IRE WORKS

The Dillinger Escape Plan is treated oh so unjustly on this website. Besides being the premier band in the "math" metalcore catagory, practically reinventing metal and hardcore upon their coming, they are one of the most experimental bands music has to offer. I'm not one who believes that music must be rated highly for it's historical importance alone, but it's something worth noting.

With Ire Works, the band gets really, really experimental. Amongst their traditional manic metal/hardcore/jazz pieces are electronic experiments, Faith No More-esque tunes, and more! From the wild beginning of Vocalist Greg Puciato explores territory touch upon in Miss Machine to a much larger extent; besides the yelling, he proves to be a capable singer, both in a grungy style and a clean one, with a great falsetto. New drummer Gil Sharone fills Chris Pennie's with poise. Ben Weinman, the last founding member left in the group, takes on all of the guitar parts, and also utilizes some keys throughout the record, which add a nice touch. And Liam Wilson's bass work continues to be top-notch.

When listening to The Dillinger Escape Plan for the first time, you may get the feeling that their work is messy and unintelligible. This is not true. A lot of time, thought, and effort was put into calculating these pieces. Everything makes sense once you give it time to digest. The riffs are often dissonant and crazy, but you'll realize that you remember them after listening to the album. The yelled vocals are even memorable. They are just as forceful and rhythmically enforced as Meshuggah's, and there's more of a variety to boot.

The album opens with two wild ones: "Fix Your Face" and "Lurch." For those not adjusted to this group, these songs may not sit well with you until you've listened through the rest and started over, but they are both gems. "Black Bubblegum" moves us into a post-grunge/Faith No More type sound that is the "Unretrofied" of this record - one of the pieces that has an easy to follow structure. "Sick on Sunday" is a fabulous track that starts of as a bizarre montage of electronics and instrumentation before turning into a seriously rocking ditty with a great melody and great attention to detail, adding some cool sound effects to accentuate the key beats. The next set of songs is kind of a series of shot pieces that oscillate between mad soundscapes and classic DEP, of course filled with some nifty patterns and riffs. Try to count along! You can't! It never gets old or predictable! "Milk Lizard" is another piece that is very song-like, with some very interesting vocal work, and again, great fine-detailing is present with the adding of horn swells into the verse, which does have a very subtle swing about it. "Party Smasher," "Dead as History" and "Horse Hunter" don't present anything new to the record, but are all just as great, if not more in some spots. And finally, the closer is an all-time high for the band. "Mouth of Ghosts," going from a lounge-jazz piano atop an ethereal ambience and smooth vocals to a simple yet expansive and very powerful closing proves to be the most expressive and awe-inspiring song the band has ever done.

The Dillinger Escape Plan continue to push the envelope, and not once do they overdo it. None of these songs sound the same, but they all somehow sound like they belong together. Way to go, guys!