Ire Works

Untitled

Ire Works is the third full-length album by American mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan. The album was released on November 5 in the UK and on November 13, 2007 through Relapse Records in the U.S. The album is Gil Sharone's first and last album with the band. The album continues on the more experimental sound introduced in Miss Machine, as well as somewhat returning to the sound heard on their debut in many of the songs. This is their first album since 2004's Miss Machine, and their first without founding drummer Chris Pennie. Guitarist Ben Weinman plays all the guitar parts on the record, due to Brian Benoit's injury.

According to an interview in Terrorizer Magazine, this is their last album on the Relapse Records label. The album is also their most successful critical and commercial success, debuting on the Billboard 200 at #142 with 7,000 copies scanned, but was later corrected when it was revealed that Relapse somehow forgot to scan the pre-release album sales, which made the first week total actually around 11,000. The album features guest vocals by band's former vocalist Dimitri Minakakis (on "Fix Your Face") and Mastodon's Brent Hinds (on "Horse Hunter").

The artwork was created by Shelby Cinca of Frodus and Decahedron. He was chosen by the band for his sci-fi/futurist-influenced visual sensibilities. The artwork is also a subtle reference to Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning, as a URL pointing to "ireworks.net" is written in small, almost hidden text on the album's official lyric sheet. The triangle on the album contains the same basic colors shown on the Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning pyramid, though the actual artwork uses gradients versus having different levels of shading.

Background

After a semi-unsuccessful reception and tour to Miss Machine, the band began recording new material to bounce back. However, after appearing with Coheed and Cambria during a tour, the band asked drummer Chris Pennie to become the band's permanent drummer after their former drummer's departure due to intimate relationships with other band members. Pennie accepted, and shortly after new drummer Gil Sharone was hired by Dillinger and performed the drum tracks on the album.

During the Miss Machine tours, guitarist Brian Benoit developed nerve damage in his left hand and was forced to quit the band. Instead of hiring a new guitarist, Ben Weinman played all of the album's guitar tracks. Jeff Tuttle was later hired as the band's touring guitarist. Once again, the band hired metalcore producer Steve Evetts. Former vocalist Dimitri Minakakis makes guest vocals on the track Fix Your Face, and has appeared on stage with the band many times.

Critical Reception

The album's reception has been extremely. In the most recent issue of Revolver they counted down the top 20 albums of 2007 with Ire Works at number two, right behind Baroness's Red Album and before High On Fire's Death Is This Communion. It gained the same spot in Kerrang! magazine's Top 20 albums of 2007, before Machine Head's 'The Blackening' and behind Biffy Clyro's 'Puzzle'. It was ranked number 3, bottom of Watain's Sworn to the Dark and Pig Destroyer's Phantom Limb, in Decibel's Top 40 Albums of 2007.

Hidden Message

The seemingly meaningless coloured blocks found in the cover booklet can be deciphered with either the input box at or the coloured blocks on the back cover, which are arranged as the alphabet.

Once deciphered, the code reveals a message, including a number of well known quotes by eminent individuals such as Arthur C. Clarke, Henry Thoreau and Richard Dawkins:

"WE HAVE A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMETHING WHICH HAS DISGUISED ITSELF SO AS NOT TO ALARM US

YOU CONTAIN A TRILLION COPIES OF A LARGE TEXTUAL DOCUMENT WRITTEN IN A HIGHLY ACCURATE DIGITAL CODE

ANY SUFFICIENTLY ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY IS INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM MAGIC

AS IF YOU COULD KILL TIME WITHOUT INJURING ETERNITY

IT MIGHT NOT BE TRUE BUT THESE ARE NECESSARY ILLUSIONS

JUST LIE DOWN ON THE FLOOR AND KEEP CALM

IF THOUGHT CORRUPTS LANGUAGE LANGUAGE CAN ALSO CORRUPT THOUGHT

WHEREVER YOU GO THERE YOU ARE

THIS IS A TOUR DE FORCE OF MISINFORMATION DISGUISED AS FACT"

Track listing

1. "Fix Your Face" – 2:41
2. "Lurch" – 2:03
3. "Black Bubblegum" – 4:04
4. "Sick on Sunday" – 2:10
5. "When Acting as a Particle" – 1:23
6. "Nong Eye Gong" – 1:16
7. "When Acting as a Wave" – 1:33
8. "82588" – 1:56
9. "Milk Lizard" – 3:55
10. "Party Smasher" – 1:56
11. "Dead as History" – 5:29
12. "Horse Hunter" – 3:11
13. "Mouth of Ghosts" – 6:49

Japanese Bonus Track

14. "The Perfect Design (live)" - 3:57

Personnel

• Greg Puciato – vocals
• Ben Weinman – guitar, piano, sound design, programming, and backing vocals
• Liam Wilson – bass
• Gil Sharone – drums, percussion

Additional Personnel

• Dimitri Minakakis – backing vocals on "Fix Your Face"
• Brent Hinds – backing vocals on "Horse Hunter"
• Steve Evetts - producer
• Steve Ryan - Additional/Assistant Engineering
• Shelby Cinca - graphic design
• Ali Tabatabai - percussion, saw
• Matt Lupo - trumpet on "Milk Lizard"