The title should be your first clue that Stockholm?s Diablo Swing Orchestra have a playful side, albeit a creepy one, as the wide-mouthed smiles on the cover of their second full-length, Sing Along Songs for the Damned and Delirious shows. One could look at the Peter Bergting illustration with either joy or horror, maybe a queasiness in the gut similar to that evoked by Angels of Light?s We are Him art, and doubtless that was the Swedish six-piece?s intent.

It?s a relatively simple pitch: Here?s a band that makes death metal swing. I don?t care if you like death metal, or if you like swing, or if you like neither, there?s at least some part of you that?s going to be interested. If someone said to me, ?Hey, there?s a guy who does gangsta rap polka,? I?d check it out regardless of my relative non-fandom for either genre. A novelty, a curiosity — call it what you will, you?re still hooked.

And in a way, that?s the greatest success of Diablo Swing Orchestra: their hook. I came into the record with an already pretty solid conception of what death metal swing might sound like, having garnered same from Devin Townsend?s ?Bad Devil? on 1998?s Infinity solo album. Being a fan of that execution, the idea of Diablo Swing Orchestra had its appeal, and from the first bum-ba-dum drums of opener ?A Tap Dancer?s Dilemma,? I found my expectations well met by the horns, distorted guitars, male/female vocals, upwardly-directed beats and chopped rhythms and changes. I won?t lie, there were moments in listening that had me wanting to dance like John Turturro in Barton Fink.

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