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At the risk of overstating things a bit, in a lot of
ways Dillinger Four
are what it’s all about. Whether you love them
or hate them, it’s all but impossible to ignore
them these days. And I think that’s the point.
After steadily picking up steam for the last eight years,
Dillinger Four were picked up by Fat Wreck last year.
But in a way, it seems that maybe
these four boys from Minneapolis were always set up
for music industry suicide. They are extremely opinionated,
especially about the very scene that they’re a
part of. They’ll also get up in front of a crowd
of mosh-happy high school kids and respond with a bass
player who would rather whip out his balls or throw
bananas at a sound man then throw down any of the right
moves. But it’s also hard to ignore that the boys
of Dillinger Four are honest, talented, and also smarter
than your average punk rock kid, or even your average
punk rock band. Their music is both aggressive and undeniably
catchy, and their live show is second to none. Their
lyrics are pissed, and even preachy, though also well
thought out and well written. There is also a self-defecating
sense of humor that finds it’s way into just about
everything they do. They aren’t sucking up to,
or rubbing elbows with anyone, yet they’re still
climbing faster than all the “industry types”
that are.
This new record picks up both musically, and lyrically
where “Versus God” left off. If anything their
Fat Wreck debut is more dense than anything they’ve
done before. The vocals are mixed much quieter than
on your average punk rock record. The guitars are as
loud, or louder than
the vocals almost the whole way through. The is still
a collision of poppy guitar riffs, and aggressive, though
sometimes bouncy rhythms, with pissed vocals from three
different singers.
This is a combination that would be a train wreck in
most any situation. But Dillinger Four pull it off,
all with relative ease. The songs are angry, and snotty,
though also catchy at the same time. On top of that
the intangibles are all there to make for an entertaining
package. As with every D4 release, there are sound bytes,
and they’re well chosen, short, and well placed
so they aid the songs rather than breaking them up.The
artwork is hilarious as always, and it’s hard not
to giggle at song titles like "laboissuesinthe-toydepartment”,
and “A Floater Left With Pleasure In The Executive
Washroom”. And you probably have an idea of where
“New Punk Fashions For The Spring Formal”
is headed, taking shots at AFI, and New Found Glory
for making punk rock a marketing tool.
Either way, this is about as essential a punk rock album
as there’s been in some time.
www.dillingerfour.com
www.fatwreck.com
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