PACIFISTICUFFS

This album was my first encounter with Diablo Swing Orchestra and they made quite an impression on me. I have since gone back and listened to most of their albums (and am now about halfway through purchasing hard copies). I understand that many of this band's fans are upset about Annlouice Loegdlund leaving the group, in my opinion, Kristin Evegard is an improvement. Her lyrics are intense and exciting, and her voice is like Kate Bush with an intense amount of attitude, easily moving from kittenish seduction to venomous vixen and back in a blink of an eye.

Musically, DSO somehow manages to weave countless different musical styles together seamlessly. In "Knucklehugs", they go from a standard rock anthem into a rollicking bluegrass romp, with a cello taking the usual fiddle solo. "Superhero Jagganath" (another song where Evegard excels) blends Nordic metal with Hawaiian sounding passages (some sung in an Elvis-inspired twang). "Jigsaw Hustle" starts with a disco riff, but breaks out into crunchy prog-metal riffs. The only song that comes close to a traditional modern swing orchestra sound is "Karma Bonfire", and guess what, they are fantastic at this as well.

My only complaint, however slight, is that I can't understand many of the lyrics, as some of them are drowned out by the delightfully bombastic instrumentation.

I can't imagine anyone who won't be blown away by this album.

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