Fix Your Face, 23 Oct 2008
This Album IS amazing. Changing pace but never loosing atmosphere. Jolting through genres but never loosing integrity. It is simply blinding. Dillinger are currently the most interesting and original band around. The songs convert to the live stage even better than I could have hoped. Actually becoming alive.
As with all classic music, Ire Works will never grow old. The general public will figure it out in time.


It pisses all over Miss Machine, which was largely overated.

arguments not reviews, 31 Aug 2008
What!another band changing from what the fan base considers 'there' music.'there' will normally come from those who discover a band at a time before the rest of the world, the individualism of it more than anything else defining why they got into the band in the first place.so many people now describe the alienation of a band developing there sound as abandonment. for Against Me! fans (like me) this has been an argument for years and the same pathetic crap is rooting to DEP.as said earlier nobody wants to hear the same album repeted a dozen times(if so play what you love on repeat) because other band will take inspiration quickly. rather than buying the new album of a band you love fans would be better suited to finding the next new thing in the genre (how many people heard the word 'mathcore'(or whatever pidgin hole) before DEP).BUT when a band progresses beyond what they have been playing to audiences more than a hundred times a year, and do it well, then i can see no reason for criticism. and more to the point a band explaining themselves to fans seems so far beyond the point of creative music that it makes this rant seem worthwhile.

simply this is a great album.if u feel sold out then 5 minutes of last fm and you will find what your looking for again.



Brilliant album. , 30 Jun 2008
I was hesitant about buying this, I'd read some things saying it was average etc. but I went out on a limb and can safely say that this is one of the most clever, artistic and ingenious albums I have heard in a long time.

The opener, Fix Your Face is such a bold opener. There's no messing around, it just goes straight into the action, I love it.

Lurch- Dischordant mayhem with fantastic lyrics.

Black Bubblegum- Sexy, sleazy, dirty culminating in an amazingly catchy outro, my personal favourite.

Sick on Sunday- Slow moving at 1st. Then frantic, it sounds like it doesn't know where to go. I sat there with my mouth open, it's so out there, almost grind in places.

When Acting As A Particle- Creepy, dark instrumental. I very much like it.

Nong Eye Gong- Hardcore, fist pumping, awesome.

When Acting As A Wave- Heavier instrumental. Very catchy.

85288- No holds barred. Dillinger in all their glory.

Milk Lizard- Extremely catchy, chromatic, even use of a samba element, everything.

Party Smasher- Heavy vocals, some shred guitars, more tonal than some of the songs, but still as heavy.

Dead As History- Slow, quiet, then erupts a little bit. Not the heaviest song by a long way, but very good.

Horse Hunter- Another one of my favourites. Guest vocals from Brent from Mastodon (if you like Mastodon- Leviathan, you'll like this album, and vice versa).

Mouth of Ghosts- Took a few listens to get into, but it's very catchy at places. Quite uneasy in itself. Very uncomfortable. I like it a lot.

For fans of: Mastodon, The Mars Volta, Every Time I Die.

The machine that is DEP pull out all the stops, and then some., 13 Mar 2008
Any new release by noise legends The Dillinger Escape Plan is going to be hugely anticipated amongst those in the know and this one, `Ire Works', is no different. It has certainly been a long time since 2004s `Miss Machine' exploded onto our stereos. It was an album that managed, despite its savage brutality, to propel the band into a more mainstream circle, which predictably annoyed many of their hardcore following. But nit-picking scenesters aside, it was undeniably an epic journey of technical wizardry and math-like complexity that wowed almost everyone in the critical and public domain from every angle.

The first two tracks of `Ire Works' dutifully pick up where `Miss Machine' left us. The stop-start-ridiculously-off-time guitar stabs piledrive the speakers into oblivion, as do Greg Puciato's pulverizing vocals. With drummer and founding member Chris Pennie leaving the band to take up duties in prog-emo rockers Coheed Cambria, another drummer was needed to step in and do one hell of job. Gil Sharone was acquired and quite literally pummels this album to shreds whilst still keeping the DEP feel intact.

What has always made The Dillinger Escape Plan that much more interesting than the next technical noise band is their creativity and sometimes bizarre experimentation. Sounding like an angrier Mike Patton, Greg Puciato yelps, whispers, howls and yes, soulfully sings through a set of songs where intense vocals and even more intense instrumentation make for a rather unsettling listening experience. `Black Bubblegum' creeps along in a weirdly poppy manner, as does `Sick On Sunday' with its lightening fast arpeggio guitar runs peddling away in the background. There is even a distinctly Every Time I Die-esque track which seems to be an obvious single choice.

Dillinger Escape Plan have done everything that we would expect from this album and so much more. It is more technical, more melodic and more experimental than anything they have done before. They are at the forefront of exciting heavy music and this is easily one of the best releases of 2007.

I don't know your name!!!!, 27 Feb 2008
OK...so I was lucky to just tour the UK with these guys and I thought I would throw my opinions in for good measure...

I have never really been a big DEP fan as I found their early releases (Running Board and Calculating Infinity) way too hard to swallow and subsequently never bothered to seek any others out.

I wish I had really as Miss Machine (apparently) was a different beast altogether and contained more mainstream melodies and different influences entirely.

I love it when a band evolves and that's pretty much where we have ended up.

This album boots off with "Fix Your Face" and "Lurch" which, although are in the regular DEP sound, are short and I think this helps as they don't lose any of the punch and musical insanity that are DEP trademarks.

Then...(and the kids might not like it)...they delve into Faith No More country with "Black Bubblegum" which sounds like something from King For A Day. But...listen out for the mad piano part and the trumpets. It's still Dillinger but a weird and twisted version.

It's then that the Aphex Twin influence comes with the intro to "Sick On Sunday" and the two "When Acting..." instrumentals. "Nong Eye Gong" gets a bit lost in the middle but WORKS on the vinyl as it's the last track on Side 1.

Side 2 is a different affair entirely...but you can find out for yourselves. Go out and buy it.

It's great to hear a band evolving and not recording the same record again like sooooo many bands these days.

I thought I would hate it but it's turned into a great discovery.

Fix Your Face, 23 Oct 2008
This Album IS amazing. Changing pace but never loosing atmosphere. Jolting through genres but never loosing integrity. It is simply blinding. Dillinger are currently the most interesting and original band around. The songs convert to the live stage even better than I could have hoped. Actually becoming alive.
As with all classic music, Ire Works will never grow old. The general public will figure it out in time.


It pisses all over Miss Machine, which was largely overated.

arguments not reviews, 31 Aug 2008
What!another band changing from what the fan base considers 'there' music.'there' will normally come from those who discover a band at a time before the rest of the world, the individualism of it more than anything else defining why they got into the band in the first place.so many people now describe the alienation of a band developing there sound as abandonment. for Against Me! fans (like me) this has been an argument for years and the same pathetic crap is rooting to DEP.as said earlier nobody wants to hear the same album repeted a dozen times(if so play what you love on repeat) because other band will take inspiration quickly. rather than buying the new album of a band you love fans would be better suited to finding the next new thing in the genre (how many people heard the word 'mathcore'(or whatever pidgin hole) before DEP).BUT when a band progresses beyond what they have been playing to audiences more than a hundred times a year, and do it well, then i can see no reason for criticism. and more to the point a band explaining themselves to fans seems so far beyond the point of creative music that it makes this rant seem worthwhile.

simply this is a great album.if u feel sold out then 5 minutes of last fm and you will find what your looking for again.



Brilliant album. , 30 Jun 2008
I was hesitant about buying this, I'd read some things saying it was average etc. but I went out on a limb and can safely say that this is one of the most clever, artistic and ingenious albums I have heard in a long time.

The opener, Fix Your Face is such a bold opener. There's no messing around, it just goes straight into the action, I love it.

Lurch- Dischordant mayhem with fantastic lyrics.

Black Bubblegum- Sexy, sleazy, dirty culminating in an amazingly catchy outro, my personal favourite.

Sick on Sunday- Slow moving at 1st. Then frantic, it sounds like it doesn't know where to go. I sat there with my mouth open, it's so out there, almost grind in places.

When Acting As A Particle- Creepy, dark instrumental. I very much like it.

Nong Eye Gong- Hardcore, fist pumping, awesome.

When Acting As A Wave- Heavier instrumental. Very catchy.

85288- No holds barred. Dillinger in all their glory.

Milk Lizard- Extremely catchy, chromatic, even use of a samba element, everything.

Party Smasher- Heavy vocals, some shred guitars, more tonal than some of the songs, but still as heavy.

Dead As History- Slow, quiet, then erupts a little bit. Not the heaviest song by a long way, but very good.

Horse Hunter- Another one of my favourites. Guest vocals from Brent from Mastodon (if you like Mastodon- Leviathan, you'll like this album, and vice versa).

Mouth of Ghosts- Took a few listens to get into, but it's very catchy at places. Quite uneasy in itself. Very uncomfortable. I like it a lot.

For fans of: Mastodon, The Mars Volta, Every Time I Die.

The machine that is DEP pull out all the stops, and then some., 13 Mar 2008
Any new release by noise legends The Dillinger Escape Plan is going to be hugely anticipated amongst those in the know and this one, `Ire Works', is no different. It has certainly been a long time since 2004s `Miss Machine' exploded onto our stereos. It was an album that managed, despite its savage brutality, to propel the band into a more mainstream circle, which predictably annoyed many of their hardcore following. But nit-picking scenesters aside, it was undeniably an epic journey of technical wizardry and math-like complexity that wowed almost everyone in the critical and public domain from every angle.

The first two tracks of `Ire Works' dutifully pick up where `Miss Machine' left us. The stop-start-ridiculously-off-time guitar stabs piledrive the speakers into oblivion, as do Greg Puciato's pulverizing vocals. With drummer and founding member Chris Pennie leaving the band to take up duties in prog-emo rockers Coheed Cambria, another drummer was needed to step in and do one hell of job. Gil Sharone was acquired and quite literally pummels this album to shreds whilst still keeping the DEP feel intact.

What has always made The Dillinger Escape Plan that much more interesting than the next technical noise band is their creativity and sometimes bizarre experimentation. Sounding like an angrier Mike Patton, Greg Puciato yelps, whispers, howls and yes, soulfully sings through a set of songs where intense vocals and even more intense instrumentation make for a rather unsettling listening experience. `Black Bubblegum' creeps along in a weirdly poppy manner, as does `Sick On Sunday' with its lightening fast arpeggio guitar runs peddling away in the background. There is even a distinctly Every Time I Die-esque track which seems to be an obvious single choice.

Dillinger Escape Plan have done everything that we would expect from this album and so much more. It is more technical, more melodic and more experimental than anything they have done before. They are at the forefront of exciting heavy music and this is easily one of the best releases of 2007.

I don't know your name!!!!, 27 Feb 2008
OK...so I was lucky to just tour the UK with these guys and I thought I would throw my opinions in for good measure...

I have never really been a big DEP fan as I found their early releases (Running Board and Calculating Infinity) way too hard to swallow and subsequently never bothered to seek any others out.

I wish I had really as Miss Machine (apparently) was a different beast altogether and contained more mainstream melodies and different influences entirely.

I love it when a band evolves and that's pretty much where we have ended up.

This album boots off with "Fix Your Face" and "Lurch" which, although are in the regular DEP sound, are short and I think this helps as they don't lose any of the punch and musical insanity that are DEP trademarks.

Then...(and the kids might not like it)...they delve into Faith No More country with "Black Bubblegum" which sounds like something from King For A Day. But...listen out for the mad piano part and the trumpets. It's still Dillinger but a weird and twisted version.

It's then that the Aphex Twin influence comes with the intro to "Sick On Sunday" and the two "When Acting..." instrumentals. "Nong Eye Gong" gets a bit lost in the middle but WORKS on the vinyl as it's the last track on Side 1.

Side 2 is a different affair entirely...but you can find out for yourselves. Go out and buy it.

It's great to hear a band evolving and not recording the same record again like sooooo many bands these days.

I thought I would hate it but it's turned into a great discovery.


Sold out? I think not., 20 Dec 2006
Well, a lot of people seem annoyed that their pet noise/math/spazz/whatever-core band DEP have grown up and gone all melodic on them. Except that they haven't - this album is way more brutal than most mainstream metal, the song structures are crazy complex, but yes, there's some singing - actual real singing. Shock horror. No, it doesn't sound like Busted or Green Day; if you played this album at your mum she'd probably run away screaming.

This follows on nicely from the EP they did with Mike Patton, expanding what they did there with some glorious noise, mixed in with exceptional Patton-esque vocals, random jazzy breaks, great samples and the odd melodic bit. It sounds like a (slightly) more accessible Hardcore-tinged version of Fantomas in places, but without sounding like a Patton tribute. The best description I can come up with is Converge meets Mr. Bungle, or thereabouts.

So basically anyone who likes properly complex, challenging heavy music will like this, and it will especially appeal to fans of Patton's work post-(and pre- if you count Bungle)Faith No More. A classic.

Dissapointed Escape Plan, 19 Aug 2006
Sorry. I know a lot of people love these guys at the moment, but Im allowed to voice my opinion as Ive been following them since Calculating Infinity came out first time, in 1999, long before the band got the exposure they diserved.As you can guess from the title of the review, to me, this release cant stand up next to their earlier works. Yes, its slick, its crazy, its heavy (occasionally) but essentially it feels like a long extension to the Irony EP they did with Patton. To me, Under the Running board and Calculating Infinity pair together perfectly to form the bands best body of work, in comparison, Miss Machine is exactly what the long time fans didnt want, predictability. This album has much more commercial appeal than its predecessor, catchier hooks, nice singing, lots of weird samples, that isnt what we wanted..... It would have been nice to see Dillinger push the
envelope further and expand on what they had accomplished with Calculating, and released an album that could knock me over, like
the Mullet Burden, or Sugar Coated Sour did the first time I heard them. I built this band up soooooo much for years, they were a constant in my hi-fi, now, they are a memory, they wont ever be like they were again, they were my last great hope, the future is a lot bleaker after you hear this album.
I dunno, maybe as a stand alone album it deserves three stars, maybe, but in the big picture, this is an assured Godfather III, compared to the Godfather I & II goodness that is Calculating Infinity and Under the Running Board EP. Buy those instead and lets pretend this never came out. Bring back Dimitri, get rid of the incubus wannabe muscle man singer, and stop dressing like the Libertines for your new promo shoots. You had it all, and you cashed it in!

Yes, but also a slight no., 28 Apr 2006
There is no question that this band is one of the greatest, with such awesome earlier albums as proof. This album is also great, perhaps not as great as some of previous ones, but still great. I do, though, agree totally with the others on this page where 'Setting fire...' is concerned. I still have slight trouble listening to that song. Ignore it if you don't like it and listen to the rest of the album. It is brilliant. Highlights: Panasonic Youth, Baby's First Coffin, Sunshine the Warewolf, Van Damsel, and more... DO NOT LISTEN TO 'a music fan' HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE@S TALKING ABOUT. Thanks.

boom,this is the bomb, 21 Feb 2006
easily one of 2004s best albums and i do mean easily,my head nearly blew off at the class of it all,its still mathcore but something has changed,they are more melodic than ever,there are even chorus' but that doesnt bother me one bit,when they crank it up to ten it is as violent and as heavy as it comes,i love this and you could too if you have an open mind ,they never sold out,they evolved

One step forward, two steps back, 04 Feb 2006
I've never had such conflicting feelings about an album before, having at various times considered this an album of great invention and maturity, and at others a shallow MTV commercial sell-out. In truth it's probably a bit of both.

In short The Dillinger Escape Plan, having made their name by playing ferociously fast discordant jazz-timed metal, have discovered melody and BIG CHORUSES. Whether you believe that they have taken this route out of genuine musical inspiration or whether they are just selling out to the almighty dollar will therefore colour your opinion of the resulting album. It's not all melody - the opening song is typically fractured stop-start Dillinger, whilst the second track mutates from the standard Dillinger sound into a more heavy Neurosis / Cult of Luna dirge. The further the album goes on though, the more the songs alternate between melodic rock and Dillinger's more familiar aggressive sound. I can fully understand Dillinger wanting some variety on the album - as fantastic as their Under the Running Board EP was an entire album full of tracks that fast and furious would be overwhelming - what I don't understand is their gravitation towards big melodic choruses and simple 4/4 beats; it is possible to slow down without sounding commercial. As such then this is both innovative for Dillinger and also a massive step back, with the band now often sounding like Faith No More or Nine Inch Nails. The melodic songs reach their nadir in Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants, with its nasally whining pop-punk chorus making the band sound like Busted or Green Day (and yes - there's now a video on MTV of this track). |Then, just when you're about ready to toss the album into the garbage, the band kick in with the best song on the album in Baby's First Coffin. The heavier side of the band win out in the end, with about two thirds of the album leaning towards aggression and invention over commercial melody, so this is probably just a bit too extreme to accuse Dillinger of blatant selling out, but with Miss Machine the band are definitely taking a long hard look at the MTV trendy teen audience.

I started listening to bands like Dillinger to find interesting and challenging music, so I hope they step back from the brink of selling out their original fanbase for short term gain of a fickle trend based audience, a la Metallica, Machine Head and a million other once great bands. There's still some good material on Miss Machine - but it's a backwards step from Calculating Infinity. If you're into Nine Inch Nails and Faith No More you'll be blown away by how extreme this album is - but if like me you come to this as a fan of Dillinger's previous spastic grindcore you may well be disappointed. The jury's out on this one.

NB: This album is also available as a limited edition with a bonus live DVD, though the footage is so rough and bad bootleg quality its not worth paying loads more for; there's also an import version with two decent cover versions which is better - if you can track it down there's also an ultra-rare Japanese version with both the extra tracks and the live DVD.

Fix Your Face, 23 Oct 2008
This Album IS amazing. Changing pace but never loosing atmosphere. Jolting through genres but never loosing integrity. It is simply blinding. Dillinger are currently the most interesting and original band around. The songs convert to the live stage even better than I could have hoped. Actually becoming alive.
As with all classic music, Ire Works will never grow old. The general public will figure it out in time.


It pisses all over Miss Machine, which was largely overated.

arguments not reviews, 31 Aug 2008
What!another band changing from what the fan base considers 'there' music.'there' will normally come from those who discover a band at a time before the rest of the world, the individualism of it more than anything else defining why they got into the band in the first place.so many people now describe the alienation of a band developing there sound as abandonment. for Against Me! fans (like me) this has been an argument for years and the same pathetic crap is rooting to DEP.as said earlier nobody wants to hear the same album repeted a dozen times(if so play what you love on repeat) because other band will take inspiration quickly. rather than buying the new album of a band you love fans would be better suited to finding the next new thing in the genre (how many people heard the word 'mathcore'(or whatever pidgin hole) before DEP).BUT when a band progresses beyond what they have been playing to audiences more than a hundred times a year, and do it well, then i can see no reason for criticism. and more to the point a band explaining themselves to fans seems so far beyond the point of creative music that it makes this rant seem worthwhile.

simply this is a great album.if u feel sold out then 5 minutes of last fm and you will find what your looking for again.



Brilliant album. , 30 Jun 2008
I was hesitant about buying this, I'd read some things saying it was average etc. but I went out on a limb and can safely say that this is one of the most clever, artistic and ingenious albums I have heard in a long time.

The opener, Fix Your Face is such a bold opener. There's no messing around, it just goes straight into the action, I love it.

Lurch- Dischordant mayhem with fantastic lyrics.

Black Bubblegum- Sexy, sleazy, dirty culminating in an amazingly catchy outro, my personal favourite.

Sick on Sunday- Slow moving at 1st. Then frantic, it sounds like it doesn't know where to go. I sat there with my mouth open, it's so out there, almost grind in places.

When Acting As A Particle- Creepy, dark instrumental. I very much like it.

Nong Eye Gong- Hardcore, fist pumping, awesome.

When Acting As A Wave- Heavier instrumental. Very catchy.

85288- No holds barred. Dillinger in all their glory.

Milk Lizard- Extremely catchy, chromatic, even use of a samba element, everything.

Party Smasher- Heavy vocals, some shred guitars, more tonal than some of the songs, but still as heavy.

Dead As History- Slow, quiet, then erupts a little bit. Not the heaviest song by a long way, but very good.

Horse Hunter- Another one of my favourites. Guest vocals from Brent from Mastodon (if you like Mastodon- Leviathan, you'll like this album, and vice versa).

Mouth of Ghosts- Took a few listens to get into, but it's very catchy at places. Quite uneasy in itself. Very uncomfortable. I like it a lot.

For fans of: Mastodon, The Mars Volta, Every Time I Die.

The machine that is DEP pull out all the stops, and then some., 13 Mar 2008
Any new release by noise legends The Dillinger Escape Plan is going to be hugely anticipated amongst those in the know and this one, `Ire Works', is no different. It has certainly been a long time since 2004s `Miss Machine' exploded onto our stereos. It was an album that managed, despite its savage brutality, to propel the band into a more mainstream circle, which predictably annoyed many of their hardcore following. But nit-picking scenesters aside, it was undeniably an epic journey of technical wizardry and math-like complexity that wowed almost everyone in the critical and public domain from every angle.

The first two tracks of `Ire Works' dutifully pick up where `Miss Machine' left us. The stop-start-ridiculously-off-time guitar stabs piledrive the speakers into oblivion, as do Greg Puciato's pulverizing vocals. With drummer and founding member Chris Pennie leaving the band to take up duties in prog-emo rockers Coheed Cambria, another drummer was needed to step in and do one hell of job. Gil Sharone was acquired and quite literally pummels this album to shreds whilst still keeping the DEP feel intact.

What has always made The Dillinger Escape Plan that much more interesting than the next technical noise band is their creativity and sometimes bizarre experimentation. Sounding like an angrier Mike Patton, Greg Puciato yelps, whispers, howls and yes, soulfully sings through a set of songs where intense vocals and even more intense instrumentation make for a rather unsettling listening experience. `Black Bubblegum' creeps along in a weirdly poppy manner, as does `Sick On Sunday' with its lightening fast arpeggio guitar runs peddling away in the background. There is even a distinctly Every Time I Die-esque track which seems to be an obvious single choice.

Dillinger Escape Plan have done everything that we would expect from this album and so much more. It is more technical, more melodic and more experimental than anything they have done before. They are at the forefront of exciting heavy music and this is easily one of the best releases of 2007.

I don't know your name!!!!, 27 Feb 2008
OK...so I was lucky to just tour the UK with these guys and I thought I would throw my opinions in for good measure...

I have never really been a big DEP fan as I found their early releases (Running Board and Calculating Infinity) way too hard to swallow and subsequently never bothered to seek any others out.

I wish I had really as Miss Machine (apparently) was a different beast altogether and contained more mainstream melodies and different influences entirely.

I love it when a band evolves and that's pretty much where we have ended up.

This album boots off with "Fix Your Face" and "Lurch" which, although are in the regular DEP sound, are short and I think this helps as they don't lose any of the punch and musical insanity that are DEP trademarks.

Then...(and the kids might not like it)...they delve into Faith No More country with "Black Bubblegum" which sounds like something from King For A Day. But...listen out for the mad piano part and the trumpets. It's still Dillinger but a weird and twisted version.

It's then that the Aphex Twin influence comes with the intro to "Sick On Sunday" and the two "When Acting..." instrumentals. "Nong Eye Gong" gets a bit lost in the middle but WORKS on the vinyl as it's the last track on Side 1.

Side 2 is a different affair entirely...but you can find out for yourselves. Go out and buy it.

It's great to hear a band evolving and not recording the same record again like sooooo many bands these days.

I thought I would hate it but it's turned into a great discovery.


Sold out? I think not., 20 Dec 2006
Well, a lot of people seem annoyed that their pet noise/math/spazz/whatever-core band DEP have grown up and gone all melodic on them. Except that they haven't - this album is way more brutal than most mainstream metal, the song structures are crazy complex, but yes, there's some singing - actual real singing. Shock horror. No, it doesn't sound like Busted or Green Day; if you played this album at your mum she'd probably run away screaming.

This follows on nicely from the EP they did with Mike Patton, expanding what they did there with some glorious noise, mixed in with exceptional Patton-esque vocals, random jazzy breaks, great samples and the odd melodic bit. It sounds like a (slightly) more accessible Hardcore-tinged version of Fantomas in places, but without sounding like a Patton tribute. The best description I can come up with is Converge meets Mr. Bungle, or thereabouts.

So basically anyone who likes properly complex, challenging heavy music will like this, and it will especially appeal to fans of Patton's work post-(and pre- if you count Bungle)Faith No More. A classic.

Dissapointed Escape Plan, 19 Aug 2006
Sorry. I know a lot of people love these guys at the moment, but Im allowed to voice my opinion as Ive been following them since Calculating Infinity came out first time, in 1999, long before the band got the exposure they diserved.As you can guess from the title of the review, to me, this release cant stand up next to their earlier works. Yes, its slick, its crazy, its heavy (occasionally) but essentially it feels like a long extension to the Irony EP they did with Patton. To me, Under the Running board and Calculating Infinity pair together perfectly to form the bands best body of work, in comparison, Miss Machine is exactly what the long time fans didnt want, predictability. This album has much more commercial appeal than its predecessor, catchier hooks, nice singing, lots of weird samples, that isnt what we wanted..... It would have been nice to see Dillinger push the
envelope further and expand on what they had accomplished with Calculating, and released an album that could knock me over, like
the Mullet Burden, or Sugar Coated Sour did the first time I heard them. I built this band up soooooo much for years, they were a constant in my hi-fi, now, they are a memory, they wont ever be like they were again, they were my last great hope, the future is a lot bleaker after you hear this album.
I dunno, maybe as a stand alone album it deserves three stars, maybe, but in the big picture, this is an assured Godfather III, compared to the Godfather I & II goodness that is Calculating Infinity and Under the Running Board EP. Buy those instead and lets pretend this never came out. Bring back Dimitri, get rid of the incubus wannabe muscle man singer, and stop dressing like the Libertines for your new promo shoots. You had it all, and you cashed it in!

Yes, but also a slight no., 28 Apr 2006
There is no question that this band is one of the greatest, with such awesome earlier albums as proof. This album is also great, perhaps not as great as some of previous ones, but still great. I do, though, agree totally with the others on this page where 'Setting fire...' is concerned. I still have slight trouble listening to that song. Ignore it if you don't like it and listen to the rest of the album. It is brilliant. Highlights: Panasonic Youth, Baby's First Coffin, Sunshine the Warewolf, Van Damsel, and more... DO NOT LISTEN TO 'a music fan' HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE@S TALKING ABOUT. Thanks.

boom,this is the bomb, 21 Feb 2006
easily one of 2004s best albums and i do mean easily,my head nearly blew off at the class of it all,its still mathcore but something has changed,they are more melodic than ever,there are even chorus' but that doesnt bother me one bit,when they crank it up to ten it is as violent and as heavy as it comes,i love this and you could too if you have an open mind ,they never sold out,they evolved

One step forward, two steps back, 04 Feb 2006
I've never had such conflicting feelings about an album before, having at various times considered this an album of great invention and maturity, and at others a shallow MTV commercial sell-out. In truth it's probably a bit of both.

In short The Dillinger Escape Plan, having made their name by playing ferociously fast discordant jazz-timed metal, have discovered melody and BIG CHORUSES. Whether you believe that they have taken this route out of genuine musical inspiration or whether they are just selling out to the almighty dollar will therefore colour your opinion of the resulting album. It's not all melody - the opening song is typically fractured stop-start Dillinger, whilst the second track mutates from the standard Dillinger sound into a more heavy Neurosis / Cult of Luna dirge. The further the album goes on though, the more the songs alternate between melodic rock and Dillinger's more familiar aggressive sound. I can fully understand Dillinger wanting some variety on the album - as fantastic as their Under the Running Board EP was an entire album full of tracks that fast and furious would be overwhelming - what I don't understand is their gravitation towards big melodic choruses and simple 4/4 beats; it is possible to slow down without sounding commercial. As such then this is both innovative for Dillinger and also a massive step back, with the band now often sounding like Faith No More or Nine Inch Nails. The melodic songs reach their nadir in Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants, with its nasally whining pop-punk chorus making the band sound like Busted or Green Day (and yes - there's now a video on MTV of this track). |Then, just when you're about ready to toss the album into the garbage, the band kick in with the best song on the album in Baby's First Coffin. The heavier side of the band win out in the end, with about two thirds of the album leaning towards aggression and invention over commercial melody, so this is probably just a bit too extreme to accuse Dillinger of blatant selling out, but with Miss Machine the band are definitely taking a long hard look at the MTV trendy teen audience.

I started listening to bands like Dillinger to find interesting and challenging music, so I hope they step back from the brink of selling out their original fanbase for short term gain of a fickle trend based audience, a la Metallica, Machine Head and a million other once great bands. There's still some good material on Miss Machine - but it's a backwards step from Calculating Infinity. If you're into Nine Inch Nails and Faith No More you'll be blown away by how extreme this album is - but if like me you come to this as a fan of Dillinger's previous spastic grindcore you may well be disappointed. The jury's out on this one.

NB: This album is also available as a limited edition with a bonus live DVD, though the footage is so rough and bad bootleg quality its not worth paying loads more for; there's also an import version with two decent cover versions which is better - if you can track it down there's also an ultra-rare Japanese version with both the extra tracks and the live DVD.

Outstanding and essential., 11 Aug 2001
Dillinger Four are one of the greatest punk-genre bands I have ever heard. This album is simply incredible - no contest. Anyone who likes hardcore, punk, ect. should own this. Genuine, original and loud. Absolutely essential.

Dillinger Four hit the mark., 19 Sep 2000
I bought this album while on holiday in Canada because of all of the hype that I 'd heard, like 'They are the new punkers to watch', etc.... It doesn't often happen when hype is deserved, but believe me, with this album it is. At a first listen it doesn't sound like anything new, but after a few listens it digs its hooked claws into you. The hooks start to appear and the lyrics are absolutely amazing. The political feel of the lyrics is remeniscent of Good Riddance, but without a bald Dad on bass. It is obvious that they have a passion for what they do...

Fix Your Face, 23 Oct 2008
This Album IS amazing. Changing pace but never loosing atmosphere. Jolting through genres but never loosing integrity. It is simply blinding. Dillinger are currently the most interesting and original band around. The songs convert to the live stage even better than I could have hoped. Actually becoming alive.
As with all classic music, Ire Works will never grow old. The general public will figure it out in time.


It pisses all over Miss Machine, which was largely overated.

arguments not reviews, 31 Aug 2008
What!another band changing from what the fan base considers 'there' music.'there' will normally come from those who discover a band at a time before the rest of the world, the individualism of it more than anything else defining why they got into the band in the first place.so many people now describe the alienation of a band developing there sound as abandonment. for Against Me! fans (like me) this has been an argument for years and the same pathetic crap is rooting to DEP.as said earlier nobody wants to hear the same album repeted a dozen times(if so play what you love on repeat) because other band will take inspiration quickly. rather than buying the new album of a band you love fans would be better suited to finding the next new thing in the genre (how many people heard the word 'mathcore'(or whatever pidgin hole) before DEP).BUT when a band progresses beyond what they have been playing to audiences more than a hundred times a year, and do it well, then i can see no reason for criticism. and more to the point a band explaining themselves to fans seems so far beyond the point of creative music that it makes this rant seem worthwhile.

simply this is a great album.if u feel sold out then 5 minutes of last fm and you will find what your looking for again.



Brilliant album. , 30 Jun 2008
I was hesitant about buying this, I'd read some things saying it was average etc. but I went out on a limb and can safely say that this is one of the most clever, artistic and ingenious albums I have heard in a long time.

The opener, Fix Your Face is such a bold opener. There's no messing around, it just goes straight into the action, I love it.

Lurch- Dischordant mayhem with fantastic lyrics.

Black Bubblegum- Sexy, sleazy, dirty culminating in an amazingly catchy outro, my personal favourite.

Sick on Sunday- Slow moving at 1st. Then frantic, it sounds like it doesn't know where to go. I sat there with my mouth open, it's so out there, almost grind in places.

When Acting As A Particle- Creepy, dark instrumental. I very much like it.

Nong Eye Gong- Hardcore, fist pumping, awesome.

When Acting As A Wave- Heavier instrumental. Very catchy.

85288- No holds barred. Dillinger in all their glory.

Milk Lizard- Extremely catchy, chromatic, even use of a samba element, everything.

Party Smasher- Heavy vocals, some shred guitars, more tonal than some of the songs, but still as heavy.

Dead As History- Slow, quiet, then erupts a little bit. Not the heaviest song by a long way, but very good.

Horse Hunter- Another one of my favourites. Guest vocals from Brent from Mastodon (if you like Mastodon- Leviathan, you'll like this album, and vice versa).

Mouth of Ghosts- Took a few listens to get into, but it's very catchy at places. Quite uneasy in itself. Very uncomfortable. I like it a lot.

For fans of: Mastodon, The Mars Volta, Every Time I Die.

The machine that is DEP pull out all the stops, and then some., 13 Mar 2008
Any new release by noise legends The Dillinger Escape Plan is going to be hugely anticipated amongst those in the know and this one, `Ire Works', is no different. It has certainly been a long time since 2004s `Miss Machine' exploded onto our stereos. It was an album that managed, despite its savage brutality, to propel the band into a more mainstream circle, which predictably annoyed many of their hardcore following. But nit-picking scenesters aside, it was undeniably an epic journey of technical wizardry and math-like complexity that wowed almost everyone in the critical and public domain from every angle.

The first two tracks of `Ire Works' dutifully pick up where `Miss Machine' left us. The stop-start-ridiculously-off-time guitar stabs piledrive the speakers into oblivion, as do Greg Puciato's pulverizing vocals. With drummer and founding member Chris Pennie leaving the band to take up duties in prog-emo rockers Coheed Cambria, another drummer was needed to step in and do one hell of job. Gil Sharone was acquired and quite literally pummels this album to shreds whilst still keeping the DEP feel intact.

What has always made The Dillinger Escape Plan that much more interesting than the next technical noise band is their creativity and sometimes bizarre experimentation. Sounding like an angrier Mike Patton, Greg Puciato yelps, whispers, howls and yes, soulfully sings through a set of songs where intense vocals and even more intense instrumentation make for a rather unsettling listening experience. `Black Bubblegum' creeps along in a weirdly poppy manner, as does `Sick On Sunday' with its lightening fast arpeggio guitar runs peddling away in the background. There is even a distinctly Every Time I Die-esque track which seems to be an obvious single choice.

Dillinger Escape Plan have done everything that we would expect from this album and so much more. It is more technical, more melodic and more experimental than anything they have done before. They are at the forefront of exciting heavy music and this is easily one of the best releases of 2007.

I don't know your name!!!!, 27 Feb 2008
OK...so I was lucky to just tour the UK with these guys and I thought I would throw my opinions in for good measure...

I have never really been a big DEP fan as I found their early releases (Running Board and Calculating Infinity) way too hard to swallow and subsequently never bothered to seek any others out.

I wish I had really as Miss Machine (apparently) was a different beast altogether and contained more mainstream melodies and different influences entirely.

I love it when a band evolves and that's pretty much where we have ended up.

This album boots off with "Fix Your Face" and "Lurch" which, although are in the regular DEP sound, are short and I think this helps as they don't lose any of the punch and musical insanity that are DEP trademarks.

Then...(and the kids might not like it)...they delve into Faith No More country with "Black Bubblegum" which sounds like something from King For A Day. But...listen out for the mad piano part and the trumpets. It's still Dillinger but a weird and twisted version.

It's then that the Aphex Twin influence comes with the intro to "Sick On Sunday" and the two "When Acting..." instrumentals. "Nong Eye Gong" gets a bit lost in the middle but WORKS on the vinyl as it's the last track on Side 1.

Side 2 is a different affair entirely...but you can find out for yourselves. Go out and buy it.

It's great to hear a band evolving and not recording the same record again like sooooo many bands these days.

I thought I would hate it but it's turned into a great discovery.


Sold out? I think not., 20 Dec 2006
Well, a lot of people seem annoyed that their pet noise/math/spazz/whatever-core band DEP have grown up and gone all melodic on them. Except that they haven't - this album is way more brutal than most mainstream metal, the song structures are crazy complex, but yes, there's some singing - actual real singing. Shock horror. No, it doesn't sound like Busted or Green Day; if you played this album at your mum she'd probably run away screaming.

This follows on nicely from the EP they did with Mike Patton, expanding what they did there with some glorious noise, mixed in with exceptional Patton-esque vocals, random jazzy breaks, great samples and the odd melodic bit. It sounds like a (slightly) more accessible Hardcore-tinged version of Fantomas in places, but without sounding like a Patton tribute. The best description I can come up with is Converge meets Mr. Bungle, or thereabouts.

So basically anyone who likes properly complex, challenging heavy music will like this, and it will especially appeal to fans of Patton's work post-(and pre- if you count Bungle)Faith No More. A classic.

Dissapointed Escape Plan, 19 Aug 2006
Sorry. I know a lot of people love these guys at the moment, but Im allowed to voice my opinion as Ive been following them since Calculating Infinity came out first time, in 1999, long before the band got the exposure they diserved.As you can guess from the title of the review, to me, this release cant stand up next to their earlier works. Yes, its slick, its crazy, its heavy (occasionally) but essentially it feels like a long extension to the Irony EP they did with Patton. To me, Under the Running board and Calculating Infinity pair together perfectly to form the bands best body of work, in comparison, Miss Machine is exactly what the long time fans didnt want, predictability. This album has much more commercial appeal than its predecessor, catchier hooks, nice singing, lots of weird samples, that isnt what we wanted..... It would have been nice to see Dillinger push the
envelope further and expand on what they had accomplished with Calculating, and released an album that could knock me over, like
the Mullet Burden, or Sugar Coated Sour did the first time I heard them. I built this band up soooooo much for years, they were a constant in my hi-fi, now, they are a memory, they wont ever be like they were again, they were my last great hope, the future is a lot bleaker after you hear this album.
I dunno, maybe as a stand alone album it deserves three stars, maybe, but in the big picture, this is an assured Godfather III, compared to the Godfather I & II goodness that is Calculating Infinity and Under the Running Board EP. Buy those instead and lets pretend this never came out. Bring back Dimitri, get rid of the incubus wannabe muscle man singer, and stop dressing like the Libertines for your new promo shoots. You had it all, and you cashed it in!

Yes, but also a slight no., 28 Apr 2006
There is no question that this band is one of the greatest, with such awesome earlier albums as proof. This album is also great, perhaps not as great as some of previous ones, but still great. I do, though, agree totally with the others on this page where 'Setting fire...' is concerned. I still have slight trouble listening to that song. Ignore it if you don't like it and listen to the rest of the album. It is brilliant. Highlights: Panasonic Youth, Baby's First Coffin, Sunshine the Warewolf, Van Damsel, and more... DO NOT LISTEN TO 'a music fan' HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE@S TALKING ABOUT. Thanks.

boom,this is the bomb, 21 Feb 2006
easily one of 2004s best albums and i do mean easily,my head nearly blew off at the class of it all,its still mathcore but something has changed,they are more melodic than ever,there are even chorus' but that doesnt bother me one bit,when they crank it up to ten it is as violent and as heavy as it comes,i love this and you could too if you have an open mind ,they never sold out,they evolved

One step forward, two steps back, 04 Feb 2006
I've never had such conflicting feelings about an album before, having at various times considered this an album of great invention and maturity, and at others a shallow MTV commercial sell-out. In truth it's probably a bit of both.

In short The Dillinger Escape Plan, having made their name by playing ferociously fast discordant jazz-timed metal, have discovered melody and BIG CHORUSES. Whether you believe that they have taken this route out of genuine musical inspiration or whether they are just selling out to the almighty dollar will therefore colour your opinion of the resulting album. It's not all melody - the opening song is typically fractured stop-start Dillinger, whilst the second track mutates from the standard Dillinger sound into a more heavy Neurosis / Cult of Luna dirge. The further the album goes on though, the more the songs alternate between melodic rock and Dillinger's more familiar aggressive sound. I can fully understand Dillinger wanting some variety on the album - as fantastic as their Under the Running Board EP was an entire album full of tracks that fast and furious would be overwhelming - what I don't understand is their gravitation towards big melodic choruses and simple 4/4 beats; it is possible to slow down without sounding commercial. As such then this is both innovative for Dillinger and also a massive step back, with the band now often sounding like Faith No More or Nine Inch Nails. The melodic songs reach their nadir in Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants, with its nasally whining pop-punk chorus making the band sound like Busted or Green Day (and yes - there's now a video on MTV of this track). |Then, just when you're about ready to toss the album into the garbage, the band kick in with the best song on the album in Baby's First Coffin. The heavier side of the band win out in the end, with about two thirds of the album leaning towards aggression and invention over commercial melody, so this is probably just a bit too extreme to accuse Dillinger of blatant selling out, but with Miss Machine the band are definitely taking a long hard look at the MTV trendy teen audience.

I started listening to bands like Dillinger to find interesting and challenging music, so I hope they step back from the brink of selling out their original fanbase for short term gain of a fickle trend based audience, a la Metallica, Machine Head and a million other once great bands. There's still some good material on Miss Machine - but it's a backwards step from Calculating Infinity. If you're into Nine Inch Nails and Faith No More you'll be blown away by how extreme this album is - but if like me you come to this as a fan of Dillinger's previous spastic grindcore you may well be disappointed. The jury's out on this one.

NB: This album is also available as a limited edition with a bonus live DVD, though the footage is so rough and bad bootleg quality its not worth paying loads more for; there's also an import version with two decent cover versions which is better - if you can track it down there's also an ultra-rare Japanese version with both the extra tracks and the live DVD.

Outstanding and essential., 11 Aug 2001
Dillinger Four are one of the greatest punk-genre bands I have ever heard. This album is simply incredible - no contest. Anyone who likes hardcore, punk, ect. should own this. Genuine, original and loud. Absolutely essential.

Dillinger Four hit the mark., 19 Sep 2000
I bought this album while on holiday in Canada because of all of the hype that I 'd heard, like 'They are the new punkers to watch', etc.... It doesn't often happen when hype is deserved, but believe me, with this album it is. At a first listen it doesn't sound like anything new, but after a few listens it digs its hooked claws into you. The hooks start to appear and the lyrics are absolutely amazing. The political feel of the lyrics is remeniscent of Good Riddance, but without a bald Dad on bass. It is obvious that they have a passion for what they do...

a mini album that set the path for mathcores gods, 03 May 2006
this is a mini album that wont bore as its only 15 minutes long and its easy to see the progression that the band made in the years between this and 2004s masterpiece that was miss machine,here we have 6 songs that are heavy,melodic and twisted but not quite mathcore,the seeds were planted here and in calculating infinity we had the fruit to show,anyway this is very promising and although not the greatest set of songs ever recorded there is more than enough to keep dillinger escape plan fans smiling,songs like i love secret agents are intricate enough and there is more melody than perhaps the calculating album,all in all a worthy addition to any fans stock!

A solid debut, 05 Nov 2004
The Dillinger Escape Plan's debut mini-album has all the pieces in place for their later jaw-dropping releases, with odd jazz rhythms punctuating the aggressive metalcore, but compared to the likes of Under The Running Board and Calculating Infinity there just isn't enough speed or variation here. Good quality jagged metal/hardcore - but when their later releases would find them fitting as many riffs into one song as they have on this entire mini-album this feels oddly lethargic and repetitive. Still, a solid debut - but nothing spectacular.

remastered classic, 19 Jan 2003
this was TDEP's debut, and was origionally a bit roungh around the edges on the old recording side of things, hence the fact that it's been remastered, and this time around it has an altogether better sound. This album is electronic hardcore at its very best, in my opinion the cream of all of TDEP's releases, it has a slightly different sound from the band we know to day, the sound has evolved since this album. It is overall a great album and i would recommend it, especially in the remastered version.

Woah!, 18 Jan 2003
What a f***ing amazing album! Heavy, yet melodic.
Amazing vocals, basslines, riffs, and drumming make this one of the best albums in my cd collection. A must for DEP fans, and anybody who likes extreme music!

Very good, but not as amazing as "Calculating Infinity", 15 Aug 2001
Looking at the summary of this review, you shouldn't need to read any more. But there's a bit more to be said.

This is a re-release of DEP's first E.P. The artwork has been updated for this release and comes with bonus live tracks, which are nice extras and just go to show that DEP can pull of their blinding white hot fury live as well as on record.

The music itself is not up to the standard of "Calculating Infinity" (as I said in the summary). It is, however, still very good. It is not quite as technical or as well produced. At the risk of being blasted by others, I will say that this release is far more of a straight-forward 'metal' collection of songs (listen to "Monticello", to get a better idea of what I mean).

Overall though, a very good E.P. and a worthy purchase for existing fans. But if you are new to DEP, or want to try them out, make sure you buy "Calculating Infinity" first.

Fix Your Face, 23 Oct 2008
This Album IS amazing. Changing pace but never loosing atmosphere. Jolting through genres but never loosing integrity. It is simply blinding. Dillinger are currently the most interesting and original band around. The songs convert to the live stage even better than I could have hoped. Actually becoming alive.
As with all classic music, Ire Works will never grow old. The general public will figure it out in time.


It pisses all over Miss Machine, which was largely overated.

arguments not reviews, 31 Aug 2008
What!another band changing from what the fan base considers 'there' music.'there' will normally come from those who discover a band at a time before the rest of the world, the individualism of it more than anything else defining why they got into the band in the first place.so many people now describe the alienation of a band developing there sound as abandonment. for Against Me! fans (like me) this has been an argument for years and the same pathetic crap is rooting to DEP.as said earlier nobody wants to hear the same album repeted a dozen times(if so play what you love on repeat) because other band will take inspiration quickly. rather than buying the new album of a band you love fans would be better suited to finding the next new thing in the genre (how many people heard the word 'mathcore'(or whatever pidgin hole) before DEP).BUT when a band progresses beyond what they have been playing to audiences more than a hundred times a year, and do it well, then i can see no reason for criticism. and more to the point a band explaining themselves to fans seems so far beyond the point of creative music that it makes this rant seem worthwhile.

simply this is a great album.if u feel sold out then 5 minutes of last fm and you will find what your looking for again.



Brilliant album. , 30 Jun 2008
I was hesitant about buying this, I'd read some things saying it was average etc. but I went out on a limb and can safely say that this is one of the most clever, artistic and ingenious albums I have heard in a long time.

The opener, Fix Your Face is such a bold opener. There's no messing around, it just goes straight into the action, I love it.

Lurch- Dischordant mayhem with fantastic lyrics.

Black Bubblegum- Sexy, sleazy, dirty culminating in an amazingly catchy outro, my personal favourite.

Sick on Sunday- Slow moving at 1st. Then frantic, it sounds like it doesn't know where to go. I sat there with my mouth open, it's so out there, almost grind in places.

When Acting As A Particle- Creepy, dark instrumental. I very much like it.

Nong Eye Gong- Hardcore, fist pumping, awesome.

When Acting As A Wave- Heavier instrumental. Very catchy.

85288- No holds barred. Dillinger in all their glory.

Milk Lizard- Extremely catchy, chromatic, even use of a samba element, everything.

Party Smasher- Heavy vocals, some shred guitars, more tonal than some of the songs, but still as heavy.

Dead As History- Slow, quiet, then erupts a little bit. Not the heaviest song by a long way, but very good.

Horse Hunter- Another one of my favourites. Guest vocals from Brent from Mastodon (if you like Mastodon- Leviathan, you'll like this album, and vice versa).

Mouth of Ghosts- Took a few listens to get into, but it's very catchy at places. Quite uneasy in itself. Very uncomfortable. I like it a lot.

For fans of: Mastodon, The Mars Volta, Every Time I Die.

The machine that is DEP pull out all the stops, and then some., 13 Mar 2008
Any new release by noise legends The Dillinger Escape Plan is going to be hugely anticipated amongst those in the know and this one, `Ire Works', is no different. It has certainly been a long time since 2004s `Miss Machine' exploded onto our stereos. It was an album that managed, despite its savage brutality, to propel the band into a more mainstream circle, which predictably annoyed many of their hardcore following. But nit-picking scenesters aside, it was undeniably an epic journey of technical wizardry and math-like complexity that wowed almost everyone in the critical and public domain from every angle.

The first two tracks of `Ire Works' dutifully pick up where `Miss Machine' left us. The stop-start-ridiculously-off-time guitar stabs piledrive the speakers into oblivion, as do Greg Puciato's pulverizing vocals. With drummer and founding member Chris Pennie leaving the band to take up duties in prog-emo rockers Coheed Cambria, another drummer was needed to step in and do one hell of job. Gil Sharone was acquired and quite literally pummels this album to shreds whilst still keeping the DEP feel intact.

What has always made The Dillinger Escape Plan that much more interesting than the next technical noise band is their creativity and sometimes bizarre experimentation. Sounding like an angrier Mike Patton, Greg Puciato yelps, whispers, howls and yes, soulfully sings through a set of songs where intense vocals and even more intense instrumentation make for a rather unsettling listening experience. `Black Bubblegum' creeps along in a weirdly poppy manner, as does `Sick On Sunday' with its lightening fast arpeggio guitar runs peddling away in the background. There is even a distinctly Every Time I Die-esque track which seems to be an obvious single choice.

Dillinger Escape Plan have done everything that we would expect from this album and so much more. It is more technical, more melodic and more experimental than anything they have done before. They are at the forefront of exciting heavy music and this is easily one of the best releases of 2007.

I don't know your name!!!!, 27 Feb 2008
OK...so I was lucky to just tour the UK with these guys and I thought I would throw my opinions in for good measure...

I have never really been a big DEP fan as I found their early releases (Running Board and Calculating Infinity) way too hard to swallow and subsequently never bothered to seek any others out.

I wish I had really as Miss Machine (apparently) was a different beast altogether and contained more mainstream melodies and different influences entirely.

I love it when a band evolves and that's pretty much where we have ended up.

This album boots off with "Fix Your Face" and "Lurch" which, although are in the regular DEP sound, are short and I think this helps as they don't lose any of the punch and musical insanity that are DEP trademarks.

Then...(and the kids might not like it)...they delve into Faith No More country with "Black Bubblegum" which sounds like something from King For A Day. But...listen out for the mad piano part and the trumpets. It's still Dillinger but a weird and twisted version.

It's then that the Aphex Twin influence comes with the intro to "Sick On Sunday" and the two "When Acting..." instrumentals. "Nong Eye Gong" gets a bit lost in the middle but WORKS on the vinyl as it's the last track on Side 1.

Side 2 is a different affair entirely...but you can find out for yourselves. Go out and buy it.

It's great to hear a band evolving and not recording the same record again like sooooo many bands these days.

I thought I would hate it but it's turned into a great discovery.


Sold out? I think not., 20 Dec 2006
Well, a lot of people seem annoyed that their pet noise/math/spazz/whatever-core band DEP have grown up and gone all melodic on them. Except that they haven't - this album is way more brutal than most mainstream metal, the song structures are crazy complex, but yes, there's some singing - actual real singing. Shock horror. No, it doesn't sound like Busted or Green Day; if you played this album at your mum she'd probably run away screaming.

This follows on nicely from the EP they did with Mike Patton, expanding what they did there with some glorious noise, mixed in with exceptional Patton-esque vocals, random jazzy breaks, great samples and the odd melodic bit. It sounds like a (slightly) more accessible Hardcore-tinged version of Fantomas in places, but without sounding like a Patton tribute. The best description I can come up with is Converge meets Mr. Bungle, or thereabouts.

So basically anyone who likes properly complex, challenging heavy music will like this, and it will especially appeal to fans of Patton's work post-(and pre- if you count Bungle)Faith No More. A classic.

Dissapointed Escape Plan, 19 Aug 2006
Sorry. I know a lot of people love these guys at the moment, but Im allowed to voice my opinion as Ive been following them since Calculating Infinity came out first time, in 1999, long before the band got the exposure they diserved.As you can guess from the title of the review, to me, this release cant stand up next to their earlier works. Yes, its slick, its crazy, its heavy (occasionally) but essentially it feels like a long extension to the Irony EP they did with Patton. To me, Under the Running board and Calculating Infinity pair together perfectly to form the bands best body of work, in comparison, Miss Machine is exactly what the long time fans didnt want, predictability. This album has much more commercial appeal than its predecessor, catchier hooks, nice singing, lots of weird samples, that isnt what we wanted..... It would have been nice to see Dillinger push the
envelope further and expand on what they had accomplished with Calculating, and released an album that could knock me over, like
the Mullet Burden, or Sugar Coated Sour did the first time I heard them. I built this band up soooooo much for years, they were a constant in my hi-fi, now, they are a memory, they wont ever be like they were again, they were my last great hope, the future is a lot bleaker after you hear this album.
I dunno, maybe as a stand alone album it deserves three stars, maybe, but in the big picture, this is an assured Godfather III, compared to the Godfather I & II goodness that is Calculating Infinity and Under the Running Board EP. Buy those instead and lets pretend this never came out. Bring back Dimitri, get rid of the incubus wannabe muscle man singer, and stop dressing like the Libertines for your new promo shoots. You had it all, and you cashed it in!

Yes, but also a slight no., 28 Apr 2006
There is no question that this band is one of the greatest, with such awesome earlier albums as proof. This album is also great, perhaps not as great as some of previous ones, but still great. I do, though, agree totally with the others on this page where 'Setting fire...' is concerned. I still have slight trouble listening to that song. Ignore it if you don't like it and listen to the rest of the album. It is brilliant. Highlights: Panasonic Youth, Baby's First Coffin, Sunshine the Warewolf, Van Damsel, and more... DO NOT LISTEN TO 'a music fan' HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE@S TALKING ABOUT. Thanks.

boom,this is the bomb, 21 Feb 2006
easily one of 2004s best albums and i do mean easily,my head nearly blew off at the class of it all,its still mathcore but something has changed,they are more melodic than ever,there are even chorus' but that doesnt bother me one bit,when they crank it up to ten it is as violent and as heavy as it comes,i love this and you could too if you have an open mind ,they never sold out,they evolved

One step forward, two steps back, 04 Feb 2006
I've never had such conflicting feelings about an album before, having at various times considered this an album of great invention and maturity, and at others a shallow MTV commercial sell-out. In truth it's probably a bit of both.

In short The Dillinger Escape Plan, having made their name by playing ferociously fast discordant jazz-timed metal, have discovered melody and BIG CHORUSES. Whether you believe that they have taken this route out of genuine musical inspiration or whether they are just selling out to the almighty dollar will therefore colour your opinion of the resulting album. It's not all melody - the opening song is typically fractured stop-start Dillinger, whilst the second track mutates from the standard Dillinger sound into a more heavy Neurosis / Cult of Luna dirge. The further the album goes on though, the more the songs alternate between melodic rock and Dillinger's more familiar aggressive sound. I can fully understand Dillinger wanting some variety on the album - as fantastic as their Under the Running Board EP was an entire album full of tracks that fast and furious would be overwhelming - what I don't understand is their gravitation towards big melodic choruses and simple 4/4 beats; it is possible to slow down without sounding commercial. As such then this is both innovative for Dillinger and also a massive step back, with the band now often sounding like Faith No More or Nine Inch Nails. The melodic songs reach their nadir in Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants, with its nasally whining pop-punk chorus making the band sound like Busted or Green Day (and yes - there's now a video on MTV of this track). |Then, just when you're about ready to toss the album into the garbage, the band kick in with the best song on the album in Baby's First Coffin. The heavier side of the band win out in the end, with about two thirds of the album leaning towards aggression and invention over commercial melody, so this is probably just a bit too extreme to accuse Dillinger of blatant selling out, but with Miss Machine the band are definitely taking a long hard look at the MTV trendy teen audience.

I started listening to bands like Dillinger to find interesting and challenging music, so I hope they step back from the brink of selling out their original fanbase for short term gain of a fickle trend based audience, a la Metallica, Machine Head and a million other once great bands. There's still some good material on Miss Machine - but it's a backwards step from Calculating Infinity. If you're into Nine Inch Nails and Faith No More you'll be blown away by how extreme this album is - but if like me you come to this as a fan of Dillinger's previous spastic grindcore you may well be disappointed. The jury's out on this one.

NB: This album is also available as a limited edition with a bonus live DVD, though the footage is so rough and bad bootleg quality its not worth paying loads more for; there's also an import version with two decent cover versions which is better - if you can track it down there's also an ultra-rare Japanese version with both the extra tracks and the live DVD.

Outstanding and essential., 11 Aug 2001
Dillinger Four are one of the greatest punk-genre bands I have ever heard. This album is simply incredible - no contest. Anyone who likes hardcore, punk, ect. should own this. Genuine, original and loud. Absolutely essential.

Dillinger Four hit the mark., 19 Sep 2000
I bought this album while on holiday in Canada because of all of the hype that I 'd heard, like 'They are the new punkers to watch', etc.... It doesn't often happen when hype is deserved, but believe me, with this album it is. At a first listen it doesn't sound like anything new, but after a few listens it digs its hooked claws into you. The hooks start to appear and the lyrics are absolutely amazing. The political feel of the lyrics is remeniscent of Good Riddance, but without a bald Dad on bass. It is obvious that they have a passion for what they do...

a mini album that set the path for mathcores gods, 03 May 2006
this is a mini album that wont bore as its only 15 minutes long and its easy to see the progression that the band made in the years between this and 2004s masterpiece that was miss machine,here we have 6 songs that are heavy,melodic and twisted but not quite mathcore,the seeds were planted here and in calculating infinity we had the fruit to show,anyway this is very promising and although not the greatest set of songs ever recorded there is more than enough to keep dillinger escape plan fans smiling,songs like i love secret agents are intricate enough and there is more melody than perhaps the calculating album,all in all a worthy addition to any fans stock!

A solid debut, 05 Nov 2004
The Dillinger Escape Plan's debut mini-album has all the pieces in place for their later jaw-dropping releases, with odd jazz rhythms punctuating the aggressive metalcore, but compared to the likes of Under The Running Board and Calculating Infinity there just isn't enough speed or variation here. Good quality jagged metal/hardcore - but when their later releases would find them fitting as many riffs into one song as they have on this entire mini-album this feels oddly lethargic and repetitive. Still, a solid debut - but nothing spectacular.

remastered classic, 19 Jan 2003
this was TDEP's debut, and was origionally a bit roungh around the edges on the old recording side of things, hence the fact that it's been remastered, and this time around it has an altogether better sound. This album is electronic hardcore at its very best, in my opinion the cream of all of TDEP's releases, it has a slightly different sound from the band we know to day, the sound has evolved since this album. It is overall a great album and i would recommend it, especially in the remastered version.

Woah!, 18 Jan 2003
What a f***ing amazing album! Heavy, yet melodic.
Amazing vocals, basslines, riffs, and drumming make this one of the best albums in my cd collection. A must for DEP fans, and anybody who likes extreme music!

Very good, but not as amazing as "Calculating Infinity", 15 Aug 2001
Looking at the summary of this review, you shouldn't need to read any more. But there's a bit more to be said.

This is a re-release of DEP's first E.P. The artwork has been updated for this release and comes with bonus live tracks, which are nice extras and just go to show that DEP can pull of their blinding white hot fury live as well as on record.

The music itself is not up to the standard of "Calculating Infinity" (as I said in the summary). It is, however, still very good. It is not quite as technical or as well produced. At the risk of being blasted by others, I will say that this release is far more of a straight-forward 'metal' collection of songs (listen to "Monticello", to get a better idea of what I mean).

Overall though, a very good E.P. and a worthy purchase for existing fans. But if you are new to DEP, or want to try them out, make sure you buy "Calculating Infinity" first.

Perfect grind, 06 Nov 2004
You may baulk at the idea of paying cash for a 7 ½ minute CD, but Under the Running Board is so intense it really works perfectly at that length. The band have kept the jagged rhythms and searing guitars of their debut mini-album, but massively increased the speed and complexity - from the moment The Mullet Burden kicks in you will be blown away by the sheer mass of riffs per minute, while the odd jazz time signatures keep this release interesting dozens of listens later. Intense, grinding, jaw-dropping stuff - Under the Running Board may be short, but it's perfectly formed. Essential.

Where it all began..., 21 Sep 2002
OK this E.P. obviously isn't as hyper chaotic and developed as Calculating Infinity, but this is THE breakthrough E.P. where it all began. The key song on this 9 minute CD being 'The Mullet Burden' where all of a sudden people started to take them seriously, when all the heckles and insults stopped and turned into a mixture of cheers and shocked faces. Since then 'Mullet Burden' has been a starting marker in their ever developing style, and even to this day [I've known this song for about a year now] I still can't make out the complicated beats. It's still one of the finest songs Dillinger have written so far.

The remainding two tracks may not be as overwhelming and furious as Calc Infinity, but they are equally intense and still blow most competition out of the water, particularly 'Abe the Cop' which is amazing live. 'Sandbox Magician' is the weaker of the 3 but is rounded off with a really fine outro; a kinda uneasy funky demonic jam which has echoed through their so-far short careers as one of their trademarks. So in a way, this tune is also a breakthrough track...

I totally recommend this E.P. because it's nothing more than a short sharp shock which holds your attention until the very end and leaves you itching fo more, and theres not much wrong with it either. Saying that though, there was definitely room for improvement, which they proved with Calc Infinity so I'll leave it there.

intense...., 28 Sep 2000
After listening to Calculating Infinity I just knew I had to have everything by DEP. Not as maniacal and riffy as the full length but still great, intense and bone-crushingly hard. Abe the Cop is the best song, but The Mullet Burden's got the funniest lyrics.

Fix Your Face, 23 Oct 2008
This Album IS amazing. Changing pace but never loosing atmosphere. Jolting through genres but never loosing integrity. It is simply blinding. Dillinger are currently the most interesting and original band around. The songs convert to the live stage even better than I could have hoped. Actually becoming alive.
As with all classic music, Ire Works will never grow old. The general public will figure it out in time.


It pisses all over Miss Machine, which was largely overated.

arguments not reviews, 31 Aug 2008
What!another band changing from what the fan base considers 'there' music.'there' will normally come from those who discover a band at a time before the rest of the world, the individualism of it more than anything else defining why they got into the band in the first place.so many people now describe the alienation of a band developing there sound as abandonment. for Against Me! fans (like me) this has been an argument for years and the same pathetic crap is rooting to DEP.as said earlier nobody wants to hear the same album repeted a dozen times(if so play what you love on repeat) because other band will take inspiration quickly. rather than buying the new album of a band you love fans would be better suited to finding the next new thing in the genre (how many people heard the word 'mathcore'(or whatever pidgin hole) before DEP).BUT when a band progresses beyond what they have been playing to audiences more than a hundred times a year, and do it well, then i can see no reason for criticism. and more to the point a band explaining themselves to fans seems so far beyond the point of creative music that it makes this rant seem worthwhile.

simply this is a great album.if u feel sold out then 5 minutes of last fm and you will find what your looking for again.



Brilliant album. , 30 Jun 2008
I was hesitant about buying this, I'd read some things saying it was average etc. but I went out on a limb and can safely say that this is one of the most clever, artistic and ingenious albums I have heard in a long time.

The opener, Fix Your Face is such a bold opener. There's no messing around, it just goes straight into the action, I love it.

Lurch- Dischordant mayhem with fantastic lyrics.

Black Bubblegum- Sexy, sleazy, dirty culminating in an amazingly catchy outro, my personal favourite.

Sick on Sunday- Slow moving at 1st. Then frantic, it sounds like it doesn't know where to go. I sat there with my mouth open, it's so out there, almost grind in places.

When Acting As A Particle- Creepy, dark instrumental. I very much like it.

Nong Eye Gong- Hardcore, fist pumping, awesome.

When Acting As A Wave- Heavier instrumental. Very catchy.

85288- No holds barred. Dillinger in all their glory.

Milk Lizard- Extremely catchy, chromatic, even use of a samba element, everything.

Party Smasher- Heavy vocals, some shred guitars, more tonal than some of the songs, but still as heavy.

Dead As History- Slow, quiet, then erupts a little bit. Not the heaviest song by a long way, but very good.

Horse Hunter- Another one of my favourites. Guest vocals from Brent from Mastodon (if you like Mastodon- Leviathan, you'll like this album, and vice versa).

Mouth of Ghosts- Took a few listens to get into, but it's very catchy at places. Quite uneasy in itself. Very uncomfortable. I like it a lot.

For fans of: Mastodon, The Mars Volta, Every Time I Die.

The machine that is DEP pull out all the stops, and then some., 13 Mar 2008
Any new release by noise legends The Dillinger Escape Plan is going to be hugely anticipated amongst those in the know and this one, `Ire Works', is no different. It has certainly been a long time since 2004s `Miss Machine' exploded onto our stereos. It was an album that managed, despite its savage brutality, to propel the band into a more mainstream circle, which predictably annoyed many of their hardcore following. But nit-picking scenesters aside, it was undeniably an epic journey of technical wizardry and math-like complexity that wowed almost everyone in the critical and public domain from every angle.

The first two tracks of `Ire Works' dutifully pick up where `Miss Machine' left us. The stop-start-ridiculously-off-time guitar stabs piledrive the speakers into oblivion, as do Greg Puciato's pulverizing vocals. With drummer and founding member Chris Pennie leaving the band to take up duties in prog-emo rockers Coheed Cambria, another drummer was needed to step in and do one hell of job. Gil Sharone was acquired and quite literally pummels this album to shreds whilst still keeping the DEP feel intact.

What has always made The Dillinger Escape Plan that much more interesting than the next technical noise band is their creativity and sometimes bizarre experimentation. Sounding like an angrier Mike Patton, Greg Puciato yelps, whispers, howls and yes, soulfully sings through a set of songs where intense vocals and even more intense instrumentation make for a rather unsettling listening experience. `Black Bubblegum' creeps along in a weirdly poppy manner, as does `Sick On Sunday' with its lightening fast arpeggio guitar runs peddling away in the background. There is even a distinctly Every Time I Die-esque track which seems to be an obvious single choice.

Dillinger Escape Plan have done everything that we would expect from this album and so much more. It is more technical, more melodic and more experimental than anything they have done before. They are at the forefront of exciting heavy music and this is easily one of the best releases of 2007.

I don't know your name!!!!, 27 Feb 2008
OK...so I was lucky to just tour the UK with these guys and I thought I would throw my opinions in for good measure...

I have never really been a big DEP fan as I found their early releases (Running Board and Calculating Infinity) way too hard to swallow and subsequently never bothered to seek any others out.

I wish I had really as Miss Machine (apparently) was a different beast altogether and contained more mainstream melodies and different influences entirely.

I love it when a band evolves and that's pretty much where we have ended up.

This album boots off with "Fix Your Face" and "Lurch" which, although are in the regular DEP sound, are short and I think this helps as they don't lose any of the punch and musical insanity that are DEP trademarks.

Then...(and the kids might not like it)...they delve into Faith No More country with "Black Bubblegum" which sounds like something from King For A Day. But...listen out for the mad piano part and the trumpets. It's still Dillinger but a weird and twisted version.

It's then that the Aphex Twin influence comes with the intro to "Sick On Sunday" and the two "When Acting..." instrumentals. "Nong Eye Gong" gets a bit lost in the middle but WORKS on the vinyl as it's the last track on Side 1.

Side 2 is a different affair entirely...but you can find out for yourselves. Go out and buy it.

It's great to hear a band evolving and not recording the same record again like sooooo many bands these days.

I thought I would hate it but it's turned into a great discovery.


Sold out? I think not., 20 Dec 2006
Well, a lot of people seem annoyed that their pet noise/math/spazz/whatever-core band DEP have grown up and gone all melodic on them. Except that they haven't - this album is way more brutal than most mainstream metal, the song structures are crazy complex, but yes, there's some singing - actual real singing. Shock horror. No, it doesn't sound like Busted or Green Day; if you played this album at your mum she'd probably run away screaming.

This follows on nicely from the EP they did with Mike Patton, expanding what they did there with some glorious noise, mixed in with exceptional Patton-esque vocals, random jazzy breaks, great samples and the odd melodic bit. It sounds like a (slightly) more accessible Hardcore-tinged version of Fantomas in places, but without sounding like a Patton tribute. The best description I can come up with is Converge meets Mr. Bungle, or thereabouts.

So basically anyone who likes properly complex, challenging heavy music will like this, and it will especially appeal to fans of Patton's work post-(and pre- if you count Bungle)Faith No More. A classic.

Dissapointed Escape Plan, 19 Aug 2006
Sorry. I know a lot of people love these guys at the moment, but Im allowed to voice my opinion as Ive been following them since Calculating Infinity came out first time, in 1999, long before the band got the exposure they diserved.As you can guess from the title of the review, to me, this release cant stand up next to their earlier works. Yes, its slick, its crazy, its heavy (occasionally) but essentially it feels like a long extension to the Irony EP they did with Patton. To me, Under the Running board and Calculating Infinity pair together perfectly to form the bands best body of work, in comparison, Miss Machine is exactly what the long time fans didnt want, predictability. This album has much more commercial appeal than its predecessor, catchier hooks, nice singing, lots of weird samples, that isnt what we wanted..... It would have been nice to see Dillinger push the
envelope further and expand on what they had accomplished with Calculating, and released an album that could knock me over, like
the Mullet Burden, or Sugar Coated Sour did the first time I heard them. I built this band up soooooo much for years, they were a constant in my hi-fi, now, they are a memory, they wont ever be like they were again, they were my last great hope, the future is a lot bleaker after you hear this album.
I dunno, maybe as a stand alone album it deserves three stars, maybe, but in the big picture, this is an assured Godfather III, compared to the Godfather I & II goodness that is Calculating Infinity and Under the Running Board EP. Buy those instead and lets pretend this never came out. Bring back Dimitri, get rid of the incubus wannabe muscle man singer, and stop dressing like the Libertines for your new promo shoots. You had it all, and you cashed it in!

Yes, but also a slight no., 28 Apr 2006
There is no question that this band is one of the greatest, with such awesome earlier albums as proof. This album is also great, perhaps not as great as some of previous ones, but still great. I do, though, agree totally with the others on this page where 'Setting fire...' is concerned. I still have slight trouble listening to that song. Ignore it if you don't like it and listen to the rest of the album. It is brilliant. Highlights: Panasonic Youth, Baby's First Coffin, Sunshine the Warewolf, Van Damsel, and more... DO NOT LISTEN TO 'a music fan' HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE@S TALKING ABOUT. Thanks.

boom,this is the bomb, 21 Feb 2006
easily one of 2004s best albums and i do mean easily,my head nearly blew off at the class of it all,its still mathcore but something has changed,they are more melodic than ever,there are even chorus' but that doesnt bother me one bit,when they crank it up to ten it is as violent and as heavy as it comes,i love this and you could too if you have an open mind ,they never sold out,they evolved

One step forward, two steps back, 04 Feb 2006
I've never had such conflicting feelings about an album before, having at various times considered this an album of great invention and maturity, and at others a shallow MTV commercial sell-out. In truth it's probably a bit of both.

In short The Dillinger Escape Plan, having made their name by playing ferociously fast discordant jazz-timed metal, have discovered melody and BIG CHORUSES. Whether you believe that they have taken this route out of genuine musical inspiration or whether they are just selling out to the almighty dollar will therefore colour your opinion of the resulting album. It's not all melody - the opening song is typically fractured stop-start Dillinger, whilst the second track mutates from the standard Dillinger sound into a more heavy Neurosis / Cult of Luna dirge. The further the album goes on though, the more the songs alternate between melodic rock and Dillinger's more familiar aggressive sound. I can fully understand Dillinger wanting some variety on the album - as fantastic as their Under the Running Board EP was an entire album full of tracks that fast and furious would be overwhelming - what I don't understand is their gravitation towards big melodic choruses and simple 4/4 beats; it is possible to slow down without sounding commercial. As such then this is both innovative for Dillinger and also a massive step back, with the band now often sounding like Faith No More or Nine Inch Nails. The melodic songs reach their nadir in Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants, with its nasally whining pop-punk chorus making the band sound like Busted o