In the earlier part of their career, the Dillinger Escape Plan's sound was a glorious frenzy of unfathomable aggression and musicianship, with the band mashing disparate parts together to create something akin to a puzzle made up of pieces from random boxes that, somehow, made a complete picture. Now over a decade out from the savagely genius Calculating Infinity, the band has been continually refining its sound into something that, while still musically interesting, feels sharper and more focused. The results of this refinement shine through on the band's fifth studio album, One of Us Is the Killer. While some hints of the kind of math-metal and prog the band previously trafficked in still linger, the album has a more visceral and in-the-moment feeling, so while there are still plenty of time signature and genre changes scattered around the album, they end up feeling more like spontaneous fits of aggression than intellectual exercises. This shift toward playing to the listener's gut rather than head gives the Dillinger Escape Plan a newfound level of accessibility without diminishing the impact of their punishing sound, and though it might seem like they're smoothing out the edges of their sound and turning their swords into plowshares, the reality is that they've just turned it into a different kind of weapon, proving themselves once again to not only be one of the most innovative metal bands of the last decade or so, but a band that seems truly capable of doing anything.
© Gregory Heaney /TiVo