- Record Label: Season of Mist
- Release Date: Mar 23, 2010
- Critic score
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RevolverOn their fourth full-length and first on their own label, jazz-spazz-metal epileptics the Dillinger Escape Plan re-embrace the all-killer, no-filler attitude that made their earlier albums and EPs so simultaneously exhausting and exhilarating. [Mar/Apr 2010, p.88]
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MojoThe confrontational quintet dare to seek out melody and explore a new-found subtlety on an otherwise exhaustingly visceral ride. [May 2010, p. 95]
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Alternative PressDissonant strings, clasical piano and eerie quiet spells infuse the album with a wird, roiling darkness that gets under your skin rather than filleting your skull. The result is more dramatic than any Dillinger release this decade--and more powerful because of it. [Apr 2010, p124]
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Option Paralysis stretches its makers' imaginations and abilities superbly. Consider it another singular success.
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For years, Dillinger Escape Plan have been the metal standard-bearers of dizzying, time-signature torture, though they have occasionally eased up to construct NIN-damaged, alt-rock superhero fantasies. The band's fourth album gives these two personalities their most seamless marriage to date.
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Option Paralysis equivocates the maturation of musical ideas over the Dillinger Escape Plan's storied career, as Miss Machine and Ire Works are currently looking as mere test samples leading up to this point. In all, Option Paralysis is a work of art, but don't think for a second they've gone soft on us.
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It's a war of emotion rendered in the most extreme tones and is more and more rewarding on every listen. One day, all bands will be like Dillinger.
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The whole record possesses an industrial feel, be it in the synths or the drum machines or the moody-sounding atmospherics that are peppered throughout the record. Option Paralysis, may not win back fair-weather fans, but they've again proved why they're regarded as one of the best in their field.
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Every tangled note of Option Paralysis drips with honesty and endeavour, and it shines like a beacon of integrity in a world that's been focus-grouped into the dirt.
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Option Paralysis may be considered a side-step by some, but there are so many exuberant flourishes and cleverly thought out harmonies that it's probably better to consider it a mind-boggling step over. The Dillinger Escape Plan isn't out of tricks just yet.
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With Option Paralysis, Dillinger stops to catch its breath--if you can really call it that--but the result is no less stunning.
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It's clear that Option Paralysis is difficult by design, but the upshot is that anyone who can make it through the first two tracks will probably find one of their favorite albums of the year.
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So once again, they're preaching--at top volume--to the converted. Which is fine, because they remain very, very good at what they do.
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Although it doesn't pack any real surprises, this album marks a fascinating turning point for the band. Option Paralysis is a very good album, by no means a failure, but because the band had set the bar so high for themselves with their previous three albums, it still feels like a slight step below.
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2004's Miss Machine and 2007's Ire Works offered an ever-broadening sound that kinda-sorta skirted crossover-friendliness, a sometimes awkward mash of traditional, melodic rock and hideous shrieking and bashing. Option Paralysis continues in that vein for better or worse.
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Q MagazineThere are slamming riffs to be found, but they're still wrapped within synaspse-melting mathcore that requires a PhD to genuinely appreciate. [May 2010, p.112]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 99 out of 131
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Mixed: 4 out of 131
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Negative: 28 out of 131
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JonMar 29, 2010I like Ire Works better, but only marginally. This is awesome.
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Apr 1, 2013
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Oct 16, 2010