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Unearth / Dillinger Escape Plan

live in Albany
2005
live show

Review by: Anchors
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Published on October 18th 2005

The Dillinger Escape Plan is universally heralded as one of the best live acts around, and for good reason. Fire breathing, Justin Timberlake covers, and an hour of chaos the likes of which you've never seen are just part of the reason. Well, on October 6th, that Chaos descended into the Saratoga Winners club, in Albany, New York.

And goddamn was there chaos.

Not immediately, however. For the second time on a show I was slated to see with Zao on the bill, they dropped off. This time they were opening, however, and that slot was taken by local Albany mosh metal band Held Under. You know the drill with this type of band: An overwhelmingly repetitive metal sound, with some hardcore breakdowns thrown in there, too. Nothing worth mentioning here, just a quick set leading into A Life Once Lost.

Now, having changed their sound pretty drastically since I've seen them last, I wasn't sure what to expect. What I got, however, was an extremely solid, albeit somewhat repetitive set from the Philadelphia five-piece in ALOL. Taking heavily from their newest release, Hunter, their set went for a little more than half an hour. Their singer had a fair amount of energy, and if nothing else he was able to get kids to open up the floor and start dancing, which, with my experience in Albany, is when the goons come out. At one point, the music stopped for the singer to yell, "this is the song you kill people to!" And that's pretty much exactly what happened. The singer interacted plenty with the crowd, though the only song I know for sure they played was "Hunter," as the rest was sort of muddled to me. No matter though, the wait was over, and Dillinger's set was finally upon us.

The venue turned almost pitch black, and what sounded like Journey started to come out of the speakers. After a few minutes of nothing, Dillinger walked on, said absolutely nothing, and launched into all sorts of insanity. This was the first time I'd seen them since Greg replaced Dimitri on vocals, and while I'd heard complaints of Greg live, he was far better than I remember Dimitri being. Dillinger rifled through their 50-minute set with intensity the likes of which I have never seen. It's hard to even comprehend that the band's guitarists can play even three-chord punk, let alone Dillinger's ridiculous time signatures and starts and stops with the amount they thrash around. Both guitarists vaulted themselves right into the crowd at various points, never missing a single beat. The set also found Greg jumping, climbing, and leaping off anything and everything he could find. Speakers, stacks, steel beams, nothing was safe. And like his bandmates, he never missed a note. His vocal range is just as impressive live as on record, as they played a great mix of songs from all their releases, minus the self-titled, including the rarely played and personal favorite of mine, "Destro's Secret." Fifty some-odd minutes later, in the wake of their complete and utter destruction, DEP ended with "We Are the Storm." The set list, in no particular order, looked like this:

"43% Burnt"
"We Are the Storm"
"Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants"
"The Mullet Burden"
"Sunshine the Werewolf"
"Sugar Coated Sour"
"When Good Dogs Do Bad Things"
"Destro's Secret"
"Baby's First Coffin"

As tough an act as that was to follow, Unearth tried their damndest. Not being familiar with the band at all, I was very much impressed at how tight they were, and their overall stage presence, though nobody touches Dillinger in either of those categories. Unearth is much more akin to metal acts like Darkest Hour than the chaos of DEP, but regardless, it was a long set that included a lot of their most well-liked stuff, or so my friends told me. The guitarists stayed essentially stationary, but the lead singer had a powerful voice that commanded the crowd well. I'm not as familiar with their material, but I do know they played "The Great Dividers," "Black Hearts Now Reign," and "Only the People." A great set, but after what was witnessed with Dillinger, there was simply no way to top it. A great show all around, however, with plenty to appreciate.

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Posted by ClicheMyHeart on 2005-10-20 02:06:50
My Score:

dep is good to listen to when your stoned. Your like whoaaaaaaa... the whole time. Ive played guitar for like 8 years and they opened me up to a whole new style of music. they made me realize how much every other metal band sounds the same compared to dep.

Posted by etwiels88 on 2005-10-19 23:36:56

I don't think any venues in Philly will let DEP do the fire trick...Sucks...

Posted by discofucker on 2005-10-19 18:00:02

At least you had an in-depth review of the headliner.....

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 19, 2005 at 1:42 AM (EDT)
My Score:

woah, their setlist is almost the exact same as when i saw them in santa cruz,CA 3 weeks ago. When i saw them Greg grabbed a torch, jumped in the crowd and blew fire. Great Show.

Posted by davebrave4 on 2005-10-18 17:29:51

Dilinger's coming to madison with HORSE the Band, but it's 18 and i'm 17. Hopefully I can get in. and I'm seeing Unearth with As I Lay Dying next month. It's all the way in Milwaukee and on a school night, so it had better be worth it.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 at 2:59 PM (EDT)

dep can play their instruments, and what is my benefit of it if they still play shitty music
yeah they are talented for playing instruments but not for writing cool songs
they suck, everyone tries to be cool liking them but in real life they suck

Posted by Anchors on 2005-10-18 10:36:04

I was pretty surprised they didn't play it either Sickboi, but since they did play 'Destro's Secret,' I was happy as a motherfucker.

Posted by Douglas_Howser_Jr on 2005-10-18 09:20:19

This review was good but here is how i would make it better:

1. It needs a comment from Superdude

2. Where are you Superdude?

Posted by sickboi on 2005-10-18 08:58:17

No "Panasonic Youth"?

Scott's right on this one, DEP haters are retards. Say they aren't your style, say you can't get into them, but to deny their talent or "heart" is fucking idiotic.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 at 8:17 AM (EDT)

unearth...lame rip off metal
dillinger escape plan are the primus for a new generation of metal kids
both bands suck like slipknot

Posted by ghostmonkey on 2005-10-18 07:15:25

dillinger live absolutely fucking rule. I went to see them at a festival for five mins, stayed for the whole set cos they slayed so much

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 at 6:48 AM (EDT)

I really don't get the uber-fuzz about this band. I've seen them 4 times, had fun thrashing in the pit, but seriously, they're not "amazing" and they sound pretty bad live including greg's voice which is even embarrasing. The cd's are pretty good and it's not hard having fun at the shows, but they're just lacking heart to me.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 at 3:53 AM (EDT)

I bet you guys jerk off every time DEP changes time signatures. Style over substance. Thought over heart. No thanks. Guess I'm an idiot though.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 at 2:42 AM (EDT)

anyone who thinks DEP sucks is a fucking retard.

Posted by maverick on 2005-10-18 00:35:09
My Score:

Saw these two bands open for Slipknot on Sunday night. Greg from DEP showed some dude in a Disturbed shirt his balls. It ruled.

Also, I almost got in a fight with some dude in a Soilwork shirt who yelled in between DEP songs, "This band sucks!" to which I responded, "You're an idiot. No they don't." He then pointed at me and said, "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that, brah." I laughed. He then yelled out, "This is the worst band to ever play Ohio!" I was going to respond with "Well, Slipknot hasn't gone on yet," but DEP went into their next song, so I had no chance.

Unearth were alright. Dillinger were amazing (even though their hoodies were 40 fucking dollars). Score's for them, especially because the only music they were selling was the Under The Running Board EP on 7-inch only. I'm betting they sold all of about zero of those after the show. I love this band.

-Scott

Posted by thefineprint on 2005-10-18 00:08:51

Winners is a decent place to see metal shows. I'm always afraid that big ass wooden chandelier thing is gonna fall on me though.