The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine – Review

The Dillinger Escape Plan

Miss Machine (Relapse)
by Martin Popoff

It’s a sly ruse that opens The Dillinger Escape Plan‘s first disc in five years, the first after the idea slowly ossified through myth and intellectual simplicity (At The Gates anyone?), that this band was and is ground zero for the invention of mathcore. The ruse is an expected, compact carnal blast, which quickly blossoms into the starkly new strains of (production piece!) “Sunshine the Werewolf.” So leaders lead, DEP have grabbing the joystick shoved at them, rising to the challenge with Miss Machine. From the suburbia-gone-wrong graphics down into the very substantial songs, DEP are doing what Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, Slipknot, Ihsahn, and Mayhem have done before, that is, bravely expanded into a myriad of musics, vocals, and productions, without destroying the core physical and emotional coursings.

Down that tack, look for almost anthemic choruses, clean vocals, clean guitars, electro-distorted NIN vocals, trancy bits, oblique lyrics, relaxed singing, and just the right amount of the usual sandblasting. As well, there’s slide-ruled funk, Candiria-level jazz, true mellow moments, and, among lots of math for the faithful, a metallic 4/4 insistence that recalls post-nihilism (’95-present) Napalm Death. All told, there seems to be much learned from the general idea of past collaborator Mike Patton, and one thinks the shit terrorist would be pretty damn impressed with this record, which is cool, because he’d pretty much be the key guy you’d want to impress in rock ‘n’ roll today.
(www.relapse.com)