### The Dillinger Escape Plan: Option paralysis

#### 17/05/10 || Altmer

Ok, so I don’t know what drugs the Dillinger Escape Plan started to take, but I am completely wondering why they took these drugs. You see, before 2000 DEP used to be a good mathcore band, blending jazz-inspired insanity breaks with hardcore and metal. But then they changed every band member except one of the guitar players, started experimenting with pop tunes, and their new singer has this nasal timbre to his vocals – fucken not fantastic.

That’s right, this band has gone down the drain and completely fucken lost what made them so fantastic in the first place. You know, they still have those hardcore drum parts where they thrash the fuck out of their instruments, but the emo plague has reached this band, and they now feel the need to add in shittily sung choruses every other song just to break from all the insanity. Where is the complete fucken chaos, guys? I know this is more streamlined or whatever, but they seem completely misplaced within the songs. It’s like they’re there so people won’t write this off as complete aural noise, and can actually get into the songs. I guess that works for people new to the band that don’t like all the tech metal wankery, but for me, who enjoyed “Calculating infinity” the most, I just miss the insanity. That was the trademark of this band and with this they are starting to sound like every other metalcore act out there. Better still, but mediocrity is not something we want from this band. Fucken chaos back, please?

Instrumentally this shit is all fine. The guitarists are extremely skilled, the bassist is fucken ace, the drummer is crazy – in fact, I like the instrumental portion of the music on offer still. But as long as they have this singer in the band – I won’t be a fan. His vocals are supremely annoying and ruin every momentum the band gets going with the annoying drawly choruses the band veers into. If he’s screaming it’s ok, thank fuck, but the band knows the clean vocals have got to go, right? Man, those vocals are really fucken awful and make me want to impale the singer on a rusty spike. God-damn. At least he’s not off-key because if that would be the case I would fucken murder the band for including him. But believe me, the clean vocals are not good in any fucken way. Horrible. Maybe they should optionally paralyze the singer – exercising it when he’s not screaming. And then escape with Dillinger’s plan.

There are some random other good slow moments, like the piano intro to “Widowers”, and it’s all executed neatly, but it doesn’t fit. I don’t want to hear DEP write things that sound like Coheed and Cambria, I want them to bring the chaos. I want them to bring the groove within the chaos that they did on “Sugar coated sour” or “43% burnt”. And having those nasal vocals completely ruins the atmosphere in every way when they try to slow it down. It just doesn’t – fucking – work. Much like a band like Between the Buried and Me, they need to kick out the vocalist and get their songwriting together. The difference between both bands is that this band got it right once upon a time, making it more of a shame for these guys.

This band really needs to stick what they do best and stop the random experimenting because this “originality” thing is not working out for them at all. Some bands experiment and it works out, but these guys, talented as they are, need to stay with their sound because this path is a road to nowhere. It’s not original, it’s not good, and most of all it’s shitting on their legacy as one of the innovating bands in their genre. Thank you for trying something new, Ben Weinman; thank you for completely screwing it up for yourself in the process. Fuck you, I’ll go back to my preferred DEP records now, because I guess I don’t fucken “get this” or whatever. Talented musicians aplenty, but no clue of direction makes this a mediocre record by a good band. Disappointing.

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Season Of Mist
- Website: Dillinger Escape Plan MySpace
- Band
- Greg Puciato: vocals
- Liam Wilson: bass
- Jeff Tuttle: guitars
- Ben Weinman: guitars, programming
- Billy Rymer: drums, percussion

- Tracklist
- 01. Farewell Mona Lisa
- 02. Good Neighbor
- 03. Gold Teeth on a Bum
- 04. Crystal Morning
- 05. Endless Endings
- 06. Widower
- 07. Room Full of Eyes
- 08. Chinese Whispers
- 09. I Wouldn’t If You Didn’t
- 10. Parasitic Twins