Ohhhh Dillinger Escape Plan. Over the years, this Mathcore and Experimental Metal band has gained quite the reputation, mostly from their outrageous live shows as well as their often twisted, fearless albums. Now, I'm going to make a few enemies here, but I really don't care for the first two Dillinger albums. I like tracks on both "Calculating Infinity" and "Miss Machine", don't get me wrong. But it's not until they came out with "Ire Works" that I really truly understood what Dillinger Escape Plan is all about. It was on "Ire Works", as well as "Option Paralysis" and "One Of Us Is The Killer", that Dillinger Escape Plan cemented themselves as one of the most chaotic bands in metal, but also artistically fearless. Now if you haven't been living under a rock, you'll know that Dillinger Escape Plan have announced their breakup at the end of their current tour, meaning this album will in fact be their last. So does it live up to all the hype surrounding it? Let's talk about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMEYLlDThZU
(here's a classic to help you guys warm up)
The album starts off with “Limerant Death”. To be honest, I heard this track early and was pretty shocked by it being on the slower side. Not that thats a bad thing, it’s just weird. I mean if you look back at just about every other Dillinger Escape Plan release, they’re starting it off with a chaotic, rapid fire blast of power. “Limerant Death” almost has a groove metal feel from it’s intro. However, it has just as much power and energy as you would expect. Greg Puciato’s vocals here are just as unhinged as you would imagine on a Dillinger Escape Plan track, and eventually everything does speed up. The backing vocals that pop in occasionally as they have in the past are an element that I’ve always loved. Their semi goofy, but honestly they seriously add to the unpredictability of Dillinger’s music. You seriously never know what to expect from these guys, but that’s what makes their album’s and their live shows (If you haven’t seen them live, you’re doing yourself a disservice) so damn fun. “Limerant Death” is the explosive intro that I wanted to hear from Dillinger Escape Plan. The guitars here are constantly climbing to reach this climax that honestly they don’t even plan on reaching, while the breakdowns here are absolutely a spectacle, releasing all the energy they’ve built up on these verses (and that’s a lot of energy). While Dillinger escape plan ARE breaking up after the conclusion of this tour, they seriously haven’t wound down at all, they sound just as heavy as they did on some of their classic albums. As the track goes on, it just gets heavier and heavier. Not to mention, Puciato at the end of the track sounds more animalistic than ever, and that’s saying something. Here he literally sounds completely broken in this bizarre performance. To top it all off, everything towards the end keeps speeding up until it just explodes into nothingness, what a spectacle. Up next is “Symptom Of Terminal Illness”. Right from the intro on this one you’re tossed into this massive unpredictable chaos that makes Dillinger Escape Plan’s music so damn fun. The ambient passage that starts us off is both unsettling and utterly serene. That is until those powerful drums and creeping guitar lines come in building “Symptom Of Terminal Illness” quickly and expertly. Puciato’s deeper vocals on this one are a little far south of what I usually expect. Even in the band’s most artsy, experimental moments, his vocals remain usually in the upper octaves. Hearing him hit these low notes makes me seriously want to hear him on a black metal project to be honest. Here, Dillinger Escape Plan show how they can hit all sorts of different dynamics while not giving up any energy. This track actually super reminds me of the title track from “One Of Us Is The Killer”, and thats not a bad thing at all. Overall, this track for the most part is on the easier side to grasp. That’s not to say it’s not heavy, it is. But for a casual fan of Dillinger Escape Plan this is absolutely a track you want to check out. ““Symptom Of Terminal Illness” has such an incredible atmosphere to it. When you look at some of their first recordings, and how now the band has so many layers it’s seriously incredible. The instrumentals as a whole here sound so incredibly paranoid. There’s constantly these sharp guitar screech’s that can jump out at any moment whatsoever, proving that outside of their live shows Dillinger Escape Plan keep you on your toes. “Wanting Not So Much As To” starts off much more straightforward, there’s no ambient passage here. No, this one starts with all the gracefulness of an Elephant riding a motorcycle, as the guitars quickly come splattering in as well as ruthless drums building up to the explosion you certainly know is coming eventually. “Wanting Not So Much As To” is an absolute monster, and as far as a straightforward metal track it might be the closest thing here. Everything about this track is absolutely balls to the wall, from the constant chugging of the guitars, to the dynamics between these monstrous verses and these minuscule artsy breakdowns. Overall all of these elements just add to this massive unpredictability that is Dillinger Escape Plan. “Wanting Not So Much As To” is about breakdown after breakdown making for a constant, clashing monster of a track. However, these little side melodies that Dillinger go off on really end up showing off the groups musical chops wonderfully. You really never know when the band is going to take a detour, and what the hell that detour is going to sound like for that matter. Greg Puciato’s spoken word verse here is absolutely chilling, and add’s so much to this already thick atmosphere. Puciato’s verse here almost has feel right out of Slint’s “Spiderland”, as the rest of the band shrink their sound to allow Puciato to pull off this deadpan performance. It’s a twisted moment to say the least, but man does it ever bring a whole lot of character to the table. Then we have these ghastly, distant primal screams that almost have a Defones feel to it. So far Dillinger Escape Plan are killing it. A few tracks later on “Honeysuckle”, the band sounds at their most pure. Here, they give you the same chaotic sounds that you’ve heard for years. But it comes across as more powerful then ever, so even this feels fresh and exciting. The booming guitars here are absolutely killer, especially when it comes to these bizarre, toe tapping interludes. These almost goofy interludes go from quirky to straight up unsettling rather quickly one Puciato’s screams infiltrate. While “Honeysuckle” started off incredibly straightforward, it’s quickly become one of the more experimental moments here. Not only that, it’s become of the most dangerous, rapidly going back and forth between these almost tropical passages to some of the most intense verses here. The guitar solo’s here are some of the album’s most jaw dropping, and no matter how bizarre this gets, its unforgiving. Then in the last few bars Dillinger decide to slow things down and this track becomes an entirely different monster. It’s not a “By the Books” metal track by any means, but it’s what we’ve come to expect from one of Metal’s most fearless acts.
“Fugue" starts off freakin’ killer with these distant, hazy electronics that sound almost like something off of Radiohead’s “Amnesiac”. While the drums on the other hand give “Fugue” some slight industrial flair sounding like something from the early days of Nine Inch Nails. This one is a slow burner, but Dillinger have pulled plenty of these off in the past. The electronic feel to “Fugue” sticks around, giving this track even more of an unpredictable sound then usual, if you’re a fan of Dillinger Escape Plan you’ll probably be expecting an explosion into a verse at the end of every keyboard passage. This is the most I’ve really heard them dive into this sound, and to be honest they really pull it off. Not once does this more electronic vibe come off as cheesy at all, and the string section floating through the background really give “Fugue” a bizarre vibe. It’s glitchy in parts for all you Death Grips fans, but underneath all of these tricks you can clearly tell you’re still dealing with Dillinger Escape Plan. Everything here is just so twisted sounding, I couldn’t be more impressed with the atmosphere they’ve created. Not to mention, those distant guitar licks sound like something out of an atmospheric black metal project, really great stuff. Now I really don’t have that many complaints about this album at all, even the weaker tracks here I found plenty to enjoy about. “Surrogate” starts off just as intense as you would expect, and I’d swear that as the album goes on Puciato’s vocals just get more and more intense and animalistic. Now, my main problem with “Surrogate” is just how straightforward it is. I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s just as chaotic and aggressive, but the verses just kinda blow past me without me really flinching at all. That’s something I’m just not used to at all, Pucciato does save this one with his fantastic performance though. However the one thing I’ve always loved about Dillinger Escape Plan is how their always moving forward with their sound, “Surrogate” to me though sounds like it’s taking about 5 steps back. The extended breakdown just seems so cookie-cutter for a mathcore band to me, and all of these little things are a real shame because honestly there are really cool moments on “Surrogate”. Those later moments where everything slows down are genuinely cool, once again giving me an old school industrial feel. And what’s even weirder is that when the main riff returns, Dillinger Escape Plan honestly sound rejuvenated. No, “Surrogate” is far from unlistenable, but it lacks the excitement for me. “Manufacturing Discontent” later on in the album once again has a fairly straightforward intro. Once again, while it’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just too much of what I expect. The guitar’s here are solid but I feel like they could have been placed on any other Dillinger release, and the verses here are just out of place. It’s far from terrible, but “Manufacturing Discontent” seriously comes off as rushed. Even the later moments on this one where Dillinger try to mix it up a little everything kinda just floats right on by leaving no impression. The only real element that stands out here is Puciato’s vocals which are filled with the same raw power as you can imagine. Now enough complaining, let’s go back to talking about how dope this album is. “Low Feels Blvd” wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, it’s time to wake the hell up. Following some of the more experimental moments of the album, “Low Feels Blvd” doesn’t waste a single second blasting right into an explosive verse. Instrumentally, it’s the most unforgiving track here. The dual vocals occasionally going back and forth add an extra interesting element. For a few seconds here and there, you feel like “Low Feels Blvd” is going to derail at any moment, and that Dillinger Escape Plan really have no idea what they’re going to do next, and it works amazingly. Puciato’s screams are absolutely soul tearing. And just when you think this is just another Dillinger Escape Plan track, in come these almost jazzy breakdowns that made me think my iTunes had switched over to the new BadBadNotGood album. Moments like this not only add to the great unpredictability that they’re known for, but it really shows off how great of musicians they are as well. There’s only one real word to describe the later instrumentals here, and that’s “epic”, I honestly feel like I’m listening to a much bigger band. Dillinger Escape Plan nail this track, it’s a gigantic sound that I seriously wasn’t expecting but man do they pull it off.
Dillinger Escape Plan so far have been killing it, and for the most part they end the album just as strongly as they started it. “Apologies Not Included” shows them once again sounding rejuvenated. Puciato is back to these deeper pitched vocals, and they’re totally welcomed once again. His vocals here sound totally “in the moment”, and while earlier tracks like “Surrogate” seemed cookie-cutter, “Apologies Not Included” is everything you would expect to hear from Dillinger just much more satisfying. Puciato sounds like a damn animal, the guitars are unhinged, all around “Apologies Not Included” is solid. Up next is “Nothing To Forget”, and right from that intro you can tell we’re in for a treat. The main riff is one of the easiest to follow on the entire album, and these drums are absolutely to die for. “Nothing To Forget” is a little slower, but it’s just so damn heavy in a brooding sort of way that I can’t help but to absolutely go nuts for it. These are some of Puciato’s cleaner vocals but to be honest sometimes that works out better for Dillinger, and in this case it really does. Here, these cleaner vocals actually give “Nothing To Forget” a much more sinister feel. This track is absolutely insane, with every instrumental adding to the twisted sound Dillinger are going for. These guitars are absolutely dripping with tension and the breakdowns are just as booming as you would want them to be. The chorus here is truly a highlight, being melodic just enough to stick with you after the album is over, but I can assure you Dillinger haven’t gone soft on us. By the time we get to the string breakdown, I seriously stopped and asked myself “Is this even real life anymore?”. “Nothing To Forget”officially goes from twisted and brutal to near tearjerking and gorgeous, this track is near perfect. Then we have the title track, “Dissociation” to close the album. Honestly, it’s not the intro I was expecting one bit, as “Dissociation” starts off truly serene. As far as true musicians go, Dillinger Escape Plan are seriously on top of their game. These opening strings end up sticking around a while, and they’re absolutely incredible. Things get intense really quick though when Dillinger add in a fuzzy bass line and electronic drums. As far as vocals go, this is absolutely right up Chino Moreno of Deftones alley. Overall, “Dissociation” may be one of the most emotionally deep tracks Dillinger Escape Plan have ever produced. So much of this album is at such a high level, and I couldn’t be happier to say it.
Rating : 8.7/10
Give A Listen To : “Limerant Death”, “Symptom of Terminal Illness”, “Low Feels Blvd”, “Nothing To Forget”
Overall Thoughts: I really wanted Dillinger Escape Plan to completely blow me away here. And to be honest, that's exactly what they did. Not once here do they really show any sign of slowing down, and track after track they prove that they're still completely fearless and spontaneous. One or two tracks might sound a little predictable which does suck, but overall I think this may be Dillinger's most concrete album to date. It's brutal where it needs to be, while bringing in electronic elements as well as some other tricks here and there to keep us on our toes. Now we can sit here all day and debate if this really is the end of Dillinger Escape Plan, but if this is he end of them, what a way to end their already fantastic career. This album is absolutely ridiculous, and it's probably the best metal album I've heard this year.
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