Miss Machine
New Jersey band the Dillinger Escape Plan (the DEP) is a confusing lot. Not only does the band record albums to please itself, but also its fan base grows exponentially. As the leader of the “new” crop of math-rock bands, the DEP (guitarists Ben Weinman and Brian Benoit, vocalist Greg Puciato, drummer Chris Pennie and bassist Liam Wilson) has taken its new album to dizzying heights that focus on the left side of the cerebral cortex, while gently agitating the right into violent convulsions. Here, the DEP succeed in cross-pollinating a number of genres—death metal, jazz, Latin and industrial rock—but extend each further than the usual five-second burst. If tracks like “Unretrofied” don’t sound right next to the quagmire provided by “Highway Robbery” or “Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants,” it’s because they don’t.
(SN&R)