Online only: Master Plan

After more than three years of waiting, The Dillinger Escape Plan is back with its new studio album Ire Works. It can go without saying that this album is well worth the long wait.\nDillinger always seems aware of what it is trying to accomplish. Its previous release Miss Machine presented listeners with the standard repertoire of polyrhythms, intense guitar lines and shrill vocals, but also included more straightforward, hard-core songs. Ire Works presents the same idea.\nFor the straightforward tunes, "Black Bubblegum" lacks the complexity that usually belongs in Dillinger's songs but is admittedly catchy. The vocal melodies and background glockenspiel are performed with perfection and are well-written, proving to any naysayers or dissenters that the members of Dillinger are learned artisans and can actually write music. "Milk Lizard," on the other hand, sounds like collaboration with Avenged Sevenfold and, once again, is simplistic in design.\nThe album is sprinkled with multiple instances of electronic and even drum-'n'-bass-sounding sections. The song "Dead As History" has electronic ambience in the background for the entirety of the song. "Sick on Sunday" offers an example of Dillinger's superb production skills and opens with its interpretation of drum 'n' bass music. The closing track "Mouth of Ghosts" is absolutely amazing, simply because it doesn't sound at all like a song Dillinger would have written. It seems like the kind of song that would be on a record by Bad Plus or some other rockin' jazz group. The song becomes complete with piano accompaniment, clave, shakers and excellent drumming. \nThat brings up a very important facet of Ire Works -- Dillinger has a new drummer, Gil Sharone. Former drummer Chris Pennie allegedly quit because of monetary issues that he felt Coheed and Cambria could ease. Ire Works quickly eliminates any doubt about Sharone's inability to live up to Pennie's legend. Sharone brings more groove to Dillinger, making the music flow better and seem less stiff.\nIre Works is worth every second of the three-year wait for its release. It offers many unexpected twists and turns and takes the listener through multiple music genres. It's astonishing, brilliant, complex and beautiful. That's right, The Dillinger Escape Plan is beautiful.