•
Rating:
Many will turn up their noses on November 13th when they have the opportunity to listen to this brand new work by Dillinger Escape Plan released three years after the good but not great "Miss Machine".
Leaving aside the (rather commercial... I regret to admit it...) experiment of "Plagiarism", exclusive only for iTunes users featuring various covers and some live gems, "Ire Works" (the name of the new album) will see the light, as already mentioned, on November 13th still under Relapse Records, despite the latest misunderstandings.
As already mentioned, many, probably very many fans of the band will not love this new album perhaps too melodic and/or too electronic but I believe it is a natural evolution both of the work done with that genius Patton and with "Plagiarism" where Greg Puciato and company have been able to confirm they can also play less aggressive and less angry music, and the muscular singer indulged in falsettos with rather embarrassing results (see the cover of the Justin Timberlake song whose name I can't even remember, to be honest...).
In my humble opinion, the album has it all. It is aggressive and sweet, schizophrenic and melodic. It starts right away on the trail of "Calculating Infinity"... "Fix Your Face" is not coincidentally the first single featuring none other than Dimitri Minakakis, DEP's original singer. It's followed by another punch to the teeth, which is "Lurch" and then here comes the first surprise: a song primarily sung in falsetto (...Plagiarism teaches), without even a scream... we are talking about "Black Bubblegum". Right after, "Sick On Sunday", an electronic and "noisy" piece that about three-quarters of the way through makes room for Puciato's voice (again in falsetto, yes...).
Then, in my opinion, the best of the album. The trio "When Acting as a Particle", "Nong Eye Gong", and "When Acting as a Wave", each lasting just over a minute, are respectively, a very electronic instrumental, a completely screamed gem that reprises the same pace but in pure Dillinger Escape Plan style, and another very well-played instrumental (this time not electronic...). After "82588", the best piece (next single?) of the entire work is "Milk Lizard", which first assaults you until exhaustion then surprises you with a melodic part that becomes almost moving in the end. Truly beautiful.
Another round, another ride...
"Party Smasher" lasts about a minute and a half, just enough time to remind us who we are dealing with, and then we reach "Dead as History", a fairly long piece introduced by a two-minute electronic/Spanish mix that then takes hold with the singer's voice once again very melodic... "Horse Hunter" features Bret Hinds from Mastodon... Finally, everything closes with "Mouth of Ghosts", also quite long with a somewhat progressive piano interlude...
Whether all this is the result of a natural evolution or not, we do not know, but for me, it is one of the best releases of 2007.
Simply amazing.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Fix Your Face (02:41)
You want a vision you can't have / A line that you can't walk / Writhing around on the floor / You won't be aware 'til it's too late / Cause you never look around / You're like a deer in the headlights baby / Queen of delusion you will never learn compassion / Start a fire and you can never put it out / You're burning up in the blaze you started / I want to see you face down / Because I know that you play that part so well / At our wake the casket is open ready for the viewing / But we are still moving / Already we smell of rot / There will be no comeback / No coming back for any one of us now / No way out / Don't you realize there is nowhere you can hide / Where I'm from there is never a rest for the hunted / No way you and I will ever be done / We're never apart / Whatever you're doing / We will always cross your mind / You were young and now you pay the price for her
02 Lurch (02:03)
I don't know your name from my window
Do you lust for fame or forgiveness?
Well I'll give you everything you want
Well I'll give you everything you need
You won't be perfect so best to freeze you in this state go on home you shouldn't be walking around on this day
Now you've stuffed your throat
You've walked on your burial ground
Oh you'll draw the crowd
With honey porcelain skin and crystal baby blues
You picture in my pocket I'm obsessed with you
Oh sweety there's no sense in crying you're above them all
Barricade the door you can hold my hand for comfort when you fall
You wear your skin so fresh
Your smell intoxicates
Little starlet
03 Black Bubblegum (04:04)
Got so much salt from your lies poured into me
You didn't see yourself dead already
So full of with every breath that you breathe
But you forgot that in your fairy tale I'm the wolf
All this attention got you thinking that you're a queen
You think that everything you're doing isn't a dream, long as it feel alright.
I had gotten frozen by the way that you walked, by the love that you gave, by that look on your face
It's a coverup
I know everything
[x2]
You're made for four letter fame
Regret is part of your name
There's something you couldn't tell
It's what you wanted to feel
It's what you're dying to feel
Check out your face on the wall
Like what you see?
I'm sure you see yourself oh so unique
You're just a sucker for the flame of the week
But you forget that in your fairy tale bitch I'm the wolf
All this attention got you thinking you we're a queen
You thought that everything in life you want should be free
Nothing is what you think
I had gotten frozen by the way that you walked, by the love that you gave, by that look on your face
It's a coverup
I know everything
[x2]
You're made for four letter fame
Regret is part of your name
There's something you couldn't tell
It's what you wanted to feel
It's what you're dying to feel
[x5]
04 Sick on Sunday (02:10)
I could never have
Standing here with you
One regret
One Mistake
Nothing we could do
After this is done
You can go your way
Don't forget
This is how
Everything should be
Don't you ever go
06 Nong Eye Gong (01:16)
Now
You laugh forever you laugh
The winner and the best man
Corrupter
Shapeshifter
Your voice is the sound of nothing
Butcher of every artform
Peddler of deceit
Watching the hour hand drag
Destroyer of the past
We're smart enough to say we're sorry
Not smart enough to start again
Dancing in death's illusion
The pride before the fall
Candy for the children
Give it to them all
08 82588 (01:56)
Fallen angel how you've changed
Poison runs through your veins
You were never a saint but now you're a sin
Spoiled rotten from within.
Who clipped your wings so useless?
Cut them yourself?
Chewed off your own?
Good thinking
You were coming apart and I thought I could help you
Through the fever.
Not the first one,
Not the last one,
I'm not sorry for you.
I remember a time when everything that you knew I thought I already knew in my mind
And I thought you knew the same
I know the truth will set you free
Cracked and crazy baby.
09 Milk Lizard (03:55)
My thick tongue hangs down low to the ground,
Licking up the sweat coming off of her heels,
She wants my teeth to wear,
She wants my hell to bear.
Well missy it's a lock for a load,
If you wanna grind hips don't do it alone,
Don't save no dance no not for me,
Just cut me out.
You crept up like a disease looking like a girl only trying to be saved,
Your heart was trying to bleed and you're taking the right road if you're talking to me.
Well you thought you'd tear my skin from bone,
Just cause it was cold and you needed a coat,
Don't tease me just start digging the hole start digging.
Oh you're getting so sleepy tonight,
And you wanna go home but you don't have a ride,
No time just taste won't touch for free,
My salt you're sweet.
You crept up like a disease looking like a girl only trying to be saved,
Your heart was trying to bleed and you're taking the right road if you're talking to me.
And you were there,
And I was every question that never had an answer,
I see right through you,
We never even noticed that,
There always was a reason,
That we were never meant to be left alone.
My thick tongue hangs down low to the ground,
Licking up the sweat coming off of her heels,
She wants my teeth to wear,
She wants my hell to bear.
Well missy it's a lock for a load,
If you wanna grind hips don't do it alone,
Don't save no dance no not for me,
Just cut me out.
And you were there,
And I was every question that never had an answer,
I see right through you,
We never even noticed that,
There always was a reason,
That we were never meant to be left alone.
This feels like neverending,
This feels like neverending,
This feels like neverending,
This feels like neverending,
This feels like neverending,
This feels like neverending,
This feels like neverending,
This feels like neverending.
10 Party Smasher (01:56)
You are only the faded star of my design
Junked out lost potential and crazy from your questions answered
Walk forth
You're the fulfillment of a fallacy
A creature from a fantasy
Don't think that you ever knew me
Don't you ever see
We are forever entwined stuck in a play we can't get out of
Don't you ever see
Won't you ever see
You and i will never be able to end this
We are forever entwined stuck in a play we can leave
You say someday we can start up again
Without a plan no sign of the pressure
I say you're crazy
I hope you see my face in the mirror
You will never learn
You're forever dead to me
Won't you ever see
Your shadow?
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By RobyMichieletto
The Dillinger Escape Plan came close to failure, not having succeeded in making all this concrete, nor having given it a complete sense.
By giving up parts of 'massive sonic explosion' and 'intrinsic danger' they took on a responsibility that backfired.
By kosay2
"One of the greatest masterpieces of genius is the next 'Sick on Sunday,' a truly stratospheric piece that mixes electronics in pure Aphex Twin style with insane distorted guitars."
"This album is, yes, experimental, but at the same time, it is damn True!"
