Artist: The Dillinger Escape Plan
Release: One Of Us Is The Killer
Release Date: Out Now!
Listening to new albums is always a refreshing experience for any listener. Sometimes you find out a couple of new things about a certain album that you never clocked on to the first time you listened to it. On another listen you could find something new about the production, another about musical changes.
So when an e-mail arrived with a lovely attachment entitled ‘TDEP – OOUITK’, this writer knew EXACTLY what was in store. After much anticipation, The Dillinger Escape Plan‘s new album ‘One Of Us Is The Killer‘ had finally arrived, and that there would be MANY hours of researching and challenging attentive listening to be had.
For those of you who do not know who The Dillinger Escape Plan are, and what their music entails… well, lets just say that a typical TDEP album requires every shred of your open-mindedness, attention to detail, and confidence. I use this last term in the most sincere of ways, because what TDEP have done since the wake of their groundbreaking debut album ‘Calculating Infinity’ is something that not a lot of artists of any genre have managed to do before. What that is, is that with every album that has gone by since, they have spawned some of the most challenging, versatile, and physically demanding music that consistently shifts the foundations of alternative music without ever getting boring or repetitive. Whether it be their raging hardcore punk fury, their mind-blowing technical metal precision, avant-garde musing of jazz and bossa nova, or atmospheric electronic soundscapes, TDEP always raise the bar so high every single time and then make the opposition look absolutely pitiful.
It has been three long years since they released their stunning last album ‘Option Paralysis’, so it was always going to be intriguing to see which waters the band will tread this time round. Steve Evetts returns as faithful producer and studio wizard once again, and does an absolutely terrific job of controlling the continuous maelstrom of Dillinger’s music throughout the entirety of the album.
The album consists of a variation of musical influences that have been displayed and expertly executed over all of their studio albums. But the difference with this album is that they have put all these ingredients in to one pot, stirred it up and have now established a sickeningly great understanding on how to indulge themselves in multiple genres and infuse it in to their own monster.
Take the alternative jazz-rock leanings (and the most accesible track on the album) of ‘Nothing’s Funny’, ‘One Of Us Is The Killer’ and ‘Paranoia Shields’, the atmospheric yet almost industrial tinged ‘Crossburner’ and ‘Understanding Decay’, the old school tech-metal fret-wankery of ‘Prancer’, ‘When I Lost My Bet’, and ‘Hero Of The Soviet Union’, and the more suttle yet avant-garde leanings of ‘Magic That I Held You Prisoner’ and ‘The Threat Posed By Nuclear Weapons’.
There is just an astonishing spectrum of musical diversity on show here that would make any already established musician not familiar with the band, blush like an embarrassed amateur.
Whilst this is not the most immediate of The Dillinger Escape Plan albums, it is definitely by far the most challenging in terms of musical depth. In a strange sense as well, it has a vast commercial appeal but also retaining its sheer sonic bludgeoning that at times makes it the heaviest album that the band have released to date. This is where producer Steve Evetts does an incredible job at taming the beast and finding a crucial balance between keeping the elements of pure sonic rage, and the ”87 Hetfield’ qualities of the record (cool points to anyone if you get what I mean there).
Additionally, the one thing that is essential about this album is that it concentrates more so on a group effort of elite physical musicianship rather than manipulation of electronic sounds to give the songs more body. There is a lot of incredible features to every single song on this album in that respect, and each one showing just how talented these guys truly are.
This was an album that took quite a lot of listens to really explore the ever submerging depths of this musical masterpiece, and I advise that if you are curious to find out more about this band or this album, then prepare yourself for a hearty challenge. It is not for the faint-hearted by any means, nor is it for anyone that has no clue what a compound time signature is. This is an album that requires a hell of a lot of attention, but when you explore every single shred of what it has to offer, you will be rewarded with one of the most substantial albums by a group of some of the most gifted and inspirational musicians in modern alternative music
‘One Of Us Is The Killer‘ has a particularly notable word in its title… killer. That is exactly what this album is, all killer no filler. This could well be The Dillinger Escape Plan‘s greatest work to date. Album of the year? It is sure looking that way! Feel privileged that we have such an amazing and talented bunch of musicians in our wake, nice job Sirs Pucciato, Weinmann, Wilson, and Rymer!
9/10
Reviewer: James Paul Matthews
