Dillinger’s previous album, Option Paralysis, was arguably their most eclectic work, and also featured some of the most mind-flayingly intense sections of experimental rock ever recorded.
On One Of Us Is The Killer, the band have retained a degree of that eclecticism. On the stellar title track they approach, by their standards, radio friendliness, while other songs like Hero Of The Soviet Union trump even the most radical excesses of their last album. Needless to say, this is a good thing.
From opener Prancer onward, it’s hard sometimes even to process what’s going on. Passages and ideas whizz past, only locking into place as your mind plays over them later. This is key, for at its heart this record is – in relative terms at least – accessible enough that you can remember riffs, melodies and even whole tracks, returning later for another fix.
Understanding Decay, Paranoia Shields and Nothing’s Funny all borrow from mainstream atmospheric alt-rock circa the Smashing Pumpkins’ Machina, but still can’t resist sliding back into brilliant, sublime madness.
Dillinger will always be a somewhat niche band, but this record captures them at their best.
