Dillinger Escape Plan Pulverize Pittsburgh’s Altar Bar 4/25/13

I’ll just come right out and admit it. I was a DEP virgin before last Thursday. Hard to believe that even though I have been a fan for around a decade that I never did get a chance to see one of the most enigmatic bands on the prog/mathcore metal scene ever. The band that I first became curious about after seeing a picture of Greg Puciato diving from an absurd height above the stage into the crowd. The band that hit me to the core with their music, bruising my guts, and tripping my mind out lyrically at the same instant. The band that totally stood me on my head when they released “Plagiarism”, an EP of four covers and two originals that ranged from Soundgarden’s ‘Jesus Christ Pose’ (daring, ambitious, and ballsy) to Justin Timberlake’s ‘Like I Love You’ (holy shit…you can do that?).

Dillinger Escape Plan has been around since 1999 in various configurations, but it really was not until 2001 when Greg Puciato came on board when the ball started to truly roll. By 2004 Greg was solidified and DEP were making music history. Their performances are legendary. So, it was with great expectations that I came to Pittsburgh’s Altar Bar last Thursday. DEP did not disappoint Neither did the Steel City crowd. After being battered and bruised in the pit for the first three tunes, including the new ‘Prancer’, I took a step back to recover and also marvel in the participation that Greg took the crowd into and the wild swinging guitar antics that Ben Weinman flew into while the rest of the band held it down. It was all I was hoping for and more. I literally dropped my jaw in awe. many moments when I should have been taking photos I had to just take it all in and let my mind wrap around the scene before me. The beautiful, chaotic, carnal, harmonious yet disjointed attack of sound and sight that split and turned and folded back into itself like hell candy for your ears was priceless.