Review Summary: A more melodic and diverse departure from "Calculating Infinity", Mike Patton and the band deliver an awe-inspiring performance.
Irony is a Dead Scene was released in 2002 as a collaboration effort with The Dillinger Escape Plan and Mike Patton, while the group scouted for a replacement vocalist for Dimitri Minakakis. To say that Mike's vocal efforts on this album are fitting is a huge understatement, both lyrically and musically.
This album acts as a vent for anyone seeking to release frustrations with bland music. It breaks down boundaries and paves a road for the rest of The Dillinger Escape Plan's career. The sound it carries with it is something that grows on you more and more with each listen, as with all DEP works that preceded it and came after. It switches quickly from walls of distorted, gritty ferocity to quiet sections that envelope the listener and don't lose their grip. With Dillinger's first full-length album, entitled "Calculating Infinity", they showcased their ability to disturb the listener and keep you on your toes; while this EP may not be as raw and shocking as the previously mentioned release, it still retains the element of schizophrenia, something that fans of The Dillinger Escape Plan expect, and are delivered with every album. To elaborate, every single note is so well placed and dynamically proficient that your mind starts to wander into twisted euphoria, and you begin to feel as if you're going insane.
Just a little.
Without much preparation or buildup, the album kicks off immediately with "Hollywood Squares". The first few phrases sound like something off of an older Dillinger release; loud, relentless, and all-out speed and time signature shiftage. We see the diversity of Mike Patton's talents as a vocalist, as he screams, shrieks, and raps (a concept that is used liberally on this album, but not misplaced; more like speaking or screaming words very fast), blending in with the rest of the band as they shred through this fast-paced track. After some insanity, the band calms down a little bit, with some clean vocals and somewhat deranged harmonies from Mike and the guitars' notes. Through this, you can feel the track getting closer and closer to release, until the words "We're Hollywood Squares, going nowhere!" are screamed, and the band reaches a finale. The song ends on a final "YEAH!".
Next up is "Pig Latin", which begins with a slightly latin-inspired guitar part (unintentional pun, I swear), with outlandish synthesizers. Mike croons a little bit, slightly whispering and singing the words, "Do you remember that day, a day of life sentences and x-rays?" After a small crescendo and more lyrics, we're launched into a heavy part; laid back in terms of The Dillinger Escape Plan, but nonetheless hectic and well-crafted, placing odd rhythms in a standard 4/4 time. Mike brings up his strange vocal craft through switching from "Chinga!" as a high-pitched yell to the following lines as lower mid-range screams. After a short interlude, the track pushes forward into even more craziness, as Mike shrieks, "KISS ME GOODNIGHT!". The track stops all of a sudden, and an alarm beeps and echoes. A softer, creepy harmonizing vocal choir-esque section passes through, and after a repetition of the latin guitar from the intro, we're again taken into the first bout of heaviness, only the lines taken from the first "verse" are reduced to the "Chinga"s and the beginnings of the phrases afterward, like "Your mother", "Your father", etc. The song ends abruptly on a coordinated quickly played note, with Mike's screams following.
"When Good Dogs Do Bad Things" is following. "I'M THE BEST YOU'VE EVER HAD!" is screamed and the intensity of Hollywood Squares is back, with Mike screaming and shouting and squealing like he does best. A wall of noise follows, with extremely fast instrumentals and some oddly placed-so rapidly-spoken-that-it-doesn't-even-sound-human "Here kitty, kitty"s from Mike (As previously implied, Mike Patton is an insane individual, to put it lightly). A haunting chant of "mommy, mommy, mommy" resonates and increases in volume, and there's some more chaos and odd rhythm. The track stops its rampage, and some lifted falsetto singing with a bassy synthesizer, along with a small (but well-performed on behalf of Chris Pennie) drum solo are heard for a good minute, until the last words of the segment are crooned by Mike. After a near silence, still reflecting upon the last movement's ending, a picking guitar riff leads the band into the next section, with a trance-filled groove to it, as low-pitched speech with some great one-liners such as "I guess it's time to pay the bill, but you know I never will, I'm hungry still", with Mike's hoarse whispering becoming more and more feverish. This leads slowly into another bout of passionate intensity, with prominent melodies. Both of these sections are repeated, until the false ending. Near-silence is displayed until a huge, instant burst of dissonance comes with Mike's building schizophrenic screams, until the track ends on a final blast. This track is the longest and displays what Dillinger does best. No section drags, and the transitions from heavy to brooding allow the listener to recover from the panic of the first two minutes and short bursts in between.
There's not much to say about "Come to Daddy", other than it's a cover of the original Aphex Twin version. It's a little bit cheesy, but not bad or anything; they put an interesting spin on it.
I really have to compliment the entire band for their technical capability and their songwriting prowess; but, the aspect of this album that separates this from the other releases is Mike Patton's vocals. They fit like a glove on the sheer berserk instrumental passages. It's hard to imagine any other vocalist performing the songs on this album; they're perfect as they are, with Mike's incredible ability to shift from all sides of the human voice spectrum, from psuedo-growling, to rhaspy whispering, to screaming like a little girl. No joke.
The first three tracks are the big deal here. "Come to Daddy" surely isn't BAD, but it's very different from the rest of the EP.
MUST-DOWNLOADS:
Pig Latin
When Good Dogs Do Bad Things
"In this crowded place, I could swing a cat...
And not even hit a soul...
It's just a lonely vacuum of human black holes."