Original drummer Chris Pennie quit before the recording of Ire Works to join Coheed and Cambria, leaving guitarist Ben Weinman as the final founding member; prior to that, nerve damage to the left hand and arm of guitarist Brian Benoit forced his indefinite hiatus. Yet the group pressed forward with Stolen Babies drummer Gil Sharone, who capably replaced Pennie’s dizzying beats, helping make Ire Works a precise and assailing album.
The biggest difference between Ire Works and the group’s last full-length, Miss Machine (2004), is that the glossy radio-rock moments are now more prominent. Vocalist Greg Puciato’s impressive vocal range covers barbarous screams, sassy falsettos, and angst-ridden outcries (evocative of Trent Reznor).
But his flair for melodrama — evident on the choruses in horn-backed tune “Milk Lizard” and the verses in piano-based number “Dead as History” — is Ire Works‘ biggest drawback. “Milk Lizard” and “Black Bubblegum” are the most radio-ready songs and are closest to Miss Machine‘s synthesized anthem “Unretrofied.” “Milk Lizard,” however, incorporates a mathy piano bridge and double-bass outro.
“Mouth of Ghosts,” the beautiful seven-minute album closer that begins with wandering piano lines and brush-stroke drum hits, expands the melodic sensibilities. Despite this, The Dillinger Escape Plan have not forgotten their archetypal approach.
Nine of Ire Works‘ thirteen tracks are brief, intricate, devastating numbers, shifting between break-neck fret work and hulking dirge riffs. Moments in “Lurch” and “Nong Eye Gong” recall Dillinger classic “43% Burnt” of consummate first full-length Calculating Infinity (1999).
The band’s desire to tread new ground is its greatest asset. Electronic manipulation is pronounced on “Sick on Sunday,” a short IDM (intelligent dance music) track that gurgles with programmed sounds, and “When Acting as a Wave,” a song whose glitch-filled beginning perfectly fits the band’s stop-start riffage. Chamber ensemble Nanos Operetta provide tense strings and cold chimes on interlude “When Acting as a Particle;” wispy keyboards and whistling synthesizer enhance “Dead as History.”
These unfamiliar elements will continue to disenfranchise long-standing fans of The Dillinger Escape Plan, but Ire Works successfully merges them with avant-metal and pop-leaning rock and roll.
– Scott Morrow
The Dillinger Escape Plan: www.myspace.com/dillingerescapeplan
Relapse Records: www.relapse.com