The Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra

The album received positive reviews, praising lead singer Kristin Mueller-Heaslip's "fraught, full-throttle operatic vocals", and pianist Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip’s "unique and uncompromised" compositions and arrangements.[4]

Unlike the band's first album, their sophomore record is written as a concept album, revolving around a series of documents produced by the United States’ Office of Legal Council between 2002 and 2005. The text in the lyrics is taken directly from these documents.[10][11] With their release in the spring of 2009, the Torture Memos have provoked some extremely difficult questions about individual and collective responsibility, citizens’ right to know about and influence the actions their government is undertaking "on their behalf", and the moral limits of what defines decent, necessary, or acceptable behavior. These documents, their authors, and the administration that fostered their work have been condemned by the international community, the press, and organizations concerned with human rights for having committed and condoned torture. Currently, the new Obama administration has refused to prosecute anyone involved.