Some heavy music subgenres have become so homogenised that distinguishing one band from another is like trying to unscramble eggs. All these deathcore, hardcore, and post-whatever-core bands latch onto formulas that are deemed cool, but mix together like watercolour. Fortunately, there are still innovators out there like The Dillinger Escape Plan, who tear away from the pack with an unmistakably idiosyncratic sound.
DEP kicked off their Australian tour at Prince Bandroom with support from local heavy hitters Jack The Stripper. Like a Mentos shoved in a Coke bottle, JTS were out to prove they could match the intensity of the night’s headliners. Nibiru and Track Marks from the band’s excellent LP Raw Nerve shook the belly of the Prince like a jackhammer. “Get up the front,” vocalist Luke Frizon barked. “People up the back look like they’re waiting for a bus.” An apt appetiser before an intoxicating main course, JTS delivered the goods.
Seeing DEP live is the sonic equivalent to being struck by a freight train. Unrelenting from start to finish, the band function like a well-oiled machine, churning out pop choruses and jazz-inflected interludes one minute and face-melting guitar freakouts the next. Nothing’s Funny and One of Us is The Killer allowed the quirky Faith No More influences to shine through early, while older cuts like 43% Burnt and Panasonic Youth were pure abrasive chaos.
“Do we have a guitar doctor in the house?” pint-sized vocalist Greg Puciato joked at one point when guitarist Ben Weinman’s Marshall cab started to flatline, causing a temporary break in proceedings. Luckily, drummer Billy Rymer was able to fill the void with a solo showcasing his technical prowess. A fleeting cover of Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love followed before things culminated in a stage invasion and the time signature shattering closer When I Lost My Bet.
The label ‘math metal’ is too rigid a fit for DEP; it implies what they do is calculated and unbending, when in fact their sound is fluid and ever evolving (as evidenced by tonight’s career spanning setlist). The technical elements of their music may have been swept up in a hurricane of distortion, noise and onstage tomfoolery throughout the evening, but recreating the studio albums live was never the aim – it was more about the joint cathartic release between audience and band.
BY JACK PILVEN
Photo by Wylie Burchall
Loved: The utter chaos.
Hated: Slipping on beer-soaked floor.
Drank: Whatever was being shouted.
