Diablo Swing Orchestra Sing Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious
by Justin Gaines
Staff Writer
Every year at the annual ProgPower USA festival, the promoter brings in a “wild card” band that doesn’t necessarily fit the festival’s typical lineup. In 2002 the wild card was Devin Townsend, in 2005 it was Pink Cream 69, and in 2008 it was Mustasch. 2009’s wild card was Swedish avant-garde metal band Diablo Swing Orchestra. If the name brings to mind images of a sinister version of the Brian Setzer Orchestra, you’re not too far off base. Diablo Swing Orchestra is too damned erratic to classify, really, as they bludgeon the lines between metal, swing jazz and even opera.
Like Stolen Babies and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Diablo Swing Orchestra tests just how far off into weirdsville metal fans are willing to go. Sing Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious is the band’s second album, and instead of moderating their sound for potential crossover appeal, they’ve amped up just about everything that makes them so unique. Whether this is a good thing or not depends entirely on your own tolerance for the avant-garde. Despite maintaining a heavy, electric undercurrent throughout, the band is pushing swing jazz horns and keys way more than electric guitars here, so the album moves out of metal territory pretty quickly.
On one hand, you really have to admire Diablo Swing Orchestra’s vision and the fact that they thought to unite such divergent musical styles in the first place. On the other, the band doesn’t make it easy for those who might be hesitant about a jazz/opera/metal project. The song structures are erratic, the horns sound spastic at times, the bass recalls Primus, and the vocals…well, lets just say that some listeners might find the duel male and female lead operatic vocals the sonic equivalent of a screwdriver through the eardrum. Annlouice Wolgers has impressive power, but her range seems limited to shrill and shrieking. Some fans will no doubt find that a refreshing change of pace from the Nightwish/Leaves Eyes vocal style. Others…again: screwdriver meet eardrum.
Sing Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious – much like the band itself – is an album you’re either going to absolutely love or absolutely hate. If you have a high tolerance for the experimental (or downright bizarre), this will be pure ear candy. If you prefer a more traditional approach to metal (or, you know, some resemblance to metal at all), you probably won’t have much tolerance for what Diablo Swing Orchestra is selling. We’ll split the difference with the rating for this album.
Label: Sensory Records
Track Listing:
1. A Tap Dancer’s Dilemma
2. A Rancid Romance
3. Lucy Fears the Morning Star
4. Bedlam Sticks
5. New World Widows
6. Siberian Love Affairs
7. Vodka Inferno
8. Memoirs of a Roadkill
9. Ricerca Dell’anima
10. Stratosphere Serenade
Lineup:
Andreas Halvardsson – Drums
Andy Johansson – Bass
Annlouice Wolgers – Vocals
Daniel Hakansson – Guitar
Johannes Bergion – Cello
Pontus Mantefors – Guitar/Keyboards
Online: www.diabloswing.com
Hardrock Haven Rating: 5/10