Review Summary: Jackpot hit. Juice squeezed. Ears happy.
Dance Gavin Dance and turbulence are almost synonymous if you consider their past. Their line-up was a revolving door until 2013 with band members leaving almost as soon as they arrived. Now they are experiencing turbulence once again. DGD are currently in controversy with the allegations against Tilian and the uncertainty of his return, and also in tragedy with the passing of bassist Tim Feerick at the age of 34.
Yet despite this, the band knocked it out of the park with this one. I’ll be honest, I was not a fan of Afterburner. It was unfocused and disjointed. I had to rearrange the tracklist to make it flow better because I’m weird like that. Even then, it felt like DGD on autopilot. Skating by on pure talent with a lot of the classic post hardcore energy missing in action.
Now they’re a lot more focused and are really going for it. This might be due to the addition of Eidola singer and former DGD touring guitarist Andrew Wells, who is now on rhythm guitar full time. He lends his solid guitar work and his vocals well to the songs here, providing a solid chord foundation for Will to play his trademark intricate guitar lines over. This really is DGD at their best. You can even hear strong Mothership vibes; an album seen by many (including me) to be their best work, as well as lyrical references to that and previous albums. But some things have changed and dare I say it, improved.
One major change is the level of accessibility. It used to take 3 or 4 listens to really enjoy a DGD song. Now it takes 2 listens max. That’s got to be saying something. And there is still a good mix of Mess and Tilian here, even though on a few songs, Tilian sings more than Jon screams; but it really works. And while Jon Mess mostly screams nonsense, now this lyrical whimsy is also shared by Tilian. On top of that, Tilian appears to be better when on his own compared to previous albums. I’m not sure if that is because of his stronger work on his self titled album, but Two Secret Weapons is one of the strongest tracks (which is 90% Tilian with a Jon verse at the end). Compare this to Exposed on Mothership which was entirely Tilian and the weakest song on the album. Some real progress has been made in his vocal quality, which was already stellar to begin with.
There is also a lot of variety in this album. Afterburner tried to introduce some new ideas with a song in Spanish, a Will Swan rap verse, and the return of Tilian’s sing-screams, but it didn’t really go far enough to make things interesting. Now it feels like more than just a token effort. Mess almost raps on some songs (briefly in Synergy) and it’s a nice change of pace to see him switch up the flow sometimes, especially within songs. It really provides a more interesting contrast to Tilian’s impressive pipes. There’s an orchestra section in Cream Of The Crop, which is very different for DGD. Holy Ghost Spirit even gives off Eidola vibes, especially in the verses, which is by no means a bad thing and even adds a new dimension. There is also stylistic variety, from funky (Synergy and For The Jeers) to slower and emotional (Holy Ghost Spirit and Die Another Day) to faster and fun (Pop Off) to simpler (Feels Bad Man). You never really get bored and that can only be a good thing. There really isn’t a bad song on this album.
My only criticisms are that I personally would have liked to see a couple more Andrew Wells vocal features. He’s a great singer and as a new full time member, I would have liked to see him utilised more. I would also say that the feature in Synergy from Rob Damiani is disappointing. He only has 4 lines in the entire song and a full verse would have been nice. It also feels like a bit of energy is lost on a couple of tracks nearer the end (Polka Dot Dobbins, Long Nights In Jail and Back On Deck), although they are by no means bad songs. I’m also not personally a huge fan of Holy Ghost Spirit, but that may be because the Eidola vibes don’t really fit with the rest of the DGD style. Maybe they will incorporate this into future albums but for now, I’m still getting used to it.
Finally, this could have definitely been shorter. While there are no bad songs, it feels a bit like a marathon by track 15. I personally would have cut out tracks 12, 13 and 14 (the songs where they lost energy) and made it a more succinct effort. This is an ambitious album at 18 tracks and over an hour in length. It almost feels like they’re compensating for something. Maybe they realised that they need to make up for their previous 40 minutes of music on cruise control. Maybe they’re just giving fans more of what they want to hear. Whatever the reason, this might be too long for some people, especially since their style is well established at this point, despite there being lots to enjoy here.
DGD say in one of their songs “Are we caricatures? Are we cream of the crop?” I think it’s safe to say it’s the latter. This is DGD at the top of their game, blending Mothership and all of their work since to craft a post hardcore masterpiece, albeit one which is a little too grand in scale.
This is also DGD moving forward. There are no references to strawberries or robots to be found, and the intro is titled Untitled 2; the title of the intro on their first album, with mentions of a ‘Chapter 2’ in the afore-quoted song.
The future of DGD may be uncertain. DGD have said that they will carry on in some form and that they have been through a lot in the past. It’s also unknown whether Tilian will stay or even if the band will survive their current setbacks. But for now, we can enjoy their magnum opus 2.0 and even if this does end up being their final album, this will be the band confidently and triumphantly soaring into the sunset. DGD have finally climbed back to the top of the mountain where the majority of songs hit you in the best way possible and the view is amazing. The jackpot has truly been juiced over and over again. The juice might have a bitter aftertaste considering everything the band is currently going through, but man is it smooth and satisfying. I just hope they serve up another glass in future.
