Ire Works - The Dillinger Escape Plan
Metascore
84 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 15
  2. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Ire Works is a near-perfect pileup of craft and chaos--and it shows that Dillinger's recent injuries left some beautiful scars.
  2. It can be inaccessible and terrifying all at once, but in a genre overly saturated with formulaic groups, Ire Works is a true standout.
  3. The Dillinger Escape Plan are far from dead and te sound they pioneered is only getting stronger. [Dec 2007, p.171]
  4. Ire Works is one of the best metal records released this year, full of brutal math-metal freakouts such as 'Fix Your Face' and 'Nong Eye Gong' and beautifully crafted, more melodic songs, including 'Black Bubblegum' and 'Dead as History.'
  5. The rest of us will continue to drink in the boldest, most thrilling album of this supremely talented band's career.
  6. It's a frighteningly powerful album that will be adored by open-minded newcomers and "Miss Machine" converts alike.
  7. More than ever, DEP have songs. They're also the band's most colorful to date.
  8. 80
    Ire Works is a thrillingly hostile racket containing 13 wild bursts. [Dec 2007, p.110]
  9. The third album is equally uncompromising, atonal industrial noise offset with melodious crooning, never settling for predictable paths. [Dec 2007, p.115]
  10. The New Jersey crew is still cranking out metal as frenzied and choppy as a machete-wielding madman, yet twice as schizophrenic.
  11. The band is clearly comfortable with the medium that it occupies between aggressive and technical post-hardcore yet is beginning to tread new territory.
  12. 70
    It's Dillinger's willingness to constantly incorporate new sounds--even commercial ones-- that makes Ire Works an experimental-rock touchstone. [Dec 2007, p.126]
  13. Ire Works is good science tarnished slightly by one bad experiment.
  14. Ire Works is their most controlled effort to date, even more so than 2004's mainstream-friendly (relatively speaking, of course) "Miss Machine."
  15. I can't help but admire the wondrous technicality of the band members, but I wonder if they could have deployed it in a more tasteful way.
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 47 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 24
  3. Negative: 4 out of 24
  1. Ire Works is such a great album, the two singles off the album, Milk Lizard and Black Bubblegum may put the wrong impression on what the rest of the album is like, but who would've known that Mathcore could sound so great! One you must listen to befire you die. Full Review »
  2. This is Dillinger's best album, in my opinion, but any way you slice it, it's a great record. There's really not a bad song on the album, and they successfully display their trademark relentless energy but deepen it with the electronic elements of the "Particle" and "Wave" tracks and soften it up with "Black Bubblegum." All things told, if you're a fan of heavy music, you need to listen to this album. Full Review »
  3. I was excited to buy this album as the D.E.P. are such a critical darling. Damn was I dissapointed. With only three half decent songs, the album falls into a bumbling incoherent mess. Yes, it could be called "Math Metal" but there is a point where calculated sound becomes simple static noise. A sad, sad dissapointment. Stay away. Full Review »