Customer Reviews

Sing-Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved Diablo Swing Orchestra's first release, finding it refreshing, mildly challenging, and a joy to listen to. I eagerly anticipated their next release, and now, here it is!

...Huh.

Well, I'll give them this much: they certainly have not "sold out" to more mainstream tastes in an effort to move records. Nope, this is most assuredly a picture of a band following their own path and staying true to their vision.

This album really amps up the old-time swing and jazz feel, while reducing the metal component to a degree. The horns are much more abundant, while the electric guitar has taken a step into the background.

Probably the biggest change from their previous release is the vocals. The female operatic vocals are still there, but they've changed stylistically. They're much more dramatic and choppy, rather than in the traditional singing style. But her singing hardly registers when compared to the new male voice that DSO now features.

In the previous DSO release, a more hushed and gentle male voice would appear on some of the tracks. This voice is still here on the new release, but it appears very rarely. In its stead, there appears what I can only described as a bombastic carnival barker / circus ringmaster voice. Has a very old-timey eastern European feel about it. Whatever it is, it lends a somewhat hokey note to the songs, making them seem like a bit of a put-on, and I don't like it. There's also a few brief appearances by some growling, screeching, and *hissing* voices. Variety is the spice of life, I suppose.

The compositions themselves remind me overwhelmingly of the soundtrack to a Tim Burton film, the ones where Danny Elfman does the music. In fact, this whole album would go quite well as an accompaniment to some quirky claymation fright fest.

Unfortunately, the only song I really like is the first one, "A Tapdancer's Dilemma." But that one song is almost worth the price of the whole CD. It's just fantastic, sounding like a choice cut from that "Triplets of Belleville" movie from a few years back. That one song - plus the obvious musical talent in the band, and the fine CD cover art - is why I rate the album 3 stars. The rest of the songs... I cannot see myself listening to them repeatedly. They're more like novelties to me.

Overall, this is a decidedly weird, offbeat album. It's not my style, but perhaps you might like it. Whether you do or not, you owe it to yourself to also look into their first release (Butcher's Ballroom), which I feel is a much more listenable outing.

I accidentally stumbled across this album while looking for info on the upcoming release from Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The name interested me, so I picked it up. Long story short...THESE GUYS ARE AWESOME, and unlike ANYTHING you've heard before!

This could best be described as operatic/symphonic metal, all with what sounds like an actual female opera singer on lead vocals. Besides guitar/drums/bass, there is a full complement of classical instruments at play here, giving the album a strong symphonic sound.

I suppose you could compare these guys to Evanescence or Nightwish, but they're really so much more than that comparison would make them out to be. The music is complex, but still fun to listen to.

I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone looking for something different. If you are at all into opera or classical music, you will probably like this, even if you are not into hard rock or heavy music. And if you are into good heavy rock but couldn't care less about opera, you will probably still get into this, because of the phenomenal musicianship.

After checking out this, their second release, I went back a day later and found their debut album and bought that as well, and am equally pleased. I can't believe these guys have been around for a couple years and I have never heard of them!

If you have found Diablo Swing Orchestra, chances are you are already familiar with Apocalyptica, but if not, check them out too. They started out as a cello tribut to Metallica, but their last couple releases have added vocals to some tracks and filled out the band with more traditional instruments. If I had to compare Diablo Swing to anyone, it would probably be Apocalyptica.

And, while its entirely different from Diablo Swing Orchestra or Apocalyptica, I have turned several people on to the new band Dead Coyote, whose debut album "Where the Water Rises" is available here on Amazon. They are a great 2-piece band who have put together an awesome debut album full of 18 KILLER tracks. Check them out!

I recently had a friend steer me towards this band. I was floored when I first heard a song of theirs - never before had I known of opera, swing, and metal being combined into one, but I love it. I prefer this album to their earlier work (Butcher's Ballroom), but both are great in their own ways. Sing-Along Songs feels more geared toward swing, so keep that in mind if you're debating between the two.

I bought the first album after someone posted a link to their website on a forum, and was blown away by it- DSO is energetic, original, experimental and overall just a hell of a lot of fun. Ann-Louice Loegdlund is an established opera performer in her own right, so this is a fun new project for her it seems- and she certainly seems to be enjoying herself. They're a very talented lot, and their music is amazing.

This album is a bit wilder than the last one, with less opera and more mayhem. I can highly recommend it- every time I put it on it frightens the cat and makes the people in the immediate vicinity stare at me with a WTF expression.

I own both of the D.S.O. albums. They are both terrific. Every track of their first album, "The Buther's Ballroom," is unique. So, it's no surprise that the band managed to completely reinvent their already remarkable style with the release of "Singalong Songs for the Damned & Delirius." There is more variety in one D.S.O. song than in entire albums by lesser artists (a category that includes just about everybody). Everything that I loved about the first album returns in spades, including the seamless marriage of dozens of musical styles, blending genre with unparalleled finesse. Even the vocals defy stylistic definition. As before, Wagnerian opera plays a vital role, but there are also moments of pure metal and rock, both soft and hard. Most albums this ambitious ultimately fail, succumbing to postmodern cliches. But D.S.O. succeeds. The sincerity of their artistic impulse means that they have much more to offer than mere rule-breaking. Perhaps this is what people mean by "post-postmodernism." For D.S.O., polystylism is more than irony; it is majesty.

"Swedish avant-garde metal"? That doesn't even begin to explain this strange and wonderful band. Eclectically mixing old school swing, jazz, salsa, pop, and many other toe-tapping genres with heavy metal (even opera) initially sounds ludicrous, but Diablo Swing Orchestra pulls this off better than I could have ever imagined this mixture could be done, and with a more confident sound and better production than their first release. This album is loads of fun: not a single track falls flat, and it will most likely appeal to appeal to a wider audience than the majority of bands limited to the metal classification.

Great DSO album. Not as heavy as the first but its not meant to be. Just listen to what they meant to accomplish. They combine many different genres together and use techniques of playing to really give you an interesting view of music. just listen to the samples, and if you like butcher's ballroom even a little you'll like this one.

This album isn't terrible, and it actually has some quite enjoyable songs, but it's just a big disappointment after their previous album. The Butcher's Ballroom was really a masterpiece. It has wonderful variety and all the music was excellent. This album has a more chaotic, more discordant style and it just isn't as nice to listen to. If you really love Diablo Swing Orchestra, you may want to get this. But if you are looking to discover them for the first time, get The Butcher's Ballroom. It's available for free legal download under a Creative Commons license.

Thank god for You Tube. I was listening to Devin Townsend and reading user comments about one of his songs being so far ahead of it's time (isn't that always the case with Devin though?) and how his fusion of styles, on that particular track, was created years before Diablo Swing Orchestra. I was suddenly intrigued about DSO, so I looked up a song, which then led to another, and another. Before I knew it, my whole weekend was spent absorbing this new sound at extremely loud volumes. I was hooked. Vodka Inferno, Bedlam Sticks, Balrog Boogie, and Heroines were all instant classics in my opinion. While I immediately knew I wanted to buy a DSO album I just wasn't sure where to start. So I compared the two DSO albums and felt a strong preference to this one. The riffing on Vodka Inferno is pretty fierce and I loved the russian anthem feel of the vocals. The chaos on Bedlam Sticks is pure genius. I think so highly of this album, that I have to recommend it to others. I can see this appealing to fans of music like Mr Bungle, Genghis Tron, or any other band/musician that isn't afraid to experiment with their music.

Heavy-metal swing that is well written, polished to perfection, with great production values. What more needs to be said? Just buy it and then get off your butt and go see them live. See you at the show!