The history of Diablo Swing Orchestra:
"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 16'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."
All of that makes for interesting Avant-Garde Metal. A big thank you to Draomere for supplying myself and the rest of the folks over on Gaia with this album!
Enjoy.
The Butcher's Ballroom (2006)
Elvenking are a power/folk metal band. They have a very interesting sound, making heavy use of the violin, the usual occasional acoustic parts and, the high power metal vocals, which at times themselves have a folky aspect, sounding almost Celtic. This is certainly some excellent listening for the power metal fan or anyone willing to try something new.
Borknagar is a unique band, playing epic extreme progressive/black metal. As The BNR Metal Pages says, "The band forgoes the simplistic blastbeats and shrieking typical of the early black metal bands, instead opting for a more majestic black metal sound ("epic metal" as Brun himself has described the style)." Quintessence marks Borknagar's last album with I.C.S. Vortex as vocalist, before he decided that Dimmu Borgir would be his main band, and has very epic m
usic that is aggressive while still retaining the feel of a powerful soundscape that isn't too in your face and remains thoughtful in its own way. With Empiricism Vintersorg joined the line-up as the new vocalist, bringing his own unique touch to the band. Their most recent album (unreleased at the time of this post...) is acoustic, unlike Borknagar's other fare, and is very much a folk (acoustic) metal album.
Cronian is a side project by Vintersorg (the man) and Øystein G. Brun, both of Borknagar. Cronian is extreme progressive metal that sounds almost like Borknagar gone arctic. The music sounds very icy, as was the intent, and has an excellent mood to it. When I bought the CD, it came with a sticker on the front that said "A challenging personal journey of the soul awaits you!" See for yourself. This is a must for any big fan of Borknagar or Vintersorg (both the guy and the band).
