| CD REVIEW Diablo Swing Orchestra |
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Band : Diablo Swing Orchestra Well, this Swedish band’s name sure talks to the imagination, doesn’t it? And whether there’s any truth in the nice story that is their biography (most of the band members would be descendents of the original mediaval troupe of musicians which founded the rather original band by that name back in 1501. Original, because etheir music and lyrics were rather thought-provoking among the peasant folks of Sweden of those days, to the point that the band’s members ended up being chased down and executed by the Church and Crown, whom became insecure about their influence – say dominance – on the populace. Read the whole story at diabloswing.com) is completely irrelevant to the fact that it remains a nice story, and an excellent excuse to start a “Medieval” influenced Avant Garde Metal band! The idea behind DSO was founded in 2003, when guitarists Daniel Hakanson (also 2nd lead singer and main songwriter) and Pontus Mantefors discussed the conditions to re-erect this (most possibly totally imaginary) orchestra. Right from the start they came to an understanding that the new DSO would bring a modern version of the “old orchestra”. Next, they drew in Annlouice Loeglund as the lead female singer, having both a very frail angelic and strong Opera-ish voice, provideing a soemwhat bombastic base for the whole thing. As they wanted the new DSO to have a slightly more futuristic sound, they made thankful use of Pontus’ experiences with programming. On bass and drums they recruited Andy Johansson and Andreas Halverdsson, and to attain that extra “medieval” touch, they took in cellist Johannes Bergion. Following a 2003 EP entitled Borderline Hymns, the band released their 2006 full-length debut The Butcher’s Ballroom through Sonic Cathedral, Candlelight picking up the album for a broader distribution in 2007. Due to, or rather thanks to, the band’s somewhat peculiar musical concept, the album received the “Biggest Surprise” award at the 2006 Metal Storm awards! The new album was recorded at Gothenburg’s IF Studios and produced by In Flames producer Roberto Laghi…and apparently not everybody is equally impressed with the outcome. To demonstrate our point we took exceprts from reviews in 2 of the leading music magazines in our area, starting with Holland’s Aardschok, whose journalist apparently heard/ reviewed the debut album as well, and whom talks about high expectations that aren’t met with only the first song bringing that same exhuberant mood that was typical of the debut (the songs that follow found to somewhat bland), the darker and more aggressive mood of the album lessening the band’s obvious qualities, and calling the new album a nice but somewhat disappointing follow-up from a band that can do much better…rating= 77/100. Belgium’s Rock Tribune reviewer is harsher, throws DSO one one heap with all the other Swedish, German, Austrian, Finnish, and Norwegian acts in the genre, tells us he wasn’t really impressed with the debut and goes on to break down the first couple of songs on the album before stating that every following songs has its ingredients which hook into each other the wrong way. He ends his debacle by stating that he can imagine (free translation) that somewhere on this planet one-and-a half man and a horse’s head (very, véry weird expression) might be walking around with a high appreciation for this music…but he’s not to be counted to that select company! Rating= 64/100! Well, forgive me, but I’ve had people overhearing the music while I was listening to it myself in great admiration and awe, and I’m afraid for that guy from Rock Tribune that there’s a lot more open-minded people out here, than he might imagine with his puny mind! True, the best songs are indeed at the beginning of the album, and the fact that they all have horns played (of the not-so-very medieval type, the trumpet!) does a lot to elevate the songs above the others when one is first listening to the album…and the musical influences simply run amok: album opener “A Tapdancer’s Dilemma” sees the song evolving along ‘40s US styles Afro Jazz lines with Annlouice taking on the role of a typical backing singer of that era and Daniel fronting in cabaret-stentor style…the ensuing “A Rancid Romance” not only has a piano opening the track (and being played throughout), and the horns going Mariachi (there’s also a bit of harmonium being played in the song) with Daniel and Annlouice bringing a duet vocal performance (Annlouice with a semi-soprano voice, Daniel with tenor, but again with a humoristic cabaret feel to it!)…”Lucy Fears The Morning Star” is the first song on which the horn actually succeed in bringing a late-medieval mood. It’s also the first song in which the focus is lain on the female soprano as lead vocals (nice vocoder effects halfway too). Passing on to the non-horn songs, the calmer beginning “Bedlam Sticks” (which explodes later on) sees DSO goin’ back to the dual (cabaret) vocal style, adding a third, somewhat blackened (loud) whisper on top. Wacky intro effects on the guitar of the ensuing “New World Widows”…darn, I keep forgetting the cello which continuously comes in the songs, but then this is the song in which it comes through clearly from the get-go! Again a song for female vocals only. Up next is the weird “Vodka Affairs”, which is intro-ed by the short bar room sing-along “Siberian Love Affairs” (only music comes from a harmonium). As the title indicates, that track has vocals done in Russian, and towards the ending of “Vodka Affairs” the dual vocals fall into a couple of sentences done in Russian as well! For the overall calmer “Memoirs Of A Roadkill”, which is acoustic in nature (only acoustic guitar and cello plus stand-up bass), the vocal fronting is turned about 100 degrees towards a sole male singing! Another stylistic surprise comes with “Ricerca Dell’Anima”, opening with a Surf intro then evolving in a cello/heavy guitar basis for Annlouice to sing…and then we find the calm “solo” bits (two separate passages) done by a hobo and clarinet! A truly weird mix of Classics with heavy guitars, and Surf elements! The album closes with the epic lengthed (almost 8 ½ minutes) “Stratosphere Serenade”, which finds Daniel singing in a very normal and clean mode, duetting with a soprano Annlouice. In the final (instrumental) part of the song (which is still about 3 ½ minutes), the lead guitar takes on an echo-laden sensitivity which is somewhat remeniscent of Ozric Tentacles…which I’m sure was certainly not intended that way!(?) So, there we are, and I’ve actually gone through the album song-by-song. I swear to you I had not intended to do so originally. Or, how circumstances and inspirations of the moment can change one’s review of a truly good album! Because this IS a very good album, véry good indeed, in spite of all the expectations and narrow-mindedness some so-called “serious” music journalists may display when listening to it! Always the music freak in the first place, I already went out to the record store on monday to purchase a regular copy of the current album, and see whether I could still get the debut…only to find out I’d forgotten they’d changed their closing day recently…bummer!!! At any rate, Sing Along Songs For The Damned And Delirious will see its placement into my “Best Albums Of 2009” nevertheless, and I strongly advice any lovers of crossover music to go check out DSO’s music at myspace.com/diabloswingorchestra (mainly tracks off the debut, and just the one of the new record). By the way, it appears the debut album is legally downloadable free of charge from Jamendo.com, but I’m still gonna try to get my “hard” copy of the record!!! Ach, and before I forget, the band will be in our neck of the woods in early November…all get out to Beveren’s Blikfest on Nov. 3, and/or to Antwerp’s De Rots the day after! Should be gréééaaat fun! ****damn if I haven’t got to work those nights, bloody hell, or I would indeed set aside all my prejudices about smoke-filled venues and actually go out for a concert again! 98/100 Tony. |