The Dillinger Escape Plan - "Ire Works"

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Mouth of Ghosts (Relapse 2007)

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works / Relapse

There was a palpable sense of excitement when news first spread that The Dillinger Escape Plan had recorded the follow-up to 2004's Miss Machine earlier this year. That album brought out an art in the brutality of their systematic deconstruction of tech-metal that was less obvious on the seminal Calculating Infinity, and seeing what would come next had me intrigued. Though I have come to appreciate their extensive catalog that stretches back to the band's formation in New Jersey around 1997, the question on my mind was the question on everybody else's, too: Where does one of the most ceaselessly creative and reliably intense bands go from here?

What follows is an approximate arc of interest for a mature metal and loud-rock fan.

From Letters to Dave: The Dillinger Escape Plan and My Love of GMail:
"1998: I hear the Under the Running Board single and it makes me go, "huh," and then I keep listening to death metal.
1999: Calculating Infinity is released and I mosh with my steering wheel.
1999: I see the DEP at Fireside, complete with almost no lights on and an onstage firebreather. My friend Jarrett gets someone else's blood all over his shirt. I fear for my well-being.
1999: I see the DEP open for Mr. Bungle at Metro. They give it their all but no one except for me cares.
2000-2001: I do some other stuff
2002: DEP release that EP with Mike Patton singing for them. Mr. Bungle fans go bonkers. I buy the CDEP used.
2004: Miss Machine comes out and I try really hard to like it. I fail.
2007: The DEP only has one original member. Their new drummer looks like he shreds (courtesy of YouTube). I'm willing to give them another chance, but the review is all yours."

Did you see that last bit? The review is all yours. Dave Hofer's excuse is that he has a million other things he needs to listen to. The average fan's excuse is that they don't want to appear too interested in Ire Works, because if they did and it turned out sucking then they would look like a sissy. Nobody likes a sissy, bro. Even The Boy Least Likely To have Enema FX Mingeboxes and Mesa Boogies now.

So let's just say this right out: If you've only heard "Black Bubblegum" or just aren't feeling that stream from their MySpace page, stop what you're doing and listen to this album. Politely speaking, The Dillinger Escape Plan will blow you away on Ire Works precisely because they won't blow you away at all. When you've been to the top, done savored the juice of speed and technical precision, then you've got two options for surprising fans and keeping things interesting for yourself: Make a lot of line-up changes, and incorporate some other influences.

"Fix Your Face" doesn't give it away, but the DEP has done both. Though Ire Works took less time to make than the boundless Miss Machine, the band lost both founding drummer Chris Pennie (to, er, Coheed & Cambria) and longtime guitarist Brian Benoit (to nerve damage) went on indefinite hiatus, leaving Ben Weinman as the only remaining original member. Despite this, ex-Stolen Babies skinbeater Gil Sharone came in to fill the seat, and he's at least as accomplished. The evidence is all over the first two tracks as the band rips through both "Fix Your Face" and "Lurch."

There's been a lot of talk over what the hell is going on with an almost Blood Brothers-esque performance on "Black Bubblegum." This is a pretty unexpected move from a band known for its brutality, but the high-pitched synthesizers and modern rock chorus provide a nice breather between the opening one-two combination and the extreme sound of "Sick on Sunday," the DEP's best impression of one of their imitators (in Genghis Tron) that they've yet recorded. All too briefly, the band shows it can still display the dexterity that made them icons earlier this decade. The electronic passages dominate the song, much like 'Tron's "Arms," but even still, it provides a change of pace from the songs before it. These were the same guys, after all, who covered Aphex Twin. It's not totally out of nowhere.

"When Acting As a Particle" is the first instrumental and though it fits in well with this new DEP vision, it would've been better as an ambient intro for "Nong Eye Gong." Of course, eventually the band decides that these instrumentals aren't better on their own, and though there have been some complaints about "Dead As History" (which features Mastodon's Brent Hinds) and the epic salsa(?)-tinged closer "Mouths of Ghosts" having intros that are way too long, it's this element of the breaks between the extremes that makes the louder portions (such as "82588") so acutely recognized.

Ultimately, that's what's changed here. Instead of giving the listener no time to breathe, The Dillinger Escape Plan are breathing themselves. Content with a discography that has already proven they can be tech-metal when they want to, this group is exploring other options and looking to shed supposed fans who aren't prepared to defend the merits of not going further, of not taking risks, of not trying something different. The reward is that those who may not have been into The Dillinger Escape Plan before can now meet them halfway in a twisted tech-metal playground that continues to burn weakened bridges and focus on the future. Even if the actual music isn't to your taste, the statement ought to be. A fresh step forward is the only way to finding new sounds.