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EVERYTHING FROM HERE HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE PERFECT DAY TUMBLR WHICH WILL NOW BE A LOT NICER TO LOOK AT, UPDATED MORE FREQUENTLY AND GENERALLY JUST BETTERERER. PEACE!

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN - 'One Of Us Is The Killer'

Holy shit! I’ve just pressed play for the first time after anticipating the new Dillinger Escape Plan release for months and months now. I’ve been a big fan of these guys, who I believe to be the most extreme band to have ever existed, since their early days and have always had a strong opinion when it comes to debating this with others, justifying why nobody can fucking touch this band. Not now. Not ever. But I’m almost entirely lost for words. How the fuck am I supposed to review a Dillinger album and write anything that means a single thing to anybody that is a fan or simply knows about them and what they do already? How the fuck do I analyse these eleven tracks and outline this record and band for people that know nothing about them? I feel like I am completely unqualified to be in a position where somebody might read this review, take into account my opinion, and make a decision as to whether they want to check “One Of Us Is The Killer” out or not. One thing is for sure, “One Of Us Is The Killer” is as good a record as any other if you’re looking for an introduction to the New Jersey party smashers because they never hold back. Not now. Not ever.

Before this record was available to myself and my fellow Britons, I read a few of the early reviews it had received in the States. I did this with the hope of quenching my thirst for this new material by trying to imagine what it was that others were describing. For the most part, this was successful. However, I noticed what seemed to be a rather large amount of people writing essentially the same thing. A lot of reviewers seemed to be mentioning the fact that “One Of Us Is The Killer” is their most accessible album. Now, this is The Dillinger Escape Plan we are talking about, I wouldn’t really describe any of their material as “accessible”, unless you’re already big on extreme metal genres. I can’t imagine many non-Dillinger fans saying “I really couldn’t understand ‘Miss Machine’, but this is a lot easier to get into” or “’Option Paralysis’ was a but too heavy for my liking, so I’m glad they’ve put a few more calmed down bits on this record”. As far as I see it, you’re either a Dillinger fan or you’re not. Simple as that. They aren’t going to be picking up any more fans with this release, save for people that had never heard them before and are only just realising they exist and are incredible (my message for those people is you’re in for a real fucking treat once you’ve explored their entire discography).

Another common theme was “’X’ song would fit really neatly on ‘X’ album” and “’X’ reminds me a lot of ‘X’ from ‘X’”. No way! You’re telling me that one of their songs sounds a bit like a song they might have put on another record? Maybe it’s because they were written by the same band. Maybe it’s because that band aren’t the type to jump on any bandwagon and adapt their style according to the requests and needs of others. Maybe it’s because The Dillinger Escape Plan, despite plenty of lineup changes, stick to making an experimental sound that emulates nobody and has literally no competition. That’s why some of these tracks sound interchangeable with ones from previous releases!

Then we have the early-Dillinger purists, the social network army of ‘mathcore’ snobs that constantly refer to “Calculating Infinity” and how they haven’t liked anything the band did since then. Congratulations guys, you’ve left a YouTube comment to show everybody that you used to listen to them before there was any singing in their music, and now you don’t like them because it isn’t what it used to be. Let me just clear something up for you – that album came out in 1999 and about ten different people have played in this band since then. Their main annoyance seems to be with Greg Puciato (vocalist since 2001) and his use of sung, rather than shouted, vocals. Personally, I believe that this has done nothing but improve their music. The contrast between the two vocal styles Greg exhibits is what makes The Dillinger Escape Plan’s music so much more chaotic. It’s never long before the storm arrives and it gives these parts a much stronger impact than “Calculating Infinity”‘s constant madness. This contrast is very prominent on the new album. Tracks like “Nothing’s Funny”, “One Of Us Is The Killer” and “Magic That I Held You Prisoner” are all testament to the fact that Greg has an amazing singing voice and he’s obviously happy to demonstrate it, regardless of what the YouTube critics have to say.

This album is another masterpiece in terms of structure, it flows perfectly from start to finish and every song is a fantastic amalgamation of crazy time signatures, some of the best drumming you can expect to ever hear, jazz tendencies and brute force. Of course, “One Of Us Is The Killer” is packed with Ben Weinman’s famous biddly-biddly-biddly guitar work and broken riffs that put most metal acts to shame, proving that the only original member of this group is still completely capable of writing insane experimental music without it becoming stale and unoriginal.

My personal favourites are “When I Lost My Bet” for the amount of times it switches up and how crazy powerful each transformation is, and “Crossburner” for it’s stoner bassline and downright heaviness. This release shows that The Dillinger Escape Plan are still at the top of their game, and that nobody is even getting close to matching them at what they do. Not now. Not ever.

5/5 Stars

Original Link - Dying Scene
The Dillinger Escape Plan Offical Website
The Dillinger Escape Plan Facebook
Party Smasher Inc. Official Website

THE GREAT ESCAPE 2013 - TITLE FIGHT @ Concorde2, Brighton. 16/05/2013

Kingston, Pennsylvania’s Title Fight seem to have already secured their place as a hugely influential band in the world of melodic punk rock/hardcore. Tonight is a fine example of why as they blast through tracks such as ‘Secret Society’, ‘Shed’ and ‘Safe In Your Skin’ (which, in our opinion, should always be followed by ‘Where Am I?’ but sadly wasn’t). The crowd are insane throughout the set, and there aren’t many moments when somebody isn’t going up for a surf or piling forwards for a singalong. Top quality show. Imagine if Concorde2 had no crowd barrier…

Brighton Source - The Great Escape 2013 Reviews
Title Fight Facebook
Title Fight Bandcamp

EAT A QUEER FOETUS 4 JESUS @ The Quadrant, Brighton. 14/05/2013

As the title suggests, this show was hardly ever going to be in especially good taste. Unfortunately, we are still in two minds as to whether it was actually any good or not. Fair enough, there were a fistful of laugh-out-loud moments and Richard Coughlan is a very charismatic storyteller, but do we really need any more jokes about Catholic priests touching kids, Michael Jackson being neither black nor white or Nick Griffin being a Nazi? This is where our post-show confusion lies, because whilst these jokes were sometimes incredibly predictable and wholly unnecessary, they still had us and the rest of the crowd roaring with laughter. Coughlan works the room well and clearly isn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers as he touches on subjects such as abortion and paedophilia. But I guess that’s what you come to expect from the kind of guy that takes methamphetamine for an entire week before shitting himself in Tesco.

Brighton Source - Fringe Reviews Part 2
Richard Coughlan Twitter

ROB AUTON: THE YELLOW SHOW @ The Warren, Brighton. 11/05/2013

“Yellow, and yelcome” announces Rob Auton as his show, entirely about the colour yellow, begins. In actual fact, the show began at least five minutes previously with him awkwardly decorating the room with a multitude of yellow objects, handing yellow ribbon to someone in the front row and gesturing for them to pass it along until the entire crowd was wrapped in yellow and returning to the sound booth countless amounts of times to ensure ‘Yellow Submarine’ continued to irritatingly loop. Does this sound odd enough to you yet? Well, the following hour consisted of conversations between two envious sponges that are sick of seeing their old friend Spongebob popping up everywhere they look, poetry about shopping for pineapples, grapefruit and Marmite (for the lid) and the most epic way anybody has ever made a Berocca. All viewed through his homemade Yelevision glasses. Charming and incredibly bright.

Brighton Source - Fringe Reviews Part 2
Rob Auton Official Website
Rob Auton Twitter

WHY DON'T WE KILL OURSELVES? @ The Caroline Of Brunswick, Brighton. 05/05/2013

Patrick Lappin’s work in progress show is an hilarious insight into his depressing life. Okay, that doesn’t sound like the kind of thing you go to a comedy show to laugh at, but Patrick executes it in a way that brings out the funnier side to life events such as a harsh breakup, the loss of a relative, being an Aston Villa fan and running away from a wedding crying whilst shouting about women staying at home to wash their tits. The bits that he warns us aren’t supposed to be funny genuinely aren’t, but a couple of great callbacks, musical interludes from artists that killed themselves, the greatest/worst hype-man in the world and some relatively heavy drinking put the smiles back on everybody’s faces. Pretty rough in parts, much like Aston Villa’s season, but definitely a show to keep an eye out for if you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer. (CB)

Brighton Source - Fringe Reviews Part 1
Patrick Lappin Official Website
Patrick Lappin Twitter

ALLISTER

The Haunt, Wednesday 22^nd May

Back in the early to mid 2000s Drive-Thru Records were the go-to label when it came to pop-punk and emo for teenagers. Their roster included New Found Glory, RX Bandits, Homegrown, Finch and The Movielife. Another of those bands was Allister, who's second LP 'Last Stop Suburbia' recently had it's ten year anniversary. To celebrate a whole decade's worth of “Somewhere Down On Fullerton”, Allister are embarking on a UK tour to perform the catchy release in its entirety.

Support from Heroes For Hire + Hero + As It Is

£10

14+

Ticket Link 

Allister Facebook 

Heroes For Hire Facebook 

As It Is Bandcamp 

As It Is Facebook