The Dillinger Escape Plan
Ire Works

THE REVIEW

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.