It's fairly obvious that Dillinger hadn't worked out their sound at this point. While it's still pretty damn heavy, this album is a lot less heavier then Running Board and Calculating Infinity. It's also a lot less weird and chaotic. There's still weird time signatures, but overall, Dillinger just sound like a weird Metalcore band on this CD, instead of the crazy Grindcore/Punk/Metal/Jazz band they became later on. It is by no means bad though.
1. Proceed with caution.
A short intro, its pretty good. It's heavy, but not dillinger-heavy. It's got a bit of a laid back feel to it as well, (at least, thats what I thought). Theres a bit of fast riffing, and a bit of slow too. It's nice, but the first impression I got was "Could this really be Dillinger?" Still good though. 4/5.
2. I love Secret Agents.
This is more like it. It's heavy, its pretty fast, and Dimitri's in fine form. The riffing is pretty cool, with some artificial harmonics thrown around in the mix. The guitar work is pretty damn good It's a bit primitive by Dillinger Standards, but it does the job. Some good heavy riffing and fast drumming, and before you know it, the song is over. 4.5/5.
3. Monticello
This starts off with a bit of a sample explaing who John Dillinger was. It's a pretty cool intro, mostly bass and drums. The vocals kick in with the guitars, theres another short break, and then the riffing starts back up. The riffing has a real metalcore feel here.. It even sounds a little bit like Lamb of God (Lamb of God playing in a weird Time sig. But it speeds up again, and theres some nice fast riffing, followed up b some nice screaming by Dimitri. There's a bit of an instrumental break, which works well. 4.5/5
4. Cleopatra's Sling.
This starts off with a cool palm muted riff, and some good drumming. then dimitri screams, and the heavy riffing starts. This is probably one of the heaviest songs on this album. Its pretty good. The drumming's good too, a lot of tom rolls. The screaming and riffing is pretty good. Theres a short break where the riffing changes, getting a bit slower, and then dimitri stats screaming again. One of the best songs on the album. 5/5
5. Caffeine
This song starts off with more of the same, some screaming, some cool riffing with a lot of artifical harmonics. there's some cool changes a little bit in. Dimitri screams, which is followed by some fast bits. The Song drops down in volume, then with Dimitri screaming "I'd rather burn you then Love you" the song goes up a notch. Theres some really good riffing. It's got a bit of a metalcore feel to it as well. Then some fast drumming kicks in, and the song shifts gears again. It's picks up a good grooze, and runs with it, with dimitri screaming :"No regret" (I think so anyway). It ends pretty nice too. 4.5/5.
6. Three for Flinching.
This starts off with a bit of a punkish intro. It speeds up, then slows down and lets the bass do its bit. The riffing picks up again, with dimitri saying "Stop Laughing!" over a pretty cool dissonant sounding riff. The riff stays for a while, and its good to say a bit of continuity for once. then a big chromatic riff starts up, which doexsnt really do much for the song. It's pretty lazy sounding. the chromatic riff slowly speeds up until the end. A dissapointing climax to the album. 3/5.
All in all, I really liked this album. The production wasnt too great, but it was good to hear Dimitri's vocals turned up a lot. It's fairly obvious though that Dillinger hadnt worked out there sound yet though. I'd actually recommend this as a good introduction, as its not as weird as any of their other stuff. Miss MAchine is heavier then this..Anywy, I highly recommend this.
