The Dillinger Escape PlanDissociation

How do you say goodbye to one of your dearest friends when you know their time is up? The Dillinger Escape Plan are one of the greatest bands our generation has produced, and when the dust settles after their demise kids might talk of them in the same way we obsess over Black Flag. But they’re also no longer the band they once were. Their days of tearing up venues and themselves appear to be winding down, and Dissociation sounds like a band attempting to go out in a blaze of glory and showcase of why they can’t continue on. For a band that always pushed the songwriting envelope, songs that sound like the NIN worship of Greg Puciato’s The Black Queen don’t fit quite as snugly as they should next to the mathy madness that no band has ever done as well as DEP. The album’s disjointedness never really seems like that much of a problem though, from noisepunk guitar skronks to engulfing goth ambiences, Dillinger’s songwriting abilities are peerless. Even if the album screams ‘this is a punctuation mark’ you’re still liable to put the mourning on hold and get swept up into a bedroom slam dance.

But if they decide this is the end, then Dissociation feels like a perfect goodbye, a reflection on the past that still sounds forward thinking from a band that has never stopped doing so.

Dillinger could evolve, if they decided to put metal and hardcore behind them completely they are so immensely talented that they could become Kesha’s backing band and still totally kick ass. I’m sure whatever these dudes did would rule. But if they decide this is the end, then Dissociation feels like a perfect goodbye, a reflection on the past that still sounds forward thinking from a band that has never stopped doing so. Destroyer, I doubt there’ll ever be another just like you.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Limerent Death, Fugue, Manufacturing Disconnect
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Coalesce, Robotosaurus, Jesus

Dissociation is out October 14 through Party Smasher Inc/Cooking Vinyl Australia.
Purchase here.