Dillinger Escape Plan -Ire Works (Relapse/Riot)

Wed 2nd Jan, 2008 in Music Reviews

Bands like the Dillinger Escape Plan tend to have a very strong body of fans, all of whom are likely to have equally strong opinions. Well, I am not particularly a fan of the band, which was why it made listening to this album an interesting journey. It is a bit metalcore, a bit electronic, with a dash of industrial. It’s both a bit Bungle and a bit Pink Floyd. There’s a touch of metal encased in a pop-music fibre that is as strong as kevlar.

This album, Ire Works tends to be fast, furious, tightly-played. It is busy, sounds live and raw, and like it was built for circle pits at gigs. It features the odd clean vocal, such as on Black Bubblegum, the third track, which is slower in an indie-rock style. But, I’m almost ashamed to write this (almost): the vocals reminded me of those crappy pop music boy bands.

The fact that a band like the Dillinger Escape Plan can sound consistently like a boy band, and can sound like they are trying desperately to groom a particular audience, comprised of a particular blend of males and females, is a very good reason why serious metalheads tend to scoff at newer genre cross-overs and blends that call themselves ‘metal’.

For those who are not fans of this band, and this includes the curious, it’s likely that this album will become tiring. Although this band is innovative, the style of the innovation becomes predictable. It’s music that others do, done differently – but with the same type of approach. I strongly believe that sometimes a band’s approach to their music can be as important as the music produced, sometimes more so. If this band varied their approach more convincingly, then their innovation would be more truly innovative, and more sustainably so. As it stands, their ‘innovation’ tends to become less innovative the longer the album goes on.

That said, I think that parts of this album could grow on me. A standout track for me was track four, Sick on Sunday, which reminded me of Careful With That Axe Eugene-era Pink Floyd, for which I have a particularly sentimental soft spot. And the more industrial elements of their sound were enervating. There are other elements of the album that are really very good, and it disappoints me that much of it has a tendency to become staid. The band have innovative tendencies, and I hope that they can continue to refine the way they approach this innovation to make it more sustainable.

Those people who are fans of the Dillinger Escape Plan will like this album, there is no doubt about it. It is a good showcase of what the band is capable of creating. Everyone else, including those who will scoff at it, probably needs to hear it at least once.

The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ire Works is out now on Relapse/Riot.