Ire Works
2007 album from the incomparable musical visionaries The legendary band instantly reclaims their place at the forefront of the modern music world with Ire Works. From the instantly memorable ‘Fix Your Face’ and ‘Horse Hunter’ (signature examples of the band’s innovative, high-energy rock), through the scintillating pop immediacy of ‘Black Bubble Gum’, the DEP simultaneously amaze and remind why their musical exploits are the stuff of legend. For Fans of progressive, futuristic music.
List Price: $ 6.98
Price: $ 3.19
Collins Comprehensive Road Atlas Britain and Ire..., The Sunday Times 0004490231 | US $19.41 End Date: Sunday May-19-2013 0:52:52 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $19.41 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
Ignore the naysayers; this is another classic from DEP,
‘Miss Machine’ was, of course, a controversial release for DEP. I’m in the apparent minority which considers ‘Miss Machine’ equal, if not superior, to ‘Calculating Infinity’. Personally, I like albums that actually have a mix of sophistication and a certain amount of accessibility, and ‘Miss Machine’ did this beautifully, even if it was at the cost of some of the sheer unrelenting madness of ‘Calculating Infinity’. Overall, however, I think it balanced out, and I was prepared for further change with ‘Ire Works’, whatever it might be.
Unsurprisingly, ‘Ire Works’ is an extension of the ideas found in ‘Miss Machine’, and it’s sure to raise the ire(hahaha) of many a fan. That said, some are severely overstating the change. I’ve noticed that at least two people here have compared this to the change Metallica underwent by making the Black Album. This is a comically ridiculous comparison, and I say that as someone who doesn’t see that release as an abomination before God and Man. First of all, roughly half of the material here would fit in on ‘Calculating Infinity’ nicely. You sure as hell can’t say that of the Black album and Metallica’s 80′s material. Second, there are only two really overtly commercial tracks on here. (‘Black Bubblegum’ and ‘Milk Lizard’, of course.) ‘Sick on Sunday’, ‘Dead As History’ and ‘Mouth of Ghosts’ may not be old-school DEP, but they ain’t gonna get much play on the radio either, and the idea that this album is, as a whole, particularly commerical is truly laughable. I’ll admit that I think they maybe went a little too far and I think this could definitely stand to have maybe one more pure tech-metalcore track. Still, the fact of the matter is that all the material here is first-rate, so I can’t complain too much. Anwyway, with an album this dense, I’m not prepared to say whether or not it’s superior or inferior to their earlier releases, but I can say that it’s worthy of being mentioned alongside them, creating a three-release sequence that few bands can match.
Again, ‘Ire Works’ is an extension of ‘Miss Machine’, continuing to mix DEPs signature frenetic, flailing technical metalcore with electronic elements and some singing/melody. We’ve got a few changes, with Gil Sharone taking over on drums, Ben Weinman now the sole guitarist and a sharper, much more expensive production, particularly when compared to the rougher than expected ‘Miss Machine’. None of these changes hurt the band, in my estimation. Weinman is more than sufficient to cover the guitars in the studio, Sharone is, if anything, more manic than his predecessor, and the production is crystal-clear without sacrificing any intensity.
The openers, ‘Fix Your Face’ and ‘Lurch’ ought to satisfy old-time DEP junkies, though no doubt some will naysay them anyway. The guitars are pure metallic shards twisted through lightning fast, shifting time signatures, the drums a mad, jazz-metal cacophony and Puciato’s vocals primarily either a feral shriek or roar. This is vintage DEP, and few people can do it like them. On the downside, they can’t quite match the extravagant brilliance of these tracks with any of the later tech tracks, but they’re all very good.
Then the album takes a weird turn. ‘Black Bubblegum’ is the most controversial track, and while I can respect why some people hate it, I don’t. Fact is, I like it a lot. No, it’s not particularly sophisticated, certainly not sophisticated at all by DEP standards, but it’s a fun, catchy track. I wouldn’t want ‘em to make an album exclusively like this, but in the whole context I think it works well. The pacing also gets a bit off at this point, with two neat interludes followed by a very short tech track followed by another short, ‘Calculating Infinity’+ more electronics style instrumental. I’ve nothing against having what is almost an intermission in the album, but it comes too early.
Anyway, after this sort of interlude we get to ’82588′ and ‘Party Smasher’, two more caustic, tech-metal barrages, which are sandwiched around another controversial track, ‘Milk Lizard’. ’82588′ and ‘Party Smasher’ aren’t as good as the two openers, but they’re still remarkably solid, and I’m, again, fond of the controversial song. ‘Milk Lizard’is a bit more out there than ‘Black Bubblegum’, but you can still see it being played on the radio. Nevertheless, I think it works as such, with a varied, powerful performance from Puciato and a nice epic ending.
The album closes with three more unusual tracks. ‘Dead as History’ reminds somewhat of ‘Phone Home’, as it’s another relatively slow-burning, electronically tinged track, albeit with more melody this time around. Again, I wouldn’t want them to make an entire album of this material, but it works as a one-off on a particular album. ‘Horse Hunter’ opens up as another techy number, but it gets a bit more conventional as it moves on, changing into straight up…
Read more
Was this review helpful to you?
|Pure Art,
I haven’t written a review in a long time, and the negative responses to Ire Works angered me enough to write a retort of my own. I can only put it this way – those who criticize this record for not being like Calculating Infinity, quite simply, are not artists. You may play music, but you are not an artist. I’m not necessarily saying I am a great musician, or an artist at all, but I think I understand the creative process well enough to “get” what Ben and company are doing here. This band, first of all, is not the same lineup as the one that created Calculating Infinity. And secondly, the one person left, Ben Weiman, is an absolute genius. He definitely has the capacity to create another Calculating Infinity. I’m sure he’s got all sorts of great riffs, solos, and spazzy jazz guitar runs milling around in his head. No one writes music like him. And all he did on Calculating Infinity was put a bunch of riffs together, and have someone yell incoherently over it. I’m a fan of the record, the energy and technicality are quite frankly mindblowing – and many, many DEP fans were made on the basis of that record. I know I was. However it takes maturity to recognize it for what it really is, a band with tons of ideas quickly getting something creative out there. Miss Machine, and Ire Works by extension, have made DEP into something much more than a niche extreme metal act who specialize in one “trick.” Metal can be so limiting, which is why 95% of extreme metal acts just make the same record over and over again for their entire careers. There are only so many different combinations of bass/guitar interlocking riffs and screaming vocals out there. Dillinger Escape Plan has made a complete work of art with Ire Works. They have established themselves, in my opinion, as the Radiohead of this kind of music. That doesn’t mean they’re the best extreme metal band out there (I think that is Mastodon) but I make the Radiohead comparison for a reason. Radiohead and DEP (on Ire Works) make music that reveals itself differently over hundreds and hundreds of listens. To achieve this kind of artistic pinnacle, you must be firing on all cylinders. There must be great lyrics, great riffs, great melodies, great instrumental performances on every song from every player, and there must be an unparalleled attention to detail. There must be that something extra. Both Radiohead and DEP (on Ire Works) hide little surprises in the mixes, electronic blips here and there, a tambourine mixed deep on a track, atmospherics, swirling guitars you never noticed, a buried haunting vocal scream you never heard until the 50th time, and on and on. And they’re not superfluous, they are part of the song in an important, if not immediately accessible, way. The songs on Ire Works have revealved themselves to me gradually over the course of dozens of listens. I can speak only for myself (though I’m sure other reviewers will agree) but this is what makes an album an “experience.” This is what makes captital A “ART” in my humble opinion. Ire Works, Radiohead’s In Rainbows, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue – these examples are not just great musical recordings but statements that have transcended “popular music,” at least for myself.
The criticism comes from lame scenesters and angry kids, or angry kids at heart, who cannot stomach “their” band achieving this kind of SUCCESS – it is simply beyond their comprehension. This same old song and dance is repeated every year, a band grows, and their old fans reject the new sound. But this situation, I feel, is slightly different. Dillinger Escape Plan still traffics, by and large, in the same kind of extreme, jarring, very difficult heavy metal-hardcore music. Your average pop fan or average hard rock fan would think much of this record – even Milk Lizard – is unlistenable. Pucciato’s grating yells and abrasive vocal attitude, not to mention the screaching guitars and perverse time signatures would be enough to turn most mainstream music fans away from this record, even at its “poppiest” moments. Some of the most aggressive songs on this record would have been right at home on Calculating Infinity, except that they’re even better. They ebb and flow even while the rhythms perplex – this is called great heavy metal songwriting. No one can pull it off like this band. The attention to detail in the recording and mixing process, again, reminds me of Radiohead. It’s absolute headphone perfection. So again, if you don’t at least appreciate the strides this band has made from the days of Calculating Infinity, then you do not understand what art is. It is a process, a metamorphasis, a gradual awakening. You might prefer other Dillinger records (though for my money this is far and away their best) but if you do not at least understand that Black Bubblegum is an incredible pop rock song, that When Acting as a Particle is a great slice of ambient music, and that Dead as History is…
Read more
Was this review helpful to you?
|Incredible… everything it needs to be and more!,
Expectations were high for this album. That tends to happen when a band takes a few years of touring and changing members around between releases, so in a sense, the chips were somewhat stacked against DEP before this record even hit the stores. Still, there was always hope that they would blow a few minds… the growth apparent over the course of their discography made it almost impossible to guess what Ire Works might sound like. Would it be the calculated chaos of Calculating Infinity? The melodic mathcore of Miss Machine? The experimental ennui of Irony is a Dead Scene? I have good news: It’s all of those things.
Ire Works starts off with a bang on “Fix Your Face” and continues the expected brutality with “Lurch,” but by the time you get to the third track “Black Bubblegum” something is amiss… in a good way. Dillinger sounds focused in a way they never have before. Sure, they’ve always been good at math, but on Ire Works they’re allowing themselves the room to be song-writers first and headache inducers second. This is not a bad thing. Listen to the instrumental (!) tracks “When Acting as a Particle” and “When Acting as a Wave” to see just how far these boys have come, and why they’ve grown exponentially in popularity. Yes, this is the same DEP that melted faces off with 43% burnt, but they’ve surpassed themselves yet again.
Witness the beautiful and haunting “Dead as History.” The piano is pushed to the forefront and the melody is allowed to come out and play. Of course immediately following that is the all-out barrage of “Horse Hunter,” which melts into a jazz-influenced breakdown and then goes all out thrash.
Those fans who want a return to the pure chaos of the old days might be disappointed, but I have a hard time believing that. This record is simply amazing. I almost took a star off because it’s so short, but after listening to it, I didn’t feel as though I was left wanting. The boys put together an album that feels like a complete journey, and for that fact alone, this album is worth checking out even for those unfamiliar with the assault that is the Dillinger Escape Plan. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Was this review helpful to you?
|