DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA: The Butcher's Ballroom

Diablo Swing Orchestra

The Butcher's Ballroom

© 2006 Daniel Håkansson (634479402395)

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Soprano-swing with heavy twist.

tracks

1 Balrog Boogie
2 Heroines
3 Poetic Pitbull Revolutions
4 Ragdoll Physics
5 D'angelo
6 Velvet Embracer
7 Gunpowder Chant
8 Infralove
9 Wedding March For A Bullet
10 Qualms Of Conscience
11 Zodiac Virtues
12 Porcelain Judas
13 Pink Noise Waltz

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notes

The Diablo Swing Orchestra dates back to 1501 in Sweden, where history tells the tale of an orchestra that played like no other. With music so seductive and divine that the ensemble overwhelmed audiences all over the country, and people from all social classes took them to their hearts. Their performances rapidly earned a reputation of being feral and vigorous and gained the orchestra a devoted crowd that followed them around.

During the later half of the 15'th century the criticism against the church dictatorial ruling had intensified. Gifts and tenancies had made the church extremely wealthy, and since the money merely was used to strengthen their power the discontent among the people was growing. To many people the orchestra presented them to a new view upon things and a way to cope with everyday life.

The church witnessed how their influence over the people decreased and began to depict the orchestra as treacherous, saying their intentions were anything but righteous. The orchestras extensive use of the prohibited tritonus interval in their music as well as their excessive lifestyles was facts that were not looked mildly upon. During church services priests slandered the music saying it was an insult to Christ himself. However, when this attempt to reduce the orchestras popularity failed, the church began to use more desperate measures in order to regain its former power. The Devils orchestra became the slogan they used and the members were accused of being everything from devil worshippers to the spawn of Satan. This catchphrase eventually caught on and became the popular name of the orchestra. When even these efforts shown futile the church ultimately framed the orchestra members for a murder and a ruthless manhunt began. The following two years the orchestra lead the lives of outlaws and were forced to perform in barns and outhouses, where only a strictly limited number of people were allowed to attend. Luckily generous people provided them with food and somewhere to sleep.

In order to capture the orchestra the church issued a reward to the person that could provide such information that lead to the capture of the orchestra. The sum was so large that the orchestra, tired and weary of living as fugitives, realised that it all had come to and end. They knew that sooner or later someone would reveal their whereabouts and the decided to go down in style.
But before doing so they all signed a pact saying that their descendants were given the task of reuniting the orchestra in 500 years and continue their work of spreading thought-provoking music. Six envelopes were therefore sealed and given to trustees of the orchestra to pass on to family members.

They announced their final concert publicly as a grandeur finale. Thousands of people showed up and even though it was almost no one who could actually hear the music, the massive sing-along of the crowd granted the performance to be the most talked about in history. Thanks to the huge amount of people the orchestra was allowed to play until their last song when armed guards finally managed to storm the stage and arrest the musicians. They were sent prison and later sentenced to death by hanging.

Stockholm 2003, by mere accident two of the original orchestra descendants meet in a music shop and began to discuss music. It later shows that they both have received a strange letter from some ancient relative containing instructions on how to reunite The Devils Orchestra. They both become very excited and though some genealogy they managed to find all of the remaining successors in a period of three months.

Unfortunate all of the original scores were confiscated and burned by the church back in 1503. So music-wise the new orchestra were left with no directions on what to play. After some meticulous discussions it was agreed upon that the music should be like a modern version of the old orchestra. Annlouice was chosen to front the band, her angelic yet powerful operatic voice was perfect to bring a bombastic feeling to the music. Pontus dance-influences and programming skills came in handy since the orchestra wanted the arrangements to sound a bit more futuristic. He shares guitar duties with Daniel who also is the main composer in the band. Andy brought some groove to the mix adding powerful slapping and funk-oriented bass licks, while Andreas's energetic drumming made sure the songs are driven and pulsating. Together with Andy, he lays the solid swinging foundation of the band. Johannes's theoretical knowledge and stunning technique combined with an emotive cello-playing style made him essential to the bands sound.

Together they answer to the name of Diablo Swing Orchestra and are determined to honour the legacy of their ancestors.

reviews

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  • Cojonudo!
    author: akhkham

    Ya era hora que alguien hiciese algo distinto y ademas bien hecho. Recomendados 100%

  • Great Album, but...
    author: Mario Murguia Cortes

    Well, the album was excellent. I love the way the music is made, soprano voices, distorted guitars, trumpets, cello, everything mixed together, what a great concept! All the songs have a distinct touch, the sound is completely different in each one, so the only thing they got in common is the avant-garde approach and most of the instruments. That said, the album is filled with creativity, you cannot predict how the song is going to end, or what's coming next, and the crescendos are excellent, they just fill you with energy. A must have if you like progressive, experimental , or anything related to that kind of stuff. What I didn't like is that this webpage was supposed to sell the digipack version, and I go the normal one...but it's not that big of a deal, it's just that I rather have the other one.

  • No disapointments
    author: Dominique

    No no disappointments at all, the tree first songs where already familiarly for me I promised a year ago that I would buy this one but yeah what can I say. It's finally done I've got it and what a joy to hear the other songs to, it's a shame I waited so long. Can't ad more then what others already posted before me, it's a jewel with a great mix of genres.

  • Unique!
    author: Oscar Aspuru

    I haven't heard anything like this, is a very unique mix of a genres like metal, jazz, blues, rock, with a deep male voice and astonishing soprano female voice that make this band and its music incomparable with any band I've heard before. You won't regret if you buy it.

  • The T's PA Review...
    author: Teodoro Gomez de la Torre

    It's so unfair when bands like these are virtually unknown. This is a class act. DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA’s music is incredibly original. In their album, “The Butcher’s Ballroom”, they go over a lot of different territories. Metal, avant-garde (though not in the same vein as more extreme bands like Unexpect), symphonic (more in the sense of their choice of instruments than in their choice of structures), jazzy, but always, always unique. The band play a metal style that at times may remind us of bands like THERION (specially in their latest album, “Gothic Kabbalah”) but also of completely different bands like AYREON (some riffs and ideas make me say that). Though metallic, the music never gets extreme or difficult to listen to by the non-metal fan. As the band’s name implies, they can carry a rhythm, as well as a tune, and they do. Imagine the soundtrack for a burlesque, grotesque infernal theater, full of little puppets dressed in red, staging sarcastic, ironic plays that require an insane, almost sickly perverted musical joke for soundtrack. That’s not to say that this music is a joke: the complete opposite is true. This is some really serious art. With room for melody but also for violence. With That is also accomplished with the original orchestration that may be this group’s biggest achievement. Besides the traditional guitar-bass-drums set-up, the DSO adds all kind of keyboards, strings (but not in the common synth-like sense but as individual, single musical units with more than just harmonic/background duties) and winds. As I just mentioned, all of these varied instruments have a reason to be there. Unlike other artists who just add non-traditional colors to their palettes but just as some kind of reinforcement for the typical metal line-up, DSO makes this new voices matter. When you hear a cello, it’s no in the background, but on the forefront, playing a riff or a melody. Another one of “The Butcher’s Ballroom” ‘s great success stories is the leading vocals. Annlouice Loegdlund’s operatic voice steals the show with its warmth (yes, warmth, amidst furious metal riffs) and the heights it is able to reach. There are some growling vocals here and there, but they are almost unnoticeable and completely swallowed by the weight of Loegdlund’s art. This is not your typical “beauty and the beast” band where the female part is just but a shadowing contrast to the prevalent male guttural one. Here, the “beast” side of the equation is almost reduced to zero, while the “beauty” (and it is a beautiful voice) leads the way for more than 90% of the album. The skill of the musicians needs not be questioned. Throughout the whole disc we’re constantly marveled at the quality of the playing, by either the gifted drummer, the precise bass player, the virtuosic string instrumentalists, or the incredibly creative, innovative guitar players. Though the linear notes don’t contain the names of the members of the band, they’re listed here. Without a doubt, one of the most overlooked albums of 2006 (I can’t believe that this album wasn’t even mentioned in best-of lists while experiments in noise got all kinds of recognition). A gem that you should try to discover. These Swedes deserve your time. Recommended for: Every fan of progressive metal. Fans of non-extreme avant-garde metal Fans of experimental/art rock in general. …the Diablo is waiting to dance a swing with you. With the most infernal, seductive of soundtracks.

  • 'tis good
    author: ben

    most songs are really good. gets repetitive after a while though. even though all the songs are pretty unique.

  • Will blow your mind!!
    author: Ponco

    There's nothing around that comes close to the sound produced by this band, you have to listen to it to understand, simply outstanding!!

  • Defies Categorization!
    author: tohostudios

    Don't let the name fool you; only Balrog Boogie smacks of swing. Elsewhere, the band utilizes flamenco, goth and even some electronica fused with simply amazing operatic vocals. This CD is so genre-bending yet each song is memorable. Best CD of 2007!

  • OUTSTANDING, SIMPLY OUTSTANDING!! BRAVO!!
    author: mariano matamoros

    for quite some time you don't get to listen to music that really says: hey, that's different!! DSO it's not just different but deliciously filled with so much texture that blows your mind. I've listened to this cd like four times in a row on the first day, and everytime there's something new, something that pops. Music at its best!!

  • Can't sit still!!!
    author: HERSELF

    This CD is awesome! If this song doesn't get you up to move your bootay.... nothing will. A taste of everything... swing, jazz, progressive, goth, and opera! RAVE DSO!

  • Brilliant!
    author: B.

    Few bands can mix styles to the degree DSO does and still sound good, but DSO pulls it off without breaking a sweat. They have a truly unique and addictive sound. Highly recommended!

  • A new favorite song until the end
    author: Wes

    I'd heard the first 3 songs on the CD before I bought it, but as I listened to the whole CD from start to finish I found I had a new favorite song until the end.

  • Unforgettable, haunting, stirring melodic metal harmonies
    author: SMD

    Imagine offspring of 70's and 80's glam that took the art seriously enough to dispense with the cheese & bad lyrics, and instead substitute class, technical proficiency, and truly operatic vocal treatment. Imagine then, that the infant child is raised daily injections of metalcore, electroshock... Well, this child has grown and earned a college education, and perhaps invented hardcore opera. DSO is unlike anything I've heard before, touching the edges of melodic death, but featuring a valkyrie vocalist. They've definitely pioneered a unique sound that is worth listening to over and over.

  • Mind-boggling good!
    author: Mark W

    Butcher's Ballroom caught me by surprise! It was recommended from a Tristania purchase. I've never heard such an album.....original, tight orchestrations and then boom! something different.......digiridoo or jazz horns. The vocals are incredible! They play like they've been together for 20 years. You simply must listen (and then buy) to this album!

  • A brilliant sound!
    author: Janice Mullen

    My son told me about this and I just had to buy it. I listen to it everyday and can't wait for their next album.

  • very original
    author: Amanda

    Very original! great sound... its nice to hear something new like this every so often. Creepy thing is my dad loves it and he's a Jazz nut :)

  • Really not bad at all
    author: Shawn

    I bought this CD for my daughter to give to her boyfriend on his birthday. Which is a long way of saying I wouldn't have ever heard of this bad except through random chance. As most parents, I always listen to the music my kids do. I am more of a rock oriented person, but this CD was very well done and is immensely listenable. This is definitely an album to give a chance to.

  • What can i say!
    author: Gordon Seth

    Well i've heard some mad music in my time but this is so off the wall.Heavy metal,folk,jazz and even classical all combined(usually in the same track)to awesome effect.It so should not work but is best new album i've heard for ages!

  • Simply amazing
    author: AracneMorgana

    Awesome band, amazing cd, really good lyrics, great artwork, wonderful music... all i could say is little compared with this whole cd. As a friend of mine told me once: once you start listening to the very first notes of it, you can't put it down until it's finished... every song is incredible by itself and as part of the whole work.

  • Perfect and refreshing
    author: Pascal Tremblay

    This album is simply amazing. It opens with Balrog's Boogie which is so unique and so entertaining. I wished that all tracks were like this one, but I got surprised to find tracks more classical, others more progressive. Some guitar works reminded me of Roine Stolt's sound and even the keyboard on one of the tracks reminded me of Tomas Bodin. To combine metal, jazz, progressive and classical music isn't new in these days, but no one ever dit it that way and it is why I highly recommend this album. Thanks and long live Diablo Swing Orchestra.

  • author: Texas Aggie '95

    Musicians on this CD are excellent. I would have given it 5 stars had the amount of opera been cut back just a bit. The instrumentation is tight and the recording quality is nice. I'm a big fan of 'Epic' rock with bands like Hammerfall, Rhapsody, Kamelot and Yngwie Malmsteen and while this band isn't in this category they electrify traditional rhythms. I recommend purchasing this CD and I recommend buying it from CD-Baby; the service and personal touch that CD-Baby adds was extraordinary. Gig 'Em!

  • wow!!!!
    author: kirsty

    i really love balrog boogie, heroines and poetic pitbull revelutions!! i will definetly buy this album!

  • author: Mike Simms

    Heavy, dynamic, dramatic, and catchy. A tasteful fusion of swing, flamenco, classical, opera, and metal. The production quality alone was enough to leave me satisfied. The vocal melodies are powerful and very haunting at times. The guitar tone and arrangement was simply perfect. I agree with the previous review; the first three songs definitely stand out the most. Regardless, it deserves a 5 for sheer badassness. Skit bra! talented folks from Sweden.

  • Shocked 'n' Bewitched
    author: Phlegyas

    There's a webpage listing all female vocals based metal bands. There I came across DSO and visited their website where I downloaded their first 2 songs from. Have to say. For one full hour I was listening to those 2 songs on repeat. An endless loop of Balrog Boogie and Heroines. And then came here on CdBaby and purchased the CD. What can one say? It;s the most perverse, varried, shocking style of playing I've heard in the last few years. It has nothing to do with any of the more known female vox bands (NW or WT or DoS or whatever for that matter). This is genuine, original and fresh. And it takes hold of you from the hair and keeps pulling you face down a harsh slope till the songs are all played and the player is silent. And then you keep asking for more. To be 100% honest, and just so as to justify why I cant offer a 5star rating, I have to say that after the first 3 songs, there's a tendency for more traditional play. Not that there is ANYTHING one could call traditional on that CD but on the other hand, I get the feeling the first 3 songs are the most shocking ones. Well anyways, I just keep waiting now for their second release. Give this band a try. It's well worth it and you'll experience feelings within yourself you never thought you even possessed. The vocals are eerie, the guitars are vibrant, the bass is haunting and everything else, is just purely fierce and penetrating. The result is a fresh look on music and lets hope this band can keep this quality up. Oh, speaking about quality, the digipack is amazingly well made. Unbelieveable for a first release. Well keep it up boyzzz...

  • Eclectic? Not 'arf !
    author: Dick Langford

    An excellent album, full of twists and turns. Just when you think you've got the measure of a song it changes. No bad thing I say. I may give it 5 stars on a couple of more listens but I'm still getting my head around how different it is. Still reckon it's well worth the money.

  • Beautiful and passionate sounds that beseech a vast variation of musical influen
    author: Ornus

    When I first came upon the band Diablo Swing Orchestra, I was introduced to the song “Balrog Boogie” via Sonic Cathedral’s “Siren’s Radio”. Immediately, the riveting, operatic vocals of DSO’ s front woman, Annlouice, caught my attention. I was taken somewhat by surprise when the song finished playing, since the music seemed to be more daring than other femme metal bands out there. I was skeptical though, and ignorantly cast them off as being just another band that was only good for one trick or so and that had an album stuffed with as many raging guitar solos and overused choral effects as Splenda has artificial ingredients. I was soon to find out, however, that to pre-judge this band was utterly stupid of me. When curiosity became irritating enough, though, I finally got myself to listen to the song “Heroines” posted on DSO’s myspace. The song started off with an eerie feel to it…almost like someone had taken the infamous theme song to “Jaws” and seasoned it a bit. Suddenly however, the song burst into what seemed to be a tango-like beat and was followed by the vocals of Annlouice who had been singing in a mellow tone at the time, seemingly teasing the listener with the notion that at any moment she could unleash her vocal power. About a minute or so in, the song began to pick up a bit- and unleash her vocal abilities Annoulice did. The song still seemed to tease a bit though- for the amazing vocalist dotted about every note in between her incredible range and yet still pursued in her mellow tones during certain spots in the song in an impeccable way. Finally, the song ended with its recognizable tango-esque beat and the beautiful overtone of a strong violin. The song was magnificent…and I was hooked. About a week later, I received the DSO CD…and, now, I was expecting to really enjoy its contents. The first song I listened to was entitled “Poetic Pitbull Revolutions” which started off with what reminded me of a Mexican atmosphere and the subtle sound of a Spanish horn of some sort followed by a strong trumpet effect. I was again amazed. The song’s middle consisted of Annlouice and Daniel, the other vocalist of the band, exchanging their wonderful vocals that ran in perfect balance with one another and gave the listener a nice preview as to what was to come. You could almost hear the deep inhales of Annlouice before she went to resonate another passionate and intense verse in the song. It was truly extraordinary. Between the instruments and bombastic feel of the voices, the song surrounds you in cloud of atmospheric sounds that is not of this world and completely propels your mind into another place of unique unfamiliarity and serenity all in the same. The rest of the CD basically follows up to the great potential of the first two songs, and even gives a few slower songs, such as “D’angelo” to ease the listener a bit before launching them back into the world of stunning, intense, and unearthly music that DSO has seemed to create. I promise you that this CD is nothing like you have ever heard…and to even call it femme metal is an offense, in consideration of the fact that this band has birthed something that definitely exceeds the expectations of any other femme metal band out there. I strongly advise anyone to get this CD, for not only is the music wonderfully complex but it is far beyond just another work that shocks the listener in the beginning and then wears after four or five listens. No, this CD never tires- and that is why DSO has to have one of the greatest album of this year, excluded of the fact that they have founded something that is guaranteed to have never touched the ears of any music fan before. Congratulations to them…they’ve done a wonderful job.

  • "SKIN-DEEP MEMORIES OF SIREN LULLABIES..."
    author: Pamela Torres

    Ah, yes, "The Butcher's Ballroom." Where in the world do I begin? For the past couple of years, I have been in a seemingly endless pursuit of talented musicians capable of pushing the melodic and lyrical boundaries, and words just cannot describe how much I worship the work of Sweden's Diablo Swing Orchestra. Just so everybody knows, the DSO are NOT, under ANY circumstances, A SWING BAND. At least, not when compared to the Big Bad Voodoo Daddies or Brian Setzer. Come to think of it, I have absolutely NO IDEA what type of group the DSO is supposed to be. Then again, who cares?!! As stated above, several members of the band are direct descendants of a group of travelling musicians who were persecuted and even executed by the Catholic Church back in the 16th century. With their first LP, the DSO have conjured up a mindfreak mosiac of sound, ravishing and twisting almost every recognizable genre inside-out: big band swing, alternative rock, industrial metal, darkwave techno, and even some tiny hints of flamenco and bistro lounge! Top this with frontman Daniel Hakansson's angst-driven lyrics, Annlouice Logdlund's otherworldly operatic vocals, agitated cello and fiddle strings, crunching guitars, laid back piano keys and the occasional sitar and didjeridoo, and you got a sonic atmosphere that's seductive, chilling, unpredictable, and nothing short of breathtaking. As quoted in one of the song's chorus lines, "Butcher's" will grow on you, "like tender force, brutal love." Indeed, the album's opening track alone will make you dive into a percolating vat of red wine and leave behind the fatal aftertaste of ether. Viciously recommended for the open-minded.

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