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MISS MACHINE

The Dillinger Escape Plan

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal


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The Dillinger Escape Plan Miss Machine album cover
3.13 | 95 ratings | 13 reviews | 28% 5 stars

Good, but non-essential

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Studio Album, released in 2004

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Panasonic Youth (2:27)
2. Sunshine the Werewolf (4:17)
3. Highway Robbery (3:30)
4. Van Damsel (2:59)
5. Phone Home (4:15)
6. We Are the Storm (4:38)
7. Crutch Field Tongs (0:52)
8. Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants (3:27)
9. Baby's First Coffin (4:02)
10. Unretrofied (5:37)
11. The Perfect Design (3:50)

Total Time 39:54

Line-up / Musicians

- Greg Puciato / vocals
- Benjamin Weinman / guitars
- Brian Benoit / guitar
- Liam Wilson / bass
- Chris Pennie / drums

Releases information

Artwork: Brian Montuori

CD Relapse Records ‎- RR 6587-2 (2004, US)

LP Relapse Records ‎- RR 6587-1 (2004, US)

Digital album

Thanks to Solids2k for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
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Buy THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN Miss Machine Music



THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN Miss Machine ratings distribution


3.13
(95 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(28%)
28%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(29%)
29%
Good, but non-essential (28%)
28%
Collectors/fans only (7%)
7%
Poor. Only for completionists (6%)
6%

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN Miss Machine reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by King of Loss
PROG REVIEWER
1 stars The Dillinger Escape Plan is one of the new wave of new American bands that pioneer in the department of "noisecore" or extremely Heavy Hardcore mixed in with Grindcore influences. Their first album Calculating Infinity showed a lot of light with their experimental measures put at extremely high calibur at an extremely high "volume". To simply put it, their music is immensely heavy and noisy.

This release however, has showed the commercial components of this band. The Dillinger Escape Plan has made in this album with a leap into the likes of Everytime I Die, Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God into the category of "Metalcore". This isn't a very good Metalcore album, even though The Dillinger Escape Plan has made a big choice to streamline their sound and attempt to capture a larger audience into their music. However the result is an awful mix between their older, heavier Grind-Death-Noisecore attack into just simply noisy. Some of the songs on this album are simply trash including the supposed good track of "Panasonic Youth".

Not recommended for fans of ANY genre.

Review by hdfisch
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars Here we have just noisy tech metal with horrible vocals like already on "Calculating Infinity" and the experimental part is very much in the minor. The musician's effort is quite okay and matches at least to some extent what I would recall as math metal. On the other hand I can't give it less than two stars since it's containing as well (to a very small part) some nice sections that would justify to call this an experimental or progressive metal record. But those ones are incredibly well hidden behind all the noise presented here. Definitely it's an album that would be highly admired by any youngster being deeply into aggressive and noisy death metal. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I'm out of that age since a long while!
Review by OpethGuitarist
PROG REVIEWER
1 stars Aggressive and boring.

There are many many critics out there to death/extreme metal. They say it's just mindless, angst filled teens out of touch with reality. I typically laugh at the stubbornness of these individuals. Unfortunately, there's always records like this which are almost of no value to the listener, and help to serve this stereotype (although this is still better than other stuff out there), especially if you are around 40 years old.

It's aggressive, loud, complex, but ultimately it's completely unfulfilling. There's a big difference between this material and Meshuggah's material. The volume is almost always at a max here, there's little in terms of exploration and song development (what we start with we end with), and as others have so aptly put it, it's just noisy. This isn't to say this material isn't complex. It really is some very technical material, but it's ultimately out of touch with anyone who isn't filled with rage. A poor release and genuinely not a band I would look to for direction/guidance within the prog metal genre.

Review by Moatilliatta
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars These guys are brilliant. People are writing them off too quickly because of their sound. Sure, it is heavy, often atonal, and relentless. So why is it that Meshuggah is getting high scores and this group is not? This album has many more recognizable riffs, and even some melodies; the drum work is phenominal; the musicianship is undeniably recondite, etc. Along with Protest the Hero and Between the Buried and Me, these guys are in the upper echelon of Tech-Metal[core]. Listen to "Baby's First Coffin," and explain how it doesn't have at least your appreciation.
Review by Kempokid
COLLABORATOR Prog Metal Team
4 stars After the fiery maelstrom of pure chaos and fury that was Calculating Infinity, The Dillinger Escape Plan calmed down a bit on their second full length album Miss Machine, incorporating a more eclectic range of sounds into their material, with elements of alternative metal and post hardcore being woven through. Despite this, at its core, this is still another wild, mathcore album that simply cannot sit still for even a moment. Overall I genuinely prefer this to Calculating Infinity as well due to the fact that this feels more consistent and focused, without long stretches of time in which nothing of particular interest seems to happen, along with the more eclectic nature of this keeping the album fresh throughout.

One of the first things that immediately became apparent to me upon listening to the album was how much more revolved around clean, catchy hooks, songs like Highway Robbery balancing out fast paced, chaotic madness with a downright infectious chorus, ultimately being more reminiscient of a Mike Patton project than Botch or Converge, bringing in a far more lighthearted tone to the album, despite how heavy it is. With that said, the first 2 tracks of the album excellently shows off the more complex, violent sounding side of the band. Panasonic Youth frenetically switches between blindingly fast instrumentation and a more high pitched, distorted and groovy sound over the course of its 2 minute runtime until the bass becomes the main focus of the song, bringing in a powerful and catchy riff in amongst the screams and manic drumming. Sunshine The Werewolf continues down this path but with far more focus on extremely fast, yet precise shredding over the hardcore guitar chugs of Panasonic Youth, providing a distinctly different feel with an extremely impressive climax. This ends up stripping away all the aggression to create a more sinister tone, as Greg Puciato's screams become progressively more distorted and visceral, ending in an explosion of fury, the impact accentuated by the excellent use of a horn to really grab the listener's attention.

If there's one issue with this album, it's that there can be times where this can go into more generic mathcore territory rather than going all out and all over the place, but this is almost always an issue that's made extremely minor due to the fact that even these songs still carry enough energy and heaviness to work decently, despite being far less memorable. This is made even less problematic when the album will always be able to pick itself back immediately, such as following Van Damsel with the wonderfully odd, electronic tinged alt metal song Phone Home. While the album's lack of focus could definitely be seen as a downside in some respects, this is a rare case where I think the aggressive desire to change things up regularly ends up really adding to the album, like some kind of haphazardly sewn together... thing, not unlike the album art itself, bringing a unique feel to it that works exceptionally well in my eyes. Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants exemplifies this in multiple ways, not only sounding more along the lines of a more violent Faith No More song than a Dillinger Escape Plan one, but also by managing to be an absolute highlight, the vocals seemingly switching between a range of emotions so quickly. The vocals can go from eerie and sinister, to an upbeat, overall happy sounding hook, to furious screams in the space of 5 seconds without causing the song to suffer for it, all tied together with some downright awesome guitar and drum work that's able to consistently shift from melodic to rhythmic focus at the drop of a hat, perfectly adding impact to multiple sections in ways that are incredibly satisfying, making for one of the most entertaining alternative metal songs out there to me.

Despite the fact that this was a very large departure from the style of Calculating Infinity, toning down the chaos and complexity while ramping up the eclecticism, I believe that this was a change that worked exceptionally, leading to an album that, while messier in some regards, particularly in how unfocused it can occasionally feel, also manages to be far more refined in terms of the actual songwriting, the track being extremely distinct and largely high quality. The blending of post hardcore and alternative metal elements into the mix makes this a far more accessible album, without sacrificing a lot the core ferocity and madness that the band had put forth with their previous full length album and EP, leading to an extremely entertaining listening experience overall.

Best tracks: Panasonic Youth, Sunshine the Werewolf, Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants

Weakest tracks: Van Damsel, We Are The Storm

Verdict: While unfocused and messy in some respects, this is an extremely fun mathcore album that fuses some more accessible qualities in order to bring out some of the best of both sounds. While definitely not an album for everyone, if you're into this sort of heavier music and/or are a big fan of Mike Patton's work, this album will likely have something for you.

Latest members reviews

1 stars There's a certain point where music can build up too much of a head of steam and simply become a malformed mess of half baked ideas and botched compositions. This is the fate of Dillinger Escape Plan's second album, Miss Machine, released in 2004. Myself never a fan of the band, I will admit the ... (read more)

Report this review (#1579132) | Posted by aglasshouse | Wednesday, June 15, 2016 | Review Permanlink

2 stars "Miss Machine," The Dillinger Escape Plan's pseudo-concept album about stalking, kidnapping, torture, rape and murder occupies an uncomfortable space in the band's discography, and with good reason. Having not yet abandoned the vicious havoc of "Calculating Infinity" but not quite moved into t ... (read more)

Report this review (#552057) | Posted by 40footwolf | Monday, October 17, 2011 | Review Permanlink

3 stars Ah, The Dillinger Escape Plan, tech metal pioneers with a twist. Even though I am actually a fan of Tech-Metal and consider it to be the most original and creative aspect of metal on this side of the millennium(which perhaps doesn't say much), The Dillinger Escape Plan has never held any real ... (read more)

Report this review (#252475) | Posted by Lezaza | Tuesday, November 24, 2009 | Review Permanlink

5 stars How did this album ever get this low? It's surely not for everyone but it's absolutely a masterpiece if you open your mind and really listen to it. Though songs like Unretrofied etc. mix in a little bit of a poppy tendency which i don't prefer if you're into metal or have an open mind to extremi ... (read more)

Report this review (#168750) | Posted by shentile | Saturday, April 26, 2008 | Review Permanlink

2 stars i had very high hopes for this album, i thought the blend of jazz (which i heard NO jazz sounding material on this album) metal, and tempo changes would be really exciting and interesting. I'm generally a fan of modern heavy metal (not necesarily prog metal either), but i really didn't like thi ... (read more)

Report this review (#142810) | Posted by therevelator | Monday, October 8, 2007 | Review Permanlink

4 stars This album is agressive and intense. Controlled chaos abounds. The band does a good job of balancing agression with occasional hooks. Considering this mix, the songs are well-written. There are a lot of technically complicated sections. But unlike some bands (Ed Gein for instance), the chao ... (read more)

Report this review (#138981) | Posted by jmcdaniel_ee | Tuesday, September 18, 2007 | Review Permanlink

3 stars Miss Machine is a mixed bag for me. New vocalist Greg Puciato is certainly capable of bringing former singer Dimitri's intensity to the table, and can also bring much more as he displays throughout the album. The opening track 'Panasonic Youth' brings us the same frenetic Dillinger we had become ... (read more)

Report this review (#60790) | Posted by Solids2k | Monday, December 19, 2005 | Review Permanlink

5 stars Well if you want to get introduced to DEP,better start with this one!With Miss machine the DEP continue what that they started with their first full length (Grind+Noise+ambient+Prog+Jazz).All songs here are complex,with many changes in riffs ,rythms,and of course with sections of Ambient mixed ... (read more)

Report this review (#43574) | Posted by suachili | Saturday, August 20, 2005 | Review Permanlink

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