Diablo Swing Orchestra – Pandora’s Piñata

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. The influence of the orchestra was caught the attention of the Church, which started a manhunt after the members of it. The priests even accused them of being everything from devil worshippers to the spawn of Satan. So they got the slogan of The Devil’s Orchestra. Around 1503 the story ends with a massive concert of them in front of thousands of people. After the concert all members were captured, imprisoned and led to the gallows pole with all of their musical scores burned by the church.

And then the 2003 was here to reunite the legend of the music of The Devil’s Orchestra. Of course without any of the original scores DSO are trying to get a modern version of the old orchestra. This is the third album of them and so far they are doing a great job. The swing term is referring to the dancing elements of their music and it is 100 % correct. “Pandora’s Piñata” is another CD to dance to.

The melodies have the leading role just like in their previous albums. Yet in this one we have less metal explodes such as blast beats. Yet they are not absent. The introductory song is a like a playground for any kind of musician. I believe that “Voodoo Mon Amour” is one of their groovier songs ever. With great dancing riffs once again and catchy vocal and lyric patterns. DSO love to play with different musical cultures and they do it in the most productive and inspiring way in every release of them. The perfect example comes next with the Latin trumpet lines in “Guerilla Laments”.

I could let myself keep writing without stopping. Surely I could dedicate a page or more for each song of DSO. Their music is so energetic and regenerating that I often find myself out of words trying to describe this “Devil’s” project.

On one hand we have songs of beautiful melodies and so romantic operatic vocals that even the classic composers would envy. Two songs enchant me in that particular way through listening to “Pandora’s Piñata”; “Aurora” and the small intro song to “Black Box Messiah” that is called “How To Organize A Lynch Mob”. And then on the other hand we listen to their crazy stuff, as I like to call it. The instability of the genius music mind is exemplary on the “Black Box Messiah” with its ridiculous insane vocals.

Of course again we find their sweet melodies on the “Honey Trap Aftermath”. It is indeed like honey dripping on my ears and inside my brain. Before that we take a great dose of power with “Exit Strategy Of A Wrecking Ball” and another one with the eastern influenced rhythm of “Mass Rapture”. The song that follows is one of the orchestration reasons why I adore the music of DSO. “Of Kali Ma Calibre” has everything from operatic melodies to metal outbreaks with the only blast beat of the CD.

The final song “Justice For Saint Mary” is how they declare their insane musical genius. As it starts with an ethereal melody and a classical orchestration and then turns to a strong metal riff just before it transforms with great programming and sampling to an electro finale.

As the legend says Pandora’s box unleashed all evil through the world and keep hope inside. So I hope that the next album would make me rate Diablo Swing Orchestra higher than I did this time.