Sing-along songs for the damned and delerious --- Diablo Swing Orchestra --- 2009 (Ascendance)
Ah, mythology! Ain't it great? Certainly serves to provide interesting backstories, histories and tales to support the formation of bands, even if those claims are patently untrue. The Diablo Swing Orchestra claim they are descended from a band who travelled 16th century Sweden, playing orchestral works in flagrant violation of church edicts, and were in the end martyred, but not before playing one final, defiant concert.
The fact that they could even dream up such a story, never mind expect anyone to take it seriously, says a lot about this band and their approach to music. With a style that combines metal, classical and avant-garde influnces, this is their second album of three so far. It opens with “A tap dancer's dilemma”, which is a kind of tarantella beat infused with twenties influences, swing and big band themes with trumpet and guitar meshing well, vocal from mainman Daniel Hakansson sung in a sort of mono style, almost like one of those barkers outside the carnival freak shows, with backing vocals in a very twenties style, and it all rocks along nicely in a very weird but satisfying way, trumpet from Martin Isaksson and trombone from Daniel Hedin setting the scene really well.
You can't but help think of things like “Chicago” and “Boardwalk empire” listening to his, then “A rancid romance” opens on a deep piano roll before guitars and drums crash in, quickly joined by Mariachi-style trumpets from Isaksson; this time the song is set like a tango, with Annlouice Loegdlund taking the main vocal, while Hakansson does his best Nick Cave and there's some very good cello added in too. Great vocal harmonies between the two singers, with Hakansson's guitar cutting through the tune like a cleaver. Loegdlund then goes into a high operatic performance as the song gets faster and more intense, sparring with Hakansson until Johannes Bergion's lovely cello calms everything down, alongside synthesised accordion from Pontus Mantefors as the song winds to its close.
A big heavy fanfare and we're into “Lucy fears the morning star”, a heavier track than either of the first two, with a decent amount of guitar and a much rockier melody, Loegdlund again in operatic voice for the vocal which for the moment at least she takes on her own. There are backing vocals, to be sure, but it's not like the first two tracks, where there were two singers, she and Hakansson. Some very effective picked bass helps the melody along, and there's a somewhat bossa nova trumpet ending, as “Bedlam sticks” hops along in a really mad uptempo bass-driven swing piece that would have Tom Waits crying in appreciation. Hakansson takes the main vocal here, backed up by Loegdlund, and it really rips along at quite an amazing pace.
It all slows down then for “New world widows”, or does it? Started off slow, seemed like a ballad but suddenly the guitar whistled in and the drums kicked up and now we're heading off, not quite at the speed of the previous track, but certainly fast. More diva-style singing from Annlouice and a lot of guitars, very heavy, then “Siberian love affairs” is a short, less than a minute track, almost more an intermission than anything else, with accordion and Russian-style chorus, again very Waitsesque with rolling organ, followed by the breakneck “Vodka inferno”, Annlouice on vocals duetting with Hakansson, their voices perfectly complementing each other, his in the lower vocal register, hers a mezzo-soprano I think. Great work on the cello from Bergion and some more heavy guitar, while “Memoirs of a roadkill” lopes along happily on great upright bass and Spanish guitar, with the vocal taken by Hakansson, then stops for a dramatic strings-laden passage that slows everything down, almost as if in a dream, before it just picks right up again where it had left off and the guitars and handclaps go on; very uptempo, very bright, very listenable.
A beautiful little piece of Spanish guitar then ends the song before “Ricerca dell'anima” rocks everything back up to ten, with Martin Isaksson's trumpet making a welcome return as Annlouice puts in a great performance behind the mike, and we end on the longest track on the album. “Stratosphere serenade” opens with manic violin and punching guitar with heavy drums, the first ninety seconds of its eight and a half minute length taken up by the instrumental introduction, then Hakansson comes in with the vocal, soon joined by Loegdlund as the cello adds its own flavour to the song. There's an excellent, powerful little guitar piece to end the song, and indeed bring the album to a close.
So how do you describe this sort of music? How is it labelled, pigeonholed, if indeed it can be? Wiki has Diablo Swing Orchestra as “avant-garde metal”, and while I certainly see the avant-garde bit, I'm not so sure about this being metal. It's certainly heavy in places, but I would say more rock than metal. And there are so many other influences prevalent here, I think the tag is a little simplistic. To me, this is almost like a bunch of performers from the past got thrown into the twenty-first century and tried to make the same sort of music they had been in their time, while melding it with what they had heard being played here. Neo-classical? No. Operatic metal? No. Art rock? Not really.
In the end, I think there is only one way to describe this music, and this band, and that is Diablo Swing Orchestra.
TRACKLISTING
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. Ricierca dell'anima
10. Stratosphere serenade