September 28, 1999 - Calculating Infinity

It's a double release day! On the same day as my last album and a year since their debut EP "Under The Running Board", The Dillinger Escape Plan released their first full album "Calculating Infinity" on September 28, 1999. There's a bit of turnover from last year as original bassist Adam Doll and rhythm guitarist John Fulton are both no longer with the band. Fulton is replaced by new rhythm guitarist Brian Benoit and Doll is not replaced at all, with lead guitarist Ben Weinman now taking over bass duties as well. Dillinger are still one of the first bands to play their unique style of metal (which would come to be known as mathcore) with all kinds of strange time signatures, offbeat rhythms and riffs and a general chaotic and unpredictable vibe. Let's check out the first full album by The Dillinger Escape Plan!

The album kicks off with "Sugar Coated Sour" and everything is very fast and chaotic right from the get-go with some super fast drums, some pretty fast and crazy guitars and some solid screaming overtop from Dimitri Minakakis. Words don't do proper justice to explain how in tune with each other these guys have to be to play this kind of music. It can be hard to follow, but they all know when all the starts and stops are and things sound really tight. They close the song on a great heavy riff and Minakakis' final scream sounds pretty good. Up next is "43% Burnt" and Weinman leads the way with a nice heavy guitar riff that starts slow but nicely ramps into some really cool faster stuff. My head is banging furiously as they frantically jam out this riff and the rhythm guitar by Benoit is fast enough, but Weinman's lead guitar is fucking nuts! A couple different times things quiet down and Weinman plays some cool, quieter guitar, but that just makes things sound even louder and faster when they snap back to heavy stuff. The ending goes on a little long as they very slowly fade things out, but this song still rocked my socks off and left me feeling pretty pumped! Track 3 is "Jim Fear" and they dive right into a super fast and offbeat riff that is hard to describe, but it sounds pretty sweet! Minakakis screams quickly to match the insane mood and Weinman plays some really great stuff that is chugging at times, and shredding at others, and he's just spectacularly all over the place. They pack a lot of cool stuff into 2:22 of music and I love that there's no let-up on this one. The next track is written by drummer Chris Pennie and it's an instrumental song called "*#..". We hear some very faint talking far away in the background and there's a bunch of trippy keyboards played by Pennie that makes this sound like an old Pink Floyd song! It's trippy and cool, but very out of character it seems until Pennie starts a nice offbeat drum beat and Weinman adds some cool offbeat guitar to match the strange vibes. It's a cool little interlude between the madness that is most Dillinger songs. Track 5 is "Destro's Secret" and they do a great job on this short song of alternating between a super fast and chaotic riff and a quieter riff with Minakakis singing in a very punk-y voice. The singing is alright but nothing amazing, but Weinman's guitar is above average in both riffs. Of course I like the heavier parts, and they sound pretty awesome when everyone is going full blast! Up next is "The Running Board" and it's main riff is in a very weird time signature, but it's super heavy and pretty interesting! Weinman's guitar is all over the place (in a great way as usual) and after some rapid fire stuff they segue nicely into a slow new riff and Minakakis does some more singing. This leads to another interesting new riff and Weinman plays some great lead guitar overtop Benoit's rhythm stuff. If you like this kind of crazy, chaotic energy (and I do) then this was another pretty good song. Track 7 is called "Clip The Apex... Accept Instruction" and they dove right into another furious and chaotic riff that sounds pretty crazy, but once again it's pretty amazing that all four guys can play in time with one another when the timing is so erratic and all over the place. Weinman's guitar is especially awesome at points where he is just shredding it overtop some already pretty fast stuff. Most of the song is pretty sweet, but the final minute or so is so chaotic that it borders on static noise, and this part I don't like as much.  It's still crazy that the musicians are playing, but it just doesn't sound like organized chaos, this part is more just like noise. The next track is the title track "Calculating Infinity" and it's got a slower pace than most songs on this album with Weinman playing a decent guitar riff and playing some solid bass as well. This two minute title track is instrumental and without the franticness of the music or any vocals, this is easily the least heavy song on the album, but that's ok because just an interlude. Track 9 is "4th Grade Dropout" and the first minute and a half is back to typical Dillinger with some super fast and insane music led by some crazy guitar and Minakakis screaming nicely overtop. Then things get quiet and the mood shifts as Pennie plays some cool drums in the background. This eventually becomes a nice heavy new riff that has Minakakis screaming and singing and I bet you can guess which parts I like better! I liked that they switched it up with the slower middle part and everything sounded pretty good the whole way through. Up next is "Weekend Sex Change" and there's no vocals on this song either, but we do hear some talking at times in the background. Pennie plays some pretty cool drums in the background of this space-y and trippy riff that also has Pennie playing some dark piano that sounds pretty good. It's very atypical compared to Dillinger'susual style, but these trippy little interludes remind me somewhat of Tool and all their space-y breaks between metal songs. Pennie plays some more great drums towards the end and this is definitely his song to shine. The album wraps up with the near 8 minute "Variations On A Cocktail Dress" and they fire right into a typical Dillinger riff with Weinman playing some great guitar right out of the gate. This insanity goes nonstop for a little over two minutes with all kinds of great great guitars, vocals and drums and the chemistry between them all is just astounding. This song ends around 2:15 and then we hear three minutes of silence until we reach a bonus song. For the first half it's a very psychedelic bit with all sorts of weird and industrial noises going on that is not great but it is very strange. Things get stranger as the final minute switches to a full strings section (where did that come from?!) and a woman going on a long rant that ends with her screaming and the song and album ending. It's a very odd little bonus song, but the actual song at the beginning was great.

That is the end of "Calculating Infinity" and I thought it was a pretty good album! The Dillinger Escape Plan build off their debut EP and present a full album's worth of insane and chaotic stuff. Ben Weinman is the highlight with some absolutely insane guitar but as I've said multiple times it's the chemistry and ability to play such chaotic music so perfectly that makes these guys so unique. I look forward to seeing where they go from here!