Dillinger Escape Plan, The - Miss Machine (2004)^{Release ID: 1748}

There's no better word in any language than "intense" when describing The Dillinger Escape Plan, with everything including heavy jazz guitars, groovy bass, chaotic drums, and screaming vocals that are almost suicide for your vocal cords. The band has enough energy and power to really pack an uppercut punch. They've already proven that with their 1999 debut Calculating Infinity, filled with outbursts technical proficiency. Vocalist Dimitri Minakakis left the band after that album, leaving the band's future almost uncertain. At least he came to do the layout and design for the artwork for this album Miss Machine, which I have no idea what is going on in that cover art.

Then after their 2002 EP with the legendary Mike Patton, Irony is a Dead Scene, Greg Puciato steps in as the band's full-time vocalist. Though controversy struck in one of his first major concerts with the band; at the Reading Festival (the UK city Reading) that year, Puciato literally pooped in front of the audience, put it in a bag, chucked it into the crowd, and smeared the rest all over himself as a sign of "the s*** happening later that day" (referring to bands performing in the festival later such as Puddle of Mudd). WHAT THE FRAPPE?! That's gross and illegal!! Indeed, that band almost got banned from the UK for that. But did they fire Puciato? NOPE! That incident was set aside and TDEP fans finally get to hear him both scream and sing in this album, Miss Machine. Not as much energy as Calculating Infinity, but nonetheless a whole new direction.

The first track "Panasonic Youth" really blasts listeners in the face with punishing fury. There are many twists and turns with Puciato's thunderous screaming, relentless guitars, quick passages, and tapping rhythms. The band slows down a bit for some grating bass and more pummeling drumming. The song picks up the sonic aggression again toward the end. Impressive for 2 and a half minute song! The next track "Sunshine the Werewolf" shows the guitar skills keeping the pace and never slowing down. Chris Pennie's drumming is so amazing that it's baffling. Puciato's vocals are once again fantastic, especially when he unleashes a crying scream of "DESTROYER!!! There'll be another, just! Like!! YOU!!!" during a dramatic orchestral bridge. "Highway Robbery" has some prominent bass in the verses with the rest of the band having a riot in the chorus and a fun bridge section. Chris Pennie has an odd hip-hop beat going on before heading back into the bridge once more.

The album continues hitting the spot with "Van Damsel", featuring the same musicianship but less inspired. The guitar rhythm is a drag and the ambient ending doesn't help at all. "Phone Home" is a better but slower sludge track. After mellow ambiance, the drumming eventually gets crazier in weird static. Greg Puciato has some raspy clean vocals in the first verse that turns into savage shrieking in the chorus. That must really be what a serial killer sounds like. The guitars follow those vocals that get more angry, unsettling, and distorted every verse. It keeps violently seguing from one chorus to another in a wall of distortion. Excellent variation! "We Are the Storm" returns to the band's signature sonic storm attack of atoned chaos. This may be annoying for some of the lighter listeners, but being a heavy metalhead myself, I don't mind at all. There's a nice mellow guitar passage subdued into the next section, but it's a little draggy. Then the chaos returns in the last minute. "Crutch Field Tongs" is a really odd ambient interlude that sounds like a machine dying before fading into oblivion...

But it fades back into the next track, "Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants", the best song of the album, starting with a buildup with evil yet soft singing. Then the catchy guitar and drums come in with Puciato's soaring screaming. The verses have some intense energy with frantic drumming, pounding bass and primal screaming, before a chorus of cool clean singing. Then there's a jazzy chill passage with a beach sunset vibe and amazing guitar tone, followed by the unsettling intense pre-chorus and chorus once again. Honestly, the song sounds a bit like Fall Out Boy gone experimental metalcore. I love it, perfect song! Then there's "Baby's First Coffin", having the most intense song intro for this album, and probably should've been the album's opening track instead of "Panasonic Youth". The amazing guitars scream as intensely and Puciato's vocals. Then there's a weird ambient passage. Puciato's vocals are pretty much the best in that song. Next is "Unretrofied", the softest song on the album and good for popular radios. There's almost no screaming nor technicality. The strength in the vocals is more in the chorus than the verses. The song is a little interesting, but heavier listeners would not be satisfied. "The Perfect Design" has the typical mayhem; chaotic drums, earth-shaking guitars, a little ambient passage, and more painfully great guitars until the end.

So how is Miss Machine doing? Well, the album is somewhat spectacular with the continuation of the band's ridiculously extreme technicality while branching out in new mellower places. Greg Puciato has really given the band a more versatile ability to explore different styles. Sure, some moments don't work out well, but the band's mathcore style is still redeemed. Miss Machine is an excellent extreme hardcore album, and first-time listeners would be pumped up for their next move....

Favorites: Sunshine the Werewolf, Highway Robbery, Phone Home, Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants, Unretrofied