Dillinger Escape Plan--Miss Machine
Packaging--
The good:
I've heard this described as "wimpy" by a few different people. It's strange, and kind of out there but not wimpy. The cover is some sort of imaginary contraption that instead of being drawn is a collage of body parts and machines ("Miss Machine"--get it? Miss? Machine?). It's an odd design and I think people are shocked as the past three releases have looked similar and this is a big departure aesthetically. It's definitely an interesting release and that's what art should do--it should make you look at it closer and think "what the hell?" So I give it a thumbs up.
The bad:
Digipaks are easily damagned, breakable, and not replaceable. The booklet...ah geez. Seven panels long and the lyrics stretch across all seven. That is, the lyrics to "Panasonic Youth" start on panel one and end on panel seven...they're also white print on silver making it a struggle to read.
The music:
The good:
This is what you should expect from Dillinger, a quality product...for some reason whenever this band puts out anything I go in with very low expectations and feel genuinely surprised when their material is great. I guess it's because so many good bands have watered themselves down as of late.
Musically, the band hasn't really changed much. The extremes are still there, the controlled chaos is there, weird time changes and a very unique sound remains, so there are no huge shocks. The band has always been extremely varied so there's nothing really shocking, but could they put something shocking? Well, the song "Unretrofied" is a bit shocking I suppose. A funky bass line, singing throughout, and an overall mellow song, but it's not bad. If the whole album sounded like that we'd have a different story but a bit here and there mixes it up.
Many old fans will find this one to be interesting as it's the first studio full length release with the new vocalist Greg Puciato. They put out a live EP (which I have yet to hear) and a Black Flag cover song (which can be described as piss poor). When he screams he sounds like the old singer Dimitri a bit, but the best comparison is that he sounds like a more polished Carl from Nora. Vocally, things get mixed up a bit more...the screams are there and dominant, but then you get a sort of snarl, and then some singing.
I am something of a Mike Patton nerd and while the man has influenced most music, the influences are massive in Greg's voice. To the point that I'm constantly rereading the booklet to make sure it is not Patton doing some guest vocals here and there. Listen to "Highway Robbery"...the non screaming vocals sound just like Mike Patton. Check out "Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants"--I am still not convinced that isn't Patton. And what's odd is that they work. It doesn't sound like some moron trying to sound like Mike Patton, it sounds like someone doing an incredibly accurate impression.
This could be a bad thing. In this style of music there really isn't a whole lot a vocalist could do and I suppose he may just naturally sound like Patton, but I mean...I don't feel like this is his natural style, it sounds like he is actually trying to sound like Patton. And I'm not bashing Greg, he does an excellent job and maybe this is just the way he does his thing, but as a Patton nerd I think I hear it more than the average person. I still find Davey from AFI annoying because he moves just like Glenn did in the Misfits/Samhain days. I don't think that's his natural stage presence, but at the same time I think after watching hours of bootlegs over and over, it became ingrained in his head that that's how you move on stage. Get it?
After all that being said, it's not bad. The clean vocals actually work (and I absolutely fucking hate clean vocals in my metal), the snarls sound cool, and the screams are dead on. There are people who are dead set against Patton, I'm not and this clearly works for me.
Musically, there is something about this that makes it just sound more accessible. It's still intense and chaotic, but I think it's just written better, the songs seem like songs...the variations are still huge but it just works. As a whole, I think this is Dillinger's best album. I don't think any individual songs would fall into that category...maybe top five...but as a cohesive unit, this is the band's best release.
This band has been ripped off by countless hardcore bands, "math-core" some will call themselves...and while some of the bands they influenced are good, it all comes back to the originals. These guys are to technical metal what Sabbath is to stoner rock...people who are influenced by them are good but if you want to hear excellence you go back to the original. The music is highly technical, thickly layered (you really need to listen to this on headphones to hear it all), constantly changing but accessible at the same time and the band clearly knows how to get their sound on tape.
Also worth nothing is the perfect album length, at 40 minutes this is the ideal amount of time to spend listening to this kind of music. Believe me, 75 minutes of this wouldn't be tolerable. Anything less may be too little but you can definitely get too much.
The bad--
You know, I've been racking my brain for weeks for something bad to say...I can't think of anything.
The DVD
The good--
Lots of live footage here. The Hellfest footage is interesting to watch to see a bunch of jackasses trying to grab the mic away from the vocalist. They then have a fire breather spit fire directly over the crowd and if that's not stupid enough, they light the drumset on fire. This is all pre-Great White mind you.
Seeing this reminds me of the two times I saw the band and wound up being absolutely terrified. Not of the pit, not of the crowd, but of being smacked in the head by a guitar or getting set on fire by the fire breather kid. To be 100% honest, I'm shocked these guys don't have a harder time getting shows as this is an insurance company's nightmare. There were all sorts of rumors the guitarist killed a kid flailing his guitar around that spread around the internet...were they true? No. Was it believable? You're damn right it is.
At a shithole like Fireside Bowl where the stage is tiny and the audience is directly against it, this is dangerous. At a place like the House of Blues, this isn't as much of a problem (except for the security). Am I complaining? No, because I'm smart enough to not stand next to the stage. But, I will say this, if you smack someone in the head with a guitar that you're throwing around, I don't think "it was an accident, they shouldn't have been by the stage" will protect you in court.
On top of that, when you breath fire, it's best to spit UP and not OUT. Once again, "they shouldn't have been standing so close" is probably not a good defense if you're spitting fire five inches above that crowd. The band recently got rid of the firebreather and apparently have been wanting too for a while as they don't want to be a gimmick band...I say good for them, you should've done it sooner.
Then again, maybe it will. Making things interesting, hell making things "dangerous" is different than making things reckless.
The rest of the live stuff is from scattered places but the video is all roughly the same quality--a single tripod set up by the soundboard, no zoom ins or closeups, and sound coming directly off the board. Most seem to come from the House of Blues who I assume tape their shows (if you've never been to the House of Blues, the various bars in the venue have TVs with a shot of the stage). So, obviously it's not the most "exciting" video, but it's fine and the sound is amazing.
The bad--
The making of Miss Machine" could've been a more formal "making of" and not random, silly footage. Other than that, we have plenty of video footage. Some is lacking in video quality, some isn't the best audio, but overall it's watchable and an excellent addition to the album.
Recap�
Dillinger's best all around album...Check it out.
Want more info?
Dillinger Compound
Review by Chris