Album Review: Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer

Once New Jersey's The Dillinger Escape Plan were young eccentric upstarts, completely redefining what could be done within the boundaries of heavy music. Their 1999 debut Calculating Infinity can even be blamed for accidentally inspiring the oft-loathed term 'math metal'. They've been hugely influential, but atop of their fifth album, One Of Us Is The Killer, they're no longer the fresh-faced blindsiders of old. Now old guardians of the style, they're no less dangerous, but perhaps have to work a little harder to stay on top of the pile.

It begins with a jarring calamity that's near-overwhelming. Instrumentation pulses, explodes, and throttles about like a solid entity that's sickeningly trying to tear itself apart from the inside, yet never able to quite break the bonds holding the pieces together. Vocalist Greg Puciato has never before seethed with so much pure rage, and his lyrics are the most offensive, clever, and to-the-point of his career. Intentionally stray guitar noises remain in the remarkably perfect mix, with nods to electronic artists incorporated wholly into sections rather than standing out as interludes.

Each previous The Dillinger Escape Plan record delivered new elements to their arsenal, but for the first time they've not given us an album of reinvention. It is, however, one of intense focus that sees the band firing on more cylinders than should be humanly possible. It shouldn't be doubted that the creation of One Of Us Is The Killer took years off the collective lives of all involved, and that The Dillinger Escape Plan is a band that should be revered and feared by all.