure on this album. It is basically intro-verse-chorus on all the songs. Their debut had a more climactic structure on most of its songs. The before mentioned A Rancid Romance maintain this trend of their debut album, but all over the songs tend to unfold in a more standard manner. The choice of inspirational influences is still one of DSO's strongest and most original features. And it works very well on this album as well. The nice new touch of Russian folk tunes in Vodka Inferno is evidence of development and new thinking even within the DSO universe. Still, I will maintain that a more challenging structure of the songs would make them more interesting. The song do have overall good melodies though, but the female vocals seems to be a bit more toned down on this album. A plus is of course that this let their male vocalist show his talents to a greater degree. His voce suits the music perfectly and adds even more diversity to an already extremely diverse band. An underdog suggestion track vise would be the bluesy Ricerca Dell' Anima and its awesome solo work. Allover this album is also really good, but I would rank their debut one star higher. Just because I am still not bored with that album. Favorite tracks on Sing-Along Songs... are the three previously mentioned by name tracks. A good album, just not as long lasting as The Butchers Ballroom. This second album has perhaps got a more mainstream feel to the composition of the songs, if that can even be used as a descriptive term when it comes to DSO.