mad rhetorik
09-06-2004, 09:35 AM
About two weeks ago I picked up the Dillinger Escape Plan's latest release, <b>Miss Machine</b>. Some members of the music press have described this album as a "kinder, gentler D.E.P." Others have even gone so far to call it a sellout on the level of Metallica's reviled <b>Black Album</b>. Say it ain't so!
Based on this, I took it upon myself to listen and compare <b>Miss Machine</b> with the band's brilliant previous full-length <b>Calculating Infinity</b>. After listening to both about five times back to back (and frying both eardrums and many brain cells in the process), I feel that I can finally give an accurate review.
First off, I'd imagine that the band had a helluva time thinking of ways to top <b>Calculating Infinity</b>. It still stands as the defining "noisecore" document, and nobody within the genre has been able to create anything like it (though Botch, The End, and Converge have come close). After five years <b>Calculating Infinity</b> is still extraordinarily complex and viciously heavy. It boggles my mind to this day that all of the compositions on this album are written down somewhere, and that the band can even replicate these on-a-dime time changes live without fail.
<b>Miss Machine</b> <i>is</i> more melodic. It seems that the reference point they were aiming for on this disc, composition and vocals-wise, was their own one-off EP with Mike Patton <b>Irony Is A Dead Scene</b>. As such, the devastating scorched-earth screams of Dimitri Minanikis (sp?) have been replaced by the multitalented pipes of Greg Pucito. Now, I've never heard of this guy before, but he's <i>amazing</i>. While he does pull off successful imitations of Patton (especially on some of the breakdowns), he mostly does his own thing. This guy can alternately sing a beautiful clean chorus, or scream like he's on the operating table without anesthesia. Wow.
Yep, there's definitely a pronounced Patton influence. One track, "Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants" sounds like a Mr. Bungle (or Faith No More, circa <b>Angel Dust</b>) track if you subtract the incredibly complex instrumental sections. There are other tracks that are a bit uncharacteristic of the old D.E.P., like "Phone Home" and "Unretrofied," which sound a bit like Nine Inch Nails, of all things--processed vocal lines and all (minus the overbearingly self-indulgent angst). "Highway Robbery" is a fairly stock metalcore track, if not for the syncopation and intricate timings. There's one weirdass instrumental titled "Crutch Field Tongs" that I don't enjoy very much (unlike the solid title track and "Weekend Sex Change" of <b>Calculating Infinity</b>). Fortunately it's short.
There's parts that seem to be in 4/4 on occasion, and even catchy choruses for the listener to latch onto (sometimes to the point of being redundant, like on "Unretrofied"). Still, even the most melodic songs on this album have a blitz of odd-timed insanity at some point, so it's still recognizably D.E.P. The opener "Panasonic Youth" and "We Are The Storm" show that they are still able to pull off something mind-boggling complex with ease. While there's no real standout bludgeoning like "4th Grade Dropout," there's nothing unacceptably watered-down or weak here (save the instrumental). It's simply D.E.P. trying new sounds, and largely succeeding. If you like extreme metal, I say dig in. 4.5 out of 5.
Based on this, I took it upon myself to listen and compare <b>Miss Machine</b> with the band's brilliant previous full-length <b>Calculating Infinity</b>. After listening to both about five times back to back (and frying both eardrums and many brain cells in the process), I feel that I can finally give an accurate review.
First off, I'd imagine that the band had a helluva time thinking of ways to top <b>Calculating Infinity</b>. It still stands as the defining "noisecore" document, and nobody within the genre has been able to create anything like it (though Botch, The End, and Converge have come close). After five years <b>Calculating Infinity</b> is still extraordinarily complex and viciously heavy. It boggles my mind to this day that all of the compositions on this album are written down somewhere, and that the band can even replicate these on-a-dime time changes live without fail.
<b>Miss Machine</b> <i>is</i> more melodic. It seems that the reference point they were aiming for on this disc, composition and vocals-wise, was their own one-off EP with Mike Patton <b>Irony Is A Dead Scene</b>. As such, the devastating scorched-earth screams of Dimitri Minanikis (sp?) have been replaced by the multitalented pipes of Greg Pucito. Now, I've never heard of this guy before, but he's <i>amazing</i>. While he does pull off successful imitations of Patton (especially on some of the breakdowns), he mostly does his own thing. This guy can alternately sing a beautiful clean chorus, or scream like he's on the operating table without anesthesia. Wow.
Yep, there's definitely a pronounced Patton influence. One track, "Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants" sounds like a Mr. Bungle (or Faith No More, circa <b>Angel Dust</b>) track if you subtract the incredibly complex instrumental sections. There are other tracks that are a bit uncharacteristic of the old D.E.P., like "Phone Home" and "Unretrofied," which sound a bit like Nine Inch Nails, of all things--processed vocal lines and all (minus the overbearingly self-indulgent angst). "Highway Robbery" is a fairly stock metalcore track, if not for the syncopation and intricate timings. There's one weirdass instrumental titled "Crutch Field Tongs" that I don't enjoy very much (unlike the solid title track and "Weekend Sex Change" of <b>Calculating Infinity</b>). Fortunately it's short.
There's parts that seem to be in 4/4 on occasion, and even catchy choruses for the listener to latch onto (sometimes to the point of being redundant, like on "Unretrofied"). Still, even the most melodic songs on this album have a blitz of odd-timed insanity at some point, so it's still recognizably D.E.P. The opener "Panasonic Youth" and "We Are The Storm" show that they are still able to pull off something mind-boggling complex with ease. While there's no real standout bludgeoning like "4th Grade Dropout," there's nothing unacceptably watered-down or weak here (save the instrumental). It's simply D.E.P. trying new sounds, and largely succeeding. If you like extreme metal, I say dig in. 4.5 out of 5.