Dillinger Escape Plan
Ire Works
3/5

Who It’s For: Those out there who’ve heard of Dillinger, but want a toned down version of them.
Sounds Like: Mike Patton prodigies

Okay, okay, I’m not going to start berating Dillinger Escape Plan’s latest, Ire Works, without first making a disclaimer. Disclaimer: I love Dillinger Escape Plan. I love Mike Patton. I loved Mike Patton with Dillinger when the collaborated on the 2002 EP Irony Is a Dead Scene. I also loved Dillinger’s work before the Patton phenomenon.

So now that it’s clear that I have quite the hard on for Dillinger, what the hell is going on with Ire Works? The two opening tracks, “Fix Your Face” and “Lurch,” are deliciously Dillinger, with the hard vocals and enrapturing time changes – a definite trademark of Dillinger’s ‘mathcore’ creations. So as I sit rocking back and forth in the sheer existential bliss of the first two tracks, as “Black Bubblegum” begins to sound, I’m lurched from my seat thinking “Creeping Jesus! What is this abomination?!” “Black Bubblegum” should be more appropriately titled “Bubblegum Dillinger.” Mike Patton’s brilliance is difficult to follow up and on this third track, it’s so blatantly obvious that Greg Puciato’s trying so very hard to emulate one of Patton’s many sounds, it makes me want to cry. The vocals are excessively melodic – a nice change – but where, oh where, are my time changes? Where’s my punch-you-in-the-face screams? Hearing “Black Bubblegum” ruined my day and left me with a sinking feeling of utter disappointment.

But then something incredible happened. After deciding not to write off Ire Works as a toned-down, more ‘accessible’ Dillinger creation, the track “82588” brought my faith back. Here is where Dillinger brings back their deliciously depraved intermingling of metal, melody, and meticulous mastery of ‘mathcore.’ If you love Dillinger Escape Plan pre- and post-Patton, brace yourself for confusion and borderline disappointment for a few tracks on Ire Works, and keep in mind they redeem themselves at the same time. But if you’re not completely familiar with Dillinger and are interested in something a little more toned down and melodic, Ire Works will stay on your play list indefinitely.

Track Listings:

1. Fix Your Face
2. Lurch
3. Black Bubblegum
4. Sick on Sunday
5. When Acting As a Particle
6. Nong Eye Gong
7. When Acting As a Wave
8. 82588
9. Milk Lizard
10. Party Smasher
11. Dead As History
12. Horse Hunter
13. Mouth of Ghosts


- Renee Johnson