Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best of 2009
Best of 2008
Best of 2007
Best of 2006
Best of 2005
Best of 2004
Best of 2003
Best of 2002
Best of 2001
Best of 2000
Best of the Decade
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
75
Alberta Cross
70
The Album Leaf
69
Alkaline Trio
66
Animal Collective
84
Animal Collective
50
Athlete
82
Beach House
81
The Besnard Lakes
65
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
64
Dan Black
75
Mary J. Blige
75
Blockhead
79
Blood Red Shoes
70
David Bowie
64
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
72
Broken Bells
65
V.V. Brown
72
The Brunettes
71
Basia Bulat
78
Carolina Chocolate Drops
79
Johnny Cash
79
Chew Lips
82
Chicago Underground Duo
79
The Chieftains Featuring Ry Cooder
76
Citay
66
Clem Snide
77
Clipd Beaks
78
Clogs
66
Cold War Kids
75
Easton Corbin
80
Crazy Heart
70
Jamie Cullum
66
Fyfe Dangerfield
72
Delphic
64
Dinowalrus
78
Drive-By Truckers
59
Editors
71
Eels
70
Efterklang
81
Eluvium
82
Erland And The Carnival
57
Everybody Was In The French Resistance...Now
63
Excepter
78
Field Music
76
First Aid Kit
68
Josephine Foster
82
Four Tet
71
Nils Frahm
74
Freeway & Jake One
75
Frightened Rabbit
82
Fucked Up
64
Peter Gabriel
79
Charlotte Gainsbourg
80
Galactic
67
The Gilded Palace Of Sin
73
Ernest Gonzales
59
Good Shoes
79
Gorillaz
70
Adam Green
79
Patty Griffin
76
Groove Armada
67
H.I.M.
43
Hadouken!
73
Harvey Milk
68
Juliana Hatfield
66
Jimi Hendrix
88
High On Fire
80
Hot Chip
66
The Hot Rats
88
Ray Wylie Hubbard
54
Hurricane Chris
76
Jaga Jazzist
76
Jaheim
70
jj
79
Freedy Johnston
54
Nick Jonas And The Administration
57
Ke$ha
66
Alicia Keys
74
The Knife In Collaboration With Mt. Sims And Planningtorock
63
Lady Antebellum
65
Dawn Landes
82
Lawrence Arabia
74
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
82
Liars
72
Lightspeed Champion
37
Lil Wayne
82
Lindstrom & Christabelle
68
Little Boots
75
Local Natives
75
Los Campesinos!
67
Lostprophets
65
Ludacris
73
Magnetic Fields
74
Massive Attack
58
Katherine McPhee
66
Daniel Merriweather
76
Pat Metheny
72
Midlake
64
Holly Miranda
79
Allison Moorer
83
Motion City Soundtrack
53
Mudvayne
65
Mumford & Sons
55
Never Shout Never
85
Joanna Newsom
81
Scout Niblett
74
Nneka
75
Oh No Ono
70
OK Go
71
Omarion
77
Owen Pallett
84
Pantha du Prince
77
Past Lives
84
Pavement
78
Phantogram
65
Pit Er Pat
86
Polar Bear
64
Priestess
67
Quasi
77
Corinne Bailey Rae
71
The Red Krayola With Art & Language
81
Fionn Regan
77
Retribution Gospel Choir
57
Martin Rev
64
Rjd2
65
Rogue Wave
82
Jack Rose
76
The Ruby Suns
78
Sade
77
Gil Scott-Heron
77
Shearwater
69
Blake Shelton
84
Shining
68
Shout Out Louds
80
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band
73
The Soft Pack
80
Spoon
63
Ringo Starr
68
Story Of The Year
71
The Strange Boys
77
Strong Arm Steady
79
Surfer Blood
60
Tape Deck Mountain
82
These New Puritans
71
Robin Thicke
76
Tindersticks
81
Titus Andronicus
72
Toro Y Moi
63
Josh Turner
81
Vampire Weekend
79
Laura Veirs
79
Butch Walker And The Black Widows
63
The Watson Twins
69
We Are Wolves
66
Kanye West
64
Wetdog
51
The Whigs
67
White Hills
79
The White Stripes
72
The Whitefield Brothers
68
Wu-Tang Clan
75
Xiu Xiu
78
Yeasayer
73
You Say Party! We Say Die!
63
Young Money
61
Rob Zombie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Miss Machine
EMAILPRINTby The Dillinger Escape Plan
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 11 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 14 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Relapse
Release Date: 20 July 2004
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Experimental
Summary
The inventive but challenging hardcore outfit returns with their first full-length studio recording since 1999's 'Calculating Infinity.'
Also By This Artist: Ire Works
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Drowned In Sound
It's the (insert made-up genre here, including the word 'progressive' and/or suffix '-core') album of the year.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
When a band like the Dillinger Escape Plan is able to duplicate the intensity of the previous album, yet at the same time create music that actually possesses (gasp!) commercial appeal, daring to cause an uproar among dyed-in-the-wool hardcore fans, you know they're on to something memorable.
Read Full Review >Playlouder
Giant mutant rats are running about the place with gasmasks and guns. Their eyeballs are electric red, firing lightning bolts of acid, spit and shit and blowing up the place and the furniture.
Read Full Review >Spin
Gleefully impurist and highly addictive. [Sep 2004, p.122]
Tiny Mix Tapes
Miss Machine simply crackles with stress; not stress over homework or girlfriends, but the kind of stress a bunch of semis put on a bridge.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
Rage, speed, and math are still here; but there’s a cinematic scope and a real attention to mood and texture that’s new.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
The group’s move toward a math-metal-industrial fusion is a welcome one that should help to bring them fans that have never heard the group before.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
As intelligent as it is ferocious. [31 Jul 2004, p.40]
Pitchfork
DEP is still struggling to re-establish a unified and compelling sound, and their newfound penchant for melodic exploration seems out of place amid the album's most inspired thrash moments.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
The last 10 or so minutes of the CD veer between bursts of riff noise more smoothly recorded than expected and washes of music to watch soft porn by, indicating the charm of being proudly abrasive and busy is wearing off.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
dave g gave it a10:
Different but fun.
casey l gave it a3:
it will never compare to calculating infinity and the new singer seems out of place almost giving this album a "funny" sound
vicmar b gave it a10:
this album is too serious, if you like counting crazy time signatures......by all means please
Leah L gave it a 10:
This CD is nothing short of amazing!! The Dillinger Escape Plan is completely and utterly AMAZING and thats it end of story.
Beercan gave it a 9:
Intense, technically brilliant, and near-unforgettable, Miss Machine is an essential purchase - though Creed fans and those who don't like to be challenged can stay far away. Rather than try to top their infamous 1999 debut, Calculating Infinity, Dillinger opt instead to streamline and develop their assault, adding industrial elements and some clean singing to flesh things out. These changes might turn off some hardline fans, but most will be rightfully spellbound. Bonus: "Phone Home", the best Nine Inch Nails song Trent Reznor never wrote.
Dweble gave it a 10:
I would give this album a 9.5, but There are only whole numbers and I would rather give it a 10 than a 9. I purchased the album with high expectations and was not disappointed at all. The opening song (Panasonic Youth) was amazing, and it never went down from there. When I first heard the few songs with almost possible sing-a-long parts to them, I was alarmed for a moment, but then heard that everything still worked in that Dillinger-bad-ass way. 'Unretrofied' was something completely new for DEP. I like it though. Even with it's bordering mainstream chorus, the song still possessed that ingredient DEP puts in their work that I can't put my finger on. I'm not sure whether it is the flawless execution of the technicalities, or the brilliant playing of the musicalities, but it impresses me and encourages constant re-listening. I think they picked up a lot from Mike Patton. His presence is definatly felt on 'Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants', among many other tracks. Also, I am glad to see they returned, on several songs, to the calculating infinity sound. Fans of 'Irony Is A Dead Scene' and 'Calculating Infinity' alike will surely love 'Miss Machine.' The jazz/fusion breakdowns are still there, the insane blasts of noise in 15/16 and god knows what other time signatures are there, Patton-influenced omnious vocals are there, Dimitri-style hardcore vocals are there... and there are also new elements. An almost reznor-type approach was used on 'Phone Home.' 'Unretrofied' is unlike anything ever attempted by DEP, and all of it works. Even the over lapped guitar riffs, that don't seem to go together, work. The constant time signature changing isn't awkward at all, and seems like the artists arn't even trying. The ONLY criticism I have of this master piece is the lyrics. 99% of them are great. A very few lines bother me. They just seem to commerical-metal. That is another thing I loved about 'Calculating Infinity' - just the awesome lyrics. I don't know who is doing the song writing, but the consistency with the bad-assness of past works isn't always present. Like I was saying, 99% of the lyrics are great! There is just that 1% that is too angry-kid metal band. When that is attempted, it is almost always cheesy sounding and doesn't impress/appeal to anyone over 15. That is my only beef with 'Miss Machine.' As I said, it is only 2 or 3 lines in the whole album, and that is hardly anything to dock it for. Overall, it is yet another impressive masterpiece from a continually impressive band.
mauro gave it a 10:
awesome. best hc/metal/grind cd of the new millenium
