Misery Signals- Controller

The first Misery Signals record (see Of Malice And The Magnum Heart) was a perfect record. It took me years to realize that, but it's the truth, as far as I'm concerned. It's very rare to find a disc without a weak moment in any area. Mirrors, their second effort, had no lasting impact on me as an avid Misery Signals fan- 10 of 11 songs were completely forgettable, but they did release "The Failsafe" on that album, which is easily the best song they've ever written, and almost completely redeems the other 60 minutes of so-so material. And now, they are on the cusp of releasing CONTROLLER, which is one of the most amazing records I've heard this year.

Reviewing albums is difficult to some extent and in more ways than one it's pointless. The idea is give your readers (or in my case, reader) the information they need to determine whether or not they should pursue a certain record, and it's a wonderful position if people actually listen to you because you have a chance to mold the future music scene in some small way according to your values. You can promote music that you think there should be more, and detract from music you think is detrimental to the overall music scene.

That being said, the key topic on CONTROLLER for me is "maturity." Misery Signals is no longer a teenager, no longer going through growing pains. It has grown into a beast of an adult; this disc knows almost exactly what sounds it wants, what moods it wants to convey, what niche to fall in, and what movements to make to win you over. The tedious song-writing reflects the earnestness which the music, even more than the vocalist, conveys. There are songs on this disc that will make you angry, and there are songs that will get you lost in some new environment. And that's what I mean about maturity. You no longer get the impression that this part is supposed to be "brutal" and make you want to break things, or that this part is supposed to make you think they are "super technical" at their instruments or anything like that. I get the impression that it's about conveying feeling, which is what music is ultimately all about. The day that you can stop writing for you audience and start writing to convey yourself is the day that your music becomes what it was always meant to be.

Things to note with this record:

1) Devin Townsend returns to the producing throne with this CD. Notice that I say the first CD (which he produced) was perfect, and the second (which he didn't) was completely forgettable. No one shall consider this a coincidence. I'm just curious as to how much of this CD he wrote himself.

2) A strange return to profanity on this record. I think that after the first one they took a much safer approach all around, including dropping the controversial (not really) F WORD.

Listen to this record hard. Notice the nice post-production touches, the barely audible clean vocals, and the auxiliary percussion. Track 3, "Labyrinthian," has some seriously sketchy song-writing that bores me to death, and there's definitely a few moments on this record I could do without. It's not perfect, but it will definitely stick around, just like Malice. These guys are completely undervalued.

The Dillinger Escape Plan- Ire Works

This is easily one of the most influential bands in my own life, so please understand that perspective when reading this review. Dillinger has had a special place in my heart for a long time, and no it's not just because of the musical complexity and technical skill. There's something about the band's speed and the emotion that their music inspires- it feels frantic, desperate, angry... crazy. Few bands make me want to break things as much as TDEP. And I mean that in the best way possible.

This record is not by any means a perfect record. In fact, following Miss Machine, I would say that this record is a disappointment. Having some memorable tracks is all well and good (Fix Your Face, Lurch), but there is a lot of filler on this record- to some extent there may be only so many ways to rehash chaotic/dissonant metal. But then again, that's not true. This record lacks the accessibility of Miss Machine. Some complex rhythms are catchy, some aren't. Some dissonant chords and notes and melodies will actually get stuck in your head, some wont. And when you're working with this kind of music, I feel like you walk a fine line.

As far as the experimental side of the band goes, again, I'm just not into it this time. Miss Machine was a perfect record. This record is not. Whether in a moment of artistic inspiration, or perhaps a moment of pretension, or perhaps uncertainty, DEP managed to put together a disc 3 consecutive mood-ruining songs (of course, only in my opinion), ultimately about 7 minutes of music, then one heavy song (clocking in at only 1:16), and then yet another another filler song. I don't know if I conveyed how I feel about this portion of the record correctly, but basically the record opens and we get 2 extremely promising Dillinger tracks, and then we hear a pop song, an electronic nuisance, a filler track, a heavy song, and then another filler track in the vein of Calculating Infinity. Seven tracks into the disc, we've heard 3 songs that actually fit in to the sound we've come to expect from this band. At this mark on their previous full lengths, we would have heard 6 and 5 respectively (and that's not counting Phone Home, which is not exactly soft).

Now, I'm all for experimenting, and ultimately I can't say that they've done something wrong, it just doesn't work for me. So let's move on. Chris Pennie is not on this record, and I've set on this CD for about six months so that I can decide exactly how I feel about that. It's just not the same. The taste and feel is deadened on this record. Sure, Pennie is a dick, and Ben writes all of the music, and I would love to be able to say that they are fine without him, but it's just not the same.

On the upside, this record has delivered some extremely memorable tracks that I can add to my catalog of Dillinger music that I listen to on a regular basis. And then there are the songs that I don't listen to on a regular basis, but are still good songs. The thing that kills this record for me is the surprisingly large number of songs that I have no desire to hear (and it's not like they just aren't my style, I just don't think they are well written songs).