After helping to define what we now know as mathcore with their landmark debut, Calculating Infinity, one might expect The Dillinger Escape Plan to attempt to recreate that magic on their sophomore record. After all, Calculating had inspired dozens of new bands in the 5 years since its release. Many of whom intent on replicating its sonic mayhem, and the very literal mayhem of Dillinger’s live shows. Yet, after briefly teaming with virtuoso vocalist Mike Patton for 2002’s Irony Is A Dead Scene EP, the band decided to instead evolve in a markedly new direction with Miss Machine. Not just new for them but new for the whole genre that they helped pioneer.
Hiring Greg Puciato as their new permanent replacement for OG vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, Dillinger would move into more melodic territories while maintaining the extreme technicality of their debut. Greg, a virtuoso singer in his own right, was maybe the only vocalist in the world who could match the versatility that Patton brought to the Irony EP. That’s right, Miss Machine has clean vocals, lots of clean vocals. Hell, Unretrofied is almost entirely clean! Guitarist and main songwriter Ben Weinman takes just as much influence from Nine Inch Nails and Faith No More as he does Deadguy and Meshuggah here. The NIN influence is particularly pronounced in the eerie “Phone Home”. Yet for all the radio friendly alternative metal present on Miss Machine, Dillinger never lost sight of their roots, and tracks like “Panasonic Youth” and “Sunshine The Werewolf” kept the old school fans’ thirst for the chaos of Calculating thoroughly quenched.
With Miss Machine, Dillinger managed to walk a tightrope that few other heavy bands can say that they’ve successfully done. They blended the accessible with the extreme, expanding their sound without compromising what made them unique in the first place. The craziest part? The band would go on to walk the tightrope 4 more times.
