The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
Edit: Oops, forgot that whole bit where I give the album 5 out of 5 stars!I remember one time at a Buck 65 show, he introduced his hilarious and entertaining cover of The Jungle Brothers's 'I'm Gonna Do You' by saying, "When I was growing up, The Jungle Brothers made a record called Straight Out The Jungle. Now that album is a classic. And the reason that album is a classic is because every song on that record is amazing."
That's how I feel about Ire Works, which is probably my favorite album of 2007. At first I was lukewarm on a few songs, but heaven help me I even love 'Black Bubblegum' now; it's hard to resist the cheesy hook, and I finally gave up trying.
This album is a clear progression for Dillinger. It's got some of their best math metal ever, but there's so much diversity on the record that it really feels like three different bands, which could have turned out to be a bad thing if their signature stylistic elements didn't traverse the boundaries between songs so well. This album is 1/3 crazy math metal, 1/3 IDM glitch and 1/3 melodic rock. But even that doesn't do it justice, as the glitch songs include metal riffs and melodic vocals, while one of the rock tracks has a positively Latin vibe to it ('Mouth Of Ghosts', available below).
I don't feel like I have too much to say about the record, oddly. I love every single song, even the short ones. And where the short tracks on Clark's Body Riddle felt mostly like filler, the short interludes on Ire Works serve as great bridges between the songs. If you listen to the album straight through (something I rarely do in the age of mp3s and shuffled playlists) there's a cohesion and progression that feels well-planned.
The thing I really love about the album is how many memorable moments it has for me:
-Dmitri's guest vocals in 'Fix Your Face'
-Pretty much all of 'Lurch'
-The surprising vocal appearance at the end of 'Sick On Sunday'
-The swelling, swingin' horns in 'Milk Lizard'
-The surprisingly anthemic chorus riff in 'Party Smasher'
-The throwback/homage 80's trash metal vocals in 'Horse Hunter'
-Brent Hinds's guest vocals in 'Horse Hunter'
-The Latin vibe and piano rundowns in 'Mouth Of Ghosts'
And those are just the ones off the top of my head.
Greg's vocals have grown on me a lot. He's gotten past the obvious Patton/Reznor worship and has come into his own, displaying a huge range on the album; he handles everything from snarling screams to falsetto vocals with style. And Chris Pennie's departure, which could have been a huge disaster for the band, seems like a non-issue once you hear Gil Sharone positively murdering the drums. I don't know much at all about him, but the percussion he brings to the record, which hints at jazz from time to time, is amazing. He even finds a way to make the rock songs feel slightly off-kilter. And, of course, Ben Weinman has written some amazingly intricate guitar runs offset by crushing breakdowns. Everyone showed up for this one.
Okay, I lied, I actually did have a lot to say about the record. I just can't stop listening to it front to back, and I'd encourage you to do the same.
Rating: 5/5 Stars
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Labels: Music
