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Rating: I certainly can't come and tell you that a bit of disappointment, even more than a bit..., didn't materialize inside me when, for the first time, I listened to the new album by The Dillinger Escape Plan.
I had already had the chance to read (discordant) reviews from some colleagues and had spoken to (reliable) people who had listened to it, and from this array of opinions, I hadn't formed an idea about the work's value (that's personal, of course), but I had understood that The Dillinger Escape Plan attempted the big shot, the one that if it goes well you rises high, not just in sales, but for earned merits. If it goes well... After all, their resume is such that it would make 90% of the bands that emerged in the last ten years pale in comparison, so it was logical for them to try to enter history in a definitive manner. And wanting to observe the situation from a detached point of view, not considering the admiration with which I have followed them throughout their career, one must admit that the foundational ideas of "Ire Works" could have been the right ones to achieve the modeling of a hypothetically perfect evolutionary synthesis of what sound, beyond genres, has managed to produce precisely in the last decade.
The elements were all there, but for the first time since The Dillinger Escape Plan have existed, they were not able to apply and coalesce them as such a risky variety of material treated would have required. Because the metal (already multi-contaminated and laden with hardcore, as they understand it), which meets non-metal musical structures (to say avant, would be giving them a prize they don't deserve), which incorporates a glitch-derived electronic sound, that then chooses to add violin, cello, trumpet, orchestrations, rock, jazz, a blatant catchiness and more, must start with the assumption that it has a very high probability of failing. And The Dillinger Escape Plan came close to failure, not having succeeded in making all this concrete, nor having given it a complete sense. It's no wonder that when the album ends, you remain as if waiting for something else to happen because it's clear they haven't fully expressed their immense potential.
By giving up parts of "massive sonic explosion" and "intrinsic danger" they took on a responsibility that backfired. Many ingredients, but very static when taken individually, and they end up being a lure, because what's left of the various mixed genres you know what remains? Pop. And this reveals the essence of The Dillinger Escape Plan in 2007 (with a lineup where only Ben Weinman from the original formation survives), that of wanting to compose a robust and contaminated pop album, maybe as Mike Patton might understand it, intent on mixing Faith No More and Fantômas, but still pop and also a bit polished. Which is not bad, but it is a statement that must be made explicit. Sure, "Ire Works" needs to be absorbed repeatedly to grasp its different nuances, but it is equally evident that it has many shadows and highlights a band that made the primary mistake of considering themselves omnipotent.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
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?
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Other reviews
By Divodark
In my humble opinion, the album has it all. It is aggressive and sweet, schizophrenic and melodic.
'Milk Lizard' first assaults you until exhaustion then surprises you with a melodic part that becomes almost moving in the end. Truly beautiful.
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!"
