Dillinger Escape Plan

House of Blues, Anaheim

Suffering from the worst bruised rib and other assorted ailments I've received to date from the pit at the House of Blues, I wasn't really in the mood to mix it up much on a Sunday night when I went to see DEP. I stuck around through the two opening acts and the interminable 45+ minute set breaks to witness no more than a 30 minute portion of their show. If I'd been in a better mood and feeling a little more like my usual self, I might have stayed to enjoy the show a little longer, but that's besides the point. Their music wasn't at all what I had expected, being told they were more of a punk band, and discovering that they were nothing if not heavy metal with all the required screaming and loud power chords chunking away through Marshall stacks. Most of their material sounded pretty much the same to me and didn't really provide anything that caught my attention, but they did have talent. Two guitars, one singer, one bass player and a drummer all kept my short portion of the night going. If they were a tad more original and diverse I might have stayed, but after 30 minutes I felt I'd seen and heard all they have to offer. The crowd obviously thought otherwise as a goodly portion of the mostly-underage fans mixed it up rather strongly in the pit. The one shining note of the night was their stage presence and light show, which was surprisingly well thought out and put together for a band on a $12.50 ticket. My hat's off to them for showing the gumption to show up bands who charge twice that amount and put on half the show they did. See 'em if you get the chance and you're into their music. And if you don't want a fist in the face, stay well clear of the pit.

You can find DEP's homepage here.