Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works

World’s unluckiest band triumph

Seemingly cursed with a catalogue of misfortune, it’s a minor miracle that Dillinger Escape Plan have made it to Ire Works, their third full-length album. This time around, they’ve battled the departure of drummer and founding member Chris Pennie to Coheed & Cambria, as well as losing guitarist Brian Benoit to nerve damage. So once more, DEP battle on. Never a band to take the obvious route, Ire Works is based upon the same traits with which they’ve made their name: a technically complex blend of metal and hardcore infused with elements of prog and jazz. But it isn’t the sound of a band playing it safe. Minor surprises lurch from every corner: a discordant undercurrent of piano, a scattering of processed beats and Greg Puciato adding a delicate falsetto to his already eclectic roar. Milk Lizard represents the album’s peak. Opening with the driving punk of one of the band’s most simplistic riffs to date, the track builds into a propulsive hook that recalls the best of 90s alt rock. With a structure that respects the concept of the album as an art form, Ire Works is something special. It’s perhaps the finest clash of aggression and unbridled creativity since Faith No More’s Angel Dust.

Relapse | RR 6699-2

Reviewed by Ben Hopkins
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