THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN

The supposed final album from The Dillinger Escape Plan comes as 2016's 'Dissociation', a record that fits the description of chaotic, mechanical and sprawling, formally and stylistically in line with the rest of the band's work, the aspect that makes this great release special is the subtlety of the production and the even greater attention to detail as the band embrace a few jazz mannerisms and indicate an eventual influence from IDM, playing with electronic sounds on a few of the album tracks. All of this comes at the premise that none of the aggression goes away, since 'Dissociation' serves virtually all elements making TDEP's sound recognizable, especially the technically astute riffing, dynamic tempo shifts and frantic rhythms as well as the unmatched abrasiveness of Greg Puciato's vocals. It almost feels like this album summarized the sound of the band in a glorious way, despite treading on mostly familiar ground.

Some of the techniques utilized here have been heard of before, like the constant and chaotic shifts within the songs, the fragmented and puzzling song structures, the dazzling technicality as well as the seamless transition between episodes of unbridled brutality and magnificent jazz phrasing, precisely displaying the immense set of skills of each instrumentalist here. Following the established formula, the album opens up with a very dynamic piece, this is 'Limerent Death' here, a worthy competitor to 'Prancer' from the band's 2013 release. A couple more interesting variations of these heavy entries follow, some of which are more compelling than others, like 'Symptom of Terminal Illness' or 'Apologies Not Included'. The jazzier influences prevail on 'Low Feels Blvd' and 'Honeysuckle', while the alternative and electronic sounds are left for fascinating tracks like 'FUGUE' and the closing title track. 'Dissociation' is a really solid album that serves a multitude of familiar sounds, all of which are really refined and well-done, which is truly commendable, making this the impressive exit of an otherwise excellent band, even if a somewhat uneasy and demanding listen.

'One of Us Is the Killer' is the near-perfect, exhaustively eclectic and dizzyingly intricate fifth studio album from The Dillinger Escape Plan as the band seemingly goes "further down the rabbit hole" of experimenting within the possibilities of their very own niche sub-genre of metal music and letting their now-dominant alternative and art rock edge to take over the stylistic direction of the music. The result is a daringly artistic rendition of the mathcore beginnings of the collective, now completely converted to a sprawling progressive metal crossover filled with a variety of ambitious compositions, excruciating riffs, hyper-technical rhythms and layers of phenomenal vocals as this album marks one of the best performances of Greg Puciato, who has in any case commented how laborious the recording of the vocal parts for this album has been. It seems like the band had let themselves loose on this one with the programming and the effects, which are used rather craftily, all to the amelioration of the songs.

One might consider all but the final third of 'One of Us Is the Killer' as the perfect symbiosis between the aforementioned elements - the unbound heaviness, the rattling aggression of the genre, and the band's very own (and very progressive) take on it. The more avant-garde nature of the album reveals itself with the opening track 'Prancer', this is a sonic havoc of a song that utilizes very interesting guitar effects following the generally unusual structure of the song. The dense and technical playing continues on 'When I Lost My Bet', while the title track offers a more industrial sound. 'Hero of the Soviet Union' is grim, quirky and deranged, followed by 'Nothing's Funny', a song so catchy and memorable you might mistake for a pop song had it not been for the swiveling heavy guitars. Two more intriguing songs follow, offering different and exciting variations of the DEP formula, followed by an instrumental track with a title in cipher. It is towards the end where the album loses its audacious grip, which does not compromise the overall coherence and integrity of the work, which remains among the best of the respective decade and a high point of the band's discography.

Starting off with a disclaimer for the uninitiated reader, we have to say that no Dillinger Esc Plan album fits the category of "bad" and the authority of a band with a stellar catalogue, a contemporary act that has maintained a persistent quality throughout its entire career remains completely. And with this aspect cleared out, 'Option Paralysis' remains the band's least interesting release - it is more accessible and more predictable than any preceding TDEP album and the few really invigorating moments here are foreshadowed by the vast use of re-hashed ideas that "plague" parts of this album, with Ben Weinman and Co. utilizing tropes that have been seen before and do not fit the progressive musical identity of this band. Largely susceptible to a commercialization of the sound as well as a more prevalent alt-rock direction, this album remains a good offering by modern standards but somewhat of a let-down by Dillinger standards.

The album kicks off on a high note, with the very promising single 'Farewell, Mona Lisa'; this is an energetic, vibrant track that combines the heavy tendencies of earlier efforts and the gloomy art rock approach of 'Ire Works' and 'Miss Machine'. 'Good Neighbor' is one of the shorter, more explosive pieces on here, while 'Gold Teeth on a Bum' manages to induce a radio-friendly chorus into the otherwise dense fabric of the rest of the song. Some shorter tracks follow, reminiscent of past works but never reaching as far, followed by the great 'Widower', a longer and more experimental song with an eerie vibe, once again attempting to take the album in a different direction. The next few tracks are once again way too familiar to be overly exciting, even if certain riffs or vocal melodies sound tremendously good, like the more accessible 'Chinese Whispers' or the spacey 'Parasitic Twins'. The entire album juggles back and forth between wanting to be painstakingly heavy or incrementally "radio-friendly", leaving somewhat of a blurry impression and a sense of incompleteness, meaning that a better balance between these elements has been achieved previously by this band. Still, 'Option Paralysis' remains a fine listen full of engaging moments, memorable hooks and aggressive riffs.

— First review of this album —

'Live Infinity' is an archival live release from The Dillinger Esc Plan, which was recorded in the year 2000, capturing the spirit of the band's live performances from the tour of their 1999 debut album 'Calculating Infinity', making this 2019 Relapse Records release a very interesting fragment of the band's early history with original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis - some might be incrementally compelled to dive into this live album as this creative phase of DEP has somewhat of a cult following and many die-hard fans completely reject subsequent releases with Greg Puciato. But no matter which side of the Dillinger fandom spectrum you find yourself at (if you take a side in the first place), 'Live Infinity' is a delightful offering that captures the destructive energy of the live performances of these underground innovators.

The setlist obviously covers songs from the debut album and the preceding three-track EP from 1998 and puts on display the dissonant, mechanical, and gnarly sounds of Dillinger, so definitive of their early days. At the same time, being a live reproduction of the studio versions of these songs, a lot of the refinement and subtlety achieved in the studio gets lost in the live mixes, all behind the layers of thrashy guitar sounds and grizzly vocals. What is left is the obnoxious delivery and [for many] the appealing blatant aggression that is associated with debut album 'Calculating Infinity'. Still, we have a historical live recording that allows us to understand how fascinating this band has been in its early days of stomping the underground metal scene, offering an unmatched and audacious disturbance to the world of heavy music.

'Irony Is a Dead Scene' is the result of the collaboration between The Dillinger Escape Plan and Mike Patton, offering this 2002 EP as a stop-gap release between the band's first and second studio albums. This one ranks among the best offerings of DEP, with Mike Patton bringing out the avant-garde side of the mathcore band, all while contributing by adding layers of absurdity and surrealism to the otherwise impenetrable heavy music of Dillinger. Preserving their manic and aggressive tendencies, the addition of Patton is rather brilliant as his voice fits the uncanny qualities of the dynamic music in an unimaginably satisfying way.

The sole criticism one might have of this EP is that it is too short with its eighteen minutes of playtime, since this collaboration never grew to produce a full-length album (as the band had already been touring with then-new vocalist Greg Puciato). Nevertheless, this four-track mini-album remains one of the exhaustively crazy and cerebrally experimental pieces of music to have ever come out of this group of musicians - just listen to the blabbering of Patton on opening track 'Hollywood Squares', a song that preserves the intensity of the band's first album, or the ridiculous delivery on 'Pig Latin' as well as the multiple absurd grunting sounds produced by the man handling the vocals. The 6-minute-long 'When Good Dogs Do Bad Things' is the most complex and adventurous piece on this EP, which closes off with a cover of Aphex Twin's 'Come to Daddy', a worthy finale of an otherwise comical and chaotic work of art.

— First review of this album —

'Cursed, Unshaven, and Misbehavin' is an EP/single from The Dillinger Escape Plan comprised of four live recordings from the band's early shows, standing as one of the rare glimpses into the earliest incarnation of the American mathcore giants. Two of the songs on here come from the band's 1999 debut album 'Calculating Infinity', while the other two are from their 1998 EP 'Under the Running Board', all of which had been frequently played throughout Dillinger's early shows. This live recording does capture the violent release of energy that defines each and every performance of this band, but the quality of the recordings is really bad and when this is combined with the generally abrasive, dissonant music that is being recorded, one can really be confused by the final result, which makes it a piece of the band's early history that should be fascinating for die-hard fans but outside of the band's innermost circle of admirers there is little of interest here to the more general enjoyer of extreme music.

'Under the Running Board' is a three-track EP from The Dillinger Escape Plan that runs for about 7:30 minutes and acts as the anticipative released before the band's debut album, part of that first era of aggressive and technical music with the grizzly vocals of Dimitri Minakakis. Stylistically there is not much separating this release from 'Calculating Infinity', since this EP really sets the tone for what is to come with the band's debut album released the following year. The rampant riffs and the explosive tempo changes are on full display but unlike the band's previous EP, 'Under the Running Board' exhibits has a more cohesive nature, it bolsters a better songwriting and an overall better sound, still very dense and unhinged. Later on, these three songs would become staples of the band's infamous live shows, presenting the avant-garde approach of the band to creating dissonant and extremely heavy music.

The Dillinger Escape Plan released their self-titled debut EP in 1997, and this release offers the very first glimpse into the harsh, dissonant and abrasive sound of the American mathcore band, here developing a style that would be refined later on, still reliant much more on shock value as well as intensity and aggression, not necessarily exhibiting that sense of complexity that would go on to render the band's debut album such a highly praised work. The six tracks comprising this EP stylistically offer a range of brutal riffs and dynamic tempo changes as well as a very distorted way of writing, definitely capturing the trials of a young band still searching for their sound. Reissue also include three live tracks from that same early period with vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, whose harsh vocals seem to be really suitable for the destructive nature of the first few DEP releases and sonic ventures.

Cold, aggressive, gripping and destructive, 'Calculating Infinity' is the debut album of American mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan, released in 1999. Now, mathcore is a very abrasive, technical and extreme sub-genre of heavy metal music, popularized in the late 90s due to the success of bands like Dillinger, often mentioned as one of the pioneering acts of the movement. While all of this might be true, this band is much more than just another heavy act as they display a profound taste for the progressive, a desire to experiment and take the genre further, always intertwining the blatant aggression with various influences that are not necessarily associated with mathcore - all of this is this debut album in a nutshell.

With the overhaul of complex arrangement and incredibly energetic and technical playing, there is a very clear direction to this album and an overall sound that is cohesive, concentrated, and entirely violent, making 'Calculating Infinity' one of the most compelling and exciting heavy albums of the decade, allowing a large chunk of avant-garde sounds and techniques to "penetrate" the sonic picture resulting in an intelligently crafted combination of complex time signatures, manic tempo changes, atonality and dissonance. Of course, this remains a tough listen due to the dynamic nature of the music as well as the harshness of the vocals but beneath all that lies a really fascinating experiment and a solid album that indicates one possible future path for heavy music, and certainly one that aligns with the spirit of progressive. Some of the really fine tracks that complement such opinions would be '43% Burnt', a scourging excursion into avant-garde metal territory, 'Jim Fear', which is a straightforward blast, the dramatic and aggressive sound of 'The Running Board' as well as the calculated title track and the more experimental 'Weekend Sex Change'. A lot to unpack with 'Calculating Infinity', a mad, driven, noisy and surreal work of extreme musical brilliance.

The Dillinger Escape Plan went further on with their experimental side with the release of their third studio album 'Ire Works' in 2007, an album that is as menacing as it is gripping and intense. Accomplishing a virtually perfect mixture between the raw, heavy and energetic playing of their earlier releases, and the more complex, eclectic side of their music, the one that could probably be seen as the metalcore rendition of jazz fusion - the mixture of these seemingly incompatible worlds is 'Ire Works', an adventurous and unorthodox heavy album that takes in strong influences from alternative and electronic music.

The album definitely contains some of Dillinger's best material, both in terms of complexity and aggression on the one hand, and stylistic diversity and experimentation, on the other. Playing around with sound design and armed with an impeccable sense of groove, the band also deliver some very memorable choruses in what turns out to be some of their more "commercially acceptable" songs, so to say. These would, of course, be 'Black Bubblegum', 'Milk Lizard', 'Dead As History' and the closing track 'Mouth of Ghosts'. Puciato shines as a great metal vocalist with a very fine range, while Ben Weinmann allows himself to jolt around with a variety of textures and techniques; the album features several shorter tracks that are quite uncommon yet technically impressive and obviously well-constructed in the studio. A great listen all throughout, some of the band's most eclectic material, and all this on an album whose cover uncannily resembles that of 'Dark Side of the Moon'.