''Pandora's Piñata'' is the third studio album by Swedish

avant-garde metal Avant-garde metal (also known as avant-metal, experimental metal, and experimental) is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and innovative, avant-garde elements, including non-standard and unconventional soun ...

band

Diablo Swing Orchestra Diablo Swing Orchestra, also shortened DSO, is a Swedish avant-garde metal band formed in 2003. They are known for having an eclectic sound, which fuses swing music with symphonic metal and progressive rock, among other genres. They have release ...

. It was released on May 14, 2012, in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Candlelight Records Candlelight Records is a British record label based in England and founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bassist Lee Barrett, though it has had a division in the United States since January 2001. Candlelight Records specialises in black metal ...

and on May 22, 2012, in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

by Sensory Records. It is the last album with the singer AnnLouice Lögdlund and the only album with Petter Karlsson on drums; he left the band earlier that year, after recording his parts. It is also the first album with the trombonist Daniel Hedin and the trumpeter Martin Isaksson as full-time members, with ''Pandora's Piñata'' being the first album with the band being an

octet Octet may refer to: Music * Octet (music), ensemble consisting of eight instruments or voices, or composition written for such an ensemble ** String octet, a piece of music written for eight string instruments *** Octet (Mendelssohn), 1825 compos ...

. The band's first single, "Voodoo Mon Amour", was released before the album. An official video for "Black Box Messiah" was also released. All songs are credited to Diablo Swing Orchestra.

Reception

''Pandora's Piñata'' was acclaimed by critics. ''Sputnikmusic'' gave the album a "superb" rating of 4.5 out of 5 (same as the two previous albums), calling it "A sprawling tour de force that moves seamlessly between metallic technicality and full-throttle symphonic grandeur". ''Heavy Blog... Is Heavy'' gave ''Pandora's Pinata'' the maximum rating, praising "the variation that this album provides" and stating, "No track sounds the same, because each track shows off a different side of DSO." '' About.com'' called it "Wickedly catchy, breathtakingly original and downright good clean". ''Dangerdog'' wrote, "''Pandora's Pinata'' is immensely creative and devastatingly entertaining," and gave the album a 5 out of 5. On a less positive review, ''Metal Underground'' thought that the band "Continues their off-beat avant-garde metal style, fantastic female vocals, oozes creativity", but criticized the "Lack of prominent male/female vocal interplay, not as heavy or catchy as their last album". The reviewer the album a rating of 3.5 out of 5, writing, "Slightly less compelling than their previous albums, but still a rousing interpretation of avant-garde metal."

Track listing

Personnel

Band members

* Daniel Håkansson –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Annlouice Loegdlund – lead vocals * Pontus Mantefors – vocals, guitar,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, sound effects * Anders Johansson –

Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Johannes Bergion Johannes Bergion is a Swedish cellist, songwriter and backing vocalist, most known for being one of the founding members of avant-garde metal band Diablo Swing Orchestra. He also played cello in various Hellsongs albums, and in the In Flames al ...

–

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

* Daniel Hedin –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

, backing vocals * Martin Isaksson –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, backing vocals * Petter Karlsson –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Session musicians

* Diana Lewtak –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

* Erika Risinger – violin,

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

* Emilia Wareborn – viola * Michael Carlqvist –

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

* Elisabeth Jansson – horns * Wictor Lind –

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...

, percussion * Anna Melander –

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

* Oskar Reuter –

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

* Lucy Rugman –

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

* Ekaterina Skidanova –

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

Production

* Roberto Laghi –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Pontus Mantefors – engineering * Peter Bergting –

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...

* Anders Johansson –

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pandora's Pinata 2012 albums Diablo Swing Orchestra albums Progressive rock albums by Swedish artists Swing revival albums