Swedish DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA is a gem of an avant-garde metal act who apparently hadn’t been to Finland before – say what? While we had seen them before back in 2007 at Metal Female Voices Fest in Belgium, we have always been mesmerized by their original blend of music, so we obviously had to go see them play something other than “The Butcher’s Ballroom.” The perfect occasion arose with the band performing their set at On The Rocks in Helsinki on October 23rd, 2022.
Arriving a little bit later, they made up for it with an excellent entree in form of a conga line on Dumbo‘s “Pink Elephants on Parade.” They immediately dove into their own music with “Guerilla Laments.” The band played a nicely packed setlist that included different tracks from different albums with an altogether nice flow – no less than 21 songs! Our favorite moment, of course, was “Balrog Boogie,” a song that most of the audience seem to have been waiting for.
There is some sort of an unspoken rule where bands who have never set foot in Finland have to test the waters first by performing in clubs that basically are way too small for them. Unfortunately, this event was one of them, as I don’t think I have ever seen On The Rocks that full. Despite the over-packed venue, there was a lovely atmosphere amongst the audience that the band seemed to enjoy, which makes us sure that this band will return rather sooner than later! Check out our photo gallery below…
