The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis [2010]

Whoa, ok, not an impressive start to "Farewell, Mona Lisa", but fuck does it suddenly get insane eventually giving way to a calmer middle section. Quite catchy. More chaos and catchiness from "Good Neighbor". "Gold Teeth on a Bum" is more ponderous and whimsical with a whiff of groove. Then it's right back to the chaos. Can you tell this is a chaotic album? Luckily, that's not all there is to it. There's plenty of that pre-Ire Works energy and creativity. At the same time, it's pretty damn catchy. The distorted guitars sound too much like they're enclosed in a box, but, other than that, it's good production quality. The writing style does feel like progression has been slow for them. So, the album isn't really pushing the boundaries of their style. Songs like "Widower" and "Parasitic Twins" give me hope for things to come. Even so, this is a very solid TDEP album that sits proudly next to Miss Machine.

Rating: 8.75

http://www.ireworks.net/

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The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works [2007]

The production is more powerful, especially when regarding the drums. However, they've pulled off the same trick as before by having volumes and compression drop to create dynamic range. This seems to be the perfect middle ground... a sort of Valhalla for the old style of pure unrelenting chaos and the newer creative blending of styles, most notably, electronic. Plenty of creativity to go around. As the album progresses, though, the aggressively chaotic style disappointingly wanes, replaced by more creative and more accessible electronic and rock inspired songs. Even so, these songs are quite awesome and it's great to hear them spread their sonic wings and push their limits. If I want more aggression, I'll listen to Miss Machine, but if it's polished and extremely well-structured songwriting I'm after, Ire Works is perfect for the job.

Rating: 8.75

http://www.ireworks.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine [2004]

"Panasonic Youth" is one hell of a track to start off the album. It's catchy, chaotic, technical, and fairly creative. This album is much more accessible with more groove riffs and catchy sections than ever before. The dark and brooding sections of Irony is a Dead Scene are largely gone, replaced by more brutality. Many of the sections could almost pass for Technical Death Metal. I do love the continued addition of new instruments for accenting certain sections of music; it isn't overdone, either, making it more special when those new instruments are finally used. The album makes excellent use of musical dynamics as well, causing the album to sound varied enough to avoid a one-dimensional experience. "Phone Home" is one that really shows the proficiency in other genres and the ability to blend dark brooding electronic effects into the madness of their songs.

Rating: 9

http://www.ireworks.net/

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The Dillinger Escape Plan - Irony is a Dead Scene [2002]

This has a more metal feel to the songwriting and the production. The creativity is more extreme now as well, and it makes listening nothing less than a pleasure. There's just enough catchiness to stick with you, but it's the experimentation that really leaves an impression. Mike Patton's vocals are wonderful and spastic, as usual. This is the progression of creative songwriting that I was hoping for. This is great all the way through. There isn't a wasted note of music. Much more darkness has permeated this album and gives a very appealing almost Gothic feel at times (such as "Come to Daddy"). Chaos and creativity reigns supreme in this soundscape.

Rating: 9

http://www.ireworks.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity [1999]

From chaos to smooth jazz and then right back to the madness. There isn't much in the way of variation, and it doesn't pack as much of a catchy punch as the previous EP did. It's still pretty good, though, and the creativity is still there even if they aren't progressing much.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.ireworks.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Under the Running Board [1998]

WAHAY!!! Catchy, chaotic, energetic, AND heavy! Effortless and seamless transition into "Sandbox Magician". This ep is great all the way through. The intensity is staggering. Creative, unconventional, and quite energetic.

Rating: 8

http://www.ireworks.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - The Dillinger Escape Plan [1997]

An oddly sedate intro track leading into more of what I expected from TDEP. "I Love Secret Agents" is quirky with odd chords and what I like to call "noise riffing". "Monticello" is a bit more groove-oriented with a catchier premise. "Cleopatra's Sling" returns to the chaotic style and mad timing. The people that are calling this album "mathcore" are clearly clueless; I would say either Post Hardcore or Experimental Hardcore. Excellent use of dynamics on "Caffeine". The stuff isn't all that catchy, but if it's chaos I'm after with a hint of groove and some experimentation, I should look nowhere else. Bonus points for completely ignoring the trends.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.ireworks.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

凛として時雨 - just A moment [2009]

Quite an explosive beginning to the album with "ハカイヨノユメ". Words cannot express how impressed I am with the first track. "Hysteric phase show" continues on with the high energy, quality writing, and willingness to break out from what they had previously established as their style. "Tremolo+A" is a fast-strumming acoustic guitar dominated song. I'm quite happy that the female vocals are now perfectly in tune... even if they have used pitch correction to iron out the issues a bit. This is really an incredible effort by these musicians. It's fresh and pushes the boundaries of their style, but it still feels like the LTS that I fell in love with so long ago. It's quite an incredible and stunning achievement. The production is a bit cleaner, but there's still a shit-tonne of reverb on the drums, vocals, and clean electric guitars. The ONLY problems I see with this album is that they included "Telecastic fake show" and the production could be using a wider frequency range. The higher frequencies are basically chopped off and I feel that they would benefit the drum production a lot (it would be annoying as shit if the guitars were allowed to expand into those frequencies, though).

Rating: 9.75

http://sigure.jp/

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凛として時雨 - moment A rhythm [2008]

One song... better be good especially coming from Telecastic fake show. Holy shit... it's a big song. Starts with Glitch, goes directly into very calm and slow with some building up happening after a few minutes. This is certainly a very different style for the typically Post Hardcore band. The focus is on subdued and calm song writing than the high-energy madness that had previously been a mainstay of their material. Shockingly, there's quite a bit of Glitch music thrown in here as well. The production is good and while I do miss the high-energy stuff, the calm and atmospheric feel is very appealing.

Rating: 8

http://sigure.jp/

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凛として時雨 - Telecastic fake show [2008]

Even more proficient songwriting on this album. The short length certainly helps out by allowing the band to focus all of their energy on just a few songs, and it really shows. All three songs are great in their own way and they're all catchy and beautifully written. The production is a bit more clear than Inspiration is Dead, but they haven't lost the grungy underground feeling at all.

Rating: 8.5

http://sigure.jp/

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凛として時雨 - Inspiration is Dead [2007]

Much more polished songwriting and structure. There's more catchiness here. The duality of the energy and tranquility are still there in spades. However, they are blended together with more expertise now. The production is a bit more forward than previous albums. This album takes the formula they had and pushes it a bit further.

Rating: 8

http://sigure.jp/

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凛として時雨 - Feeling Your UFO [2006]

This is mostly a continuation of #4 with slightly better production. Catchy, active, tranquil, exciting, and a lot more progressive than before. It's a bit short, but it has just a little more polish to it.

Rating: 7.5

http://sigure.jp/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

凛として時雨 - #4 [2005]

The first song is a bit lighter than I expected. The songwriting is pretty good, not really refined, but still effective. The production isn't incredible, but the drums have a nice natural sound to them. The guitars, however, sound like they were recorded over shitty wires or something. "傍観" is refreshingly somber. One thing that has me torn in three different directions is the fact that the vocals are often out of tune. HOWEVER, they are never FAR out of tune like many other Japanese bands, and on top of that, it really says something that they've outright refused to use correction effects on the vocals. It also lends a natural feeling to the vox and there are times during the verses where it feels even more right for the song than if it had been perfect pitch. Even with all of that justification, for the chorus sections there is no rationalizing it. Those two really need to practice their pitch, and if they want to sing out of tune to make it feel more human, then the best time to do so is during the verses. As for the songwriting, it's not really all that catchy, but it's still good.

Rating: 7.5

http://sigure.jp/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.