HARDWARES

Yes, it's beyond weird to see Dillinger Escape Plan on a label other than Relapse and, in the interest of full disclosure, we'll admit that the Dillinger/Season Of Mist collaboration seems to make sense for no one, branding-wise (but, hey, we also weren't privy to the negotiation sessions). These New Jerseyites (and a Baltimorean) long ago shed the skin of their breakthrough, genre-creating effort Calculating Infinity and, through 2004’s Miss Machine and 2007’s Ire Works, displayed a penchant for spitting in the face of the conformity Calculating Infinity created, the band experimenting with glitchy electro, dynamic and even pure pop, all amidst the sense of urban decay chaos only Dillinger can bring. Option Paralysis sees the group continuing in the tradition of Miss Machine and Ire Works but, yet again, twists the paradigm: in its most abstract moments, Dillinger Escape Plan is now more caustic than ever and though the straight-up radio rock of ‘Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants’, ‘Unretrofied’, ‘Black Bubblegum’ and ‘Milk Lizard’ is nowhere to be found on Option Paralysis, there is a sense that Dillinger mastermind Ben Weinman isn’t finished experimenting and fucking with expectations yet, as found on the almost soft-rock ‘Widower’ and post-punk influenced ‘Chinese Whispers’. And then there’s epic closer ‘Parasitic Twins’, by far the most out-there Dillinger influx to date (along with the digging-in-the-dirt, mid-last part of ‘Room Full Of Eyes’), the band getting all gothic and, in its latter moments, southern rock on us, erasing the term “mathcore” from our collective consciousness once and for all (probably to Weinman’s unending appreciation). Option Paralysis is an album that exudes confidence and sense of self, despite Dillinger’s increasingly chameleon nature: ‘Good Neighbor’ is the band’s most aggressive song of all time (replacing Ire Works’ ‘Lurch’ in that category), and its explosive mid-section is the kind of attitude-obsessed freak-out only Dillinger can bring. Elsewhere, ‘Endless Endings’ makes every Dillinger-influenced pretender look like an amateur in comparison and, as has become the band’s calling card, the song evolves into a flurry of unique song-writing that is unafraid to stay true to Dillinger’s founding principles while expanding wildly past them. With each successive record Dillinger issues a challenge to its fanbase via a very simple question: "Calculating Infinity was a long time ago... are you still on board?" Option Paralysis only allows for an answer in the affirmative, the record firmly amongst the quickly expanding catalogue of massive disruptions only Dillinger Escape Plan knows how to bring.