"Calculating Infinity" by Dillinger Escape Plan - Jaw Dropper #8

Calculating Infinity (1999) by The Dillinger Escape Plan is one of the most brain-bending, brutal albums I've ever heard. It's a no-holds-barred tornado of complexity, angst, and genre-defying musicianship. You can hate it, you can love it, but you can't ignore it.
For more information: www.dillingerescapeplan.org/
This is the 8th episode of the Jaw-Dropper series. Watch the rest in our playlist.
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[@CrookedTooth616]

You are completely out of your element here, guy. Listening to you try to describe this is painful.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

So glad you had a reaction to it.

[@shanegreene6398]

I've been listening to this album for over 20 years and I've been a musician for 25 and I still can't fully wrap my brain around it.

[@phillipanthony2402]

sez the guy who has no videos posted

[@turbofox23]

I've been listening to TDEP for over 15 years and this is the best video describing it I've seen

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

@@turbofox23 I love how people can have two completely opposite reactions to the same video. KZbin is wild, man.

[@gnarxy]

D.E.P. - Calculating Infinity (1999) | Botch - We Are the Romans (1999) | Converge - Jane Doe (2001) changed my life.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Really?? How so?

[@stevek5049]

3 sick albums, although CI isn’t my fave Dillinger album, but it definitely set the mark.

[@IHateMyAccountName]

Metal/hardcore moved leaps and bounds those years.

[@theblackestvoid]

That's the triumvirate of that time. What came after from DEP and Converge was similar but also different, very hard to replicate after. But that time from 2000 to 2002 where those 3 albums were almost reigning supreme was unique. Every underground band was mentioning those albums or the players in those bands.

[@KelticKabukiGirl]

Played gigs with them in basements 😅

[@willowsparks4576]

Fun Fact: The band actually hated this album at first - in an interview the guitarist said that it didnt turn out how they wanted and that they were gonna record everything again, but then Mike Patton heard the album and convinced them to release the album as it was.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

No way. Great story

[@MissmammothMurder]

And then Mike join them for an EP lol

[@snavs420]

Honestly, I wouldn't mind a remix/remaster of this album.

[@kommissar.murphy]

I saw them play the reading festival at 11am in 02. The singer took a dump onstage, smeared it over himself, then jumped into the crowd and started fighting people. His final words at the end were "this won't be the last piece of shit you see on this stage today". Those words rang in my ears as I sat through lacklustre acts like the strokes,weezer and the white stripes.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

😂😂😂

[@lol-wj4hx]

wtf

[@lol-wj4hx]

omfg its real

[@steve9094]

This is by far my favorite DEP album, and words can hardly even express how insane it sounded back when it released. I thought it was lame that the band's popularity exploded after they tacked on melodic vocals and choruses, cuz I felt like their music was way more compelling back when the musicianship and tightly-wound song structures were the main emphasis. I think some of the most satisfying heavy music is stuff where the music comes first, vocals second - but most mainstream music fans listen to the vocals first, music second.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

I love what Mike Patton did with them, but I agree, some of the melodic stuff took away from the terror. But they also had to survive. Thanks for watching, Steve!

[@lobstertown1826]

Eh, I think making more melodic stuff just gave them the opportunity to try new ideas and I’m quite a fan of some of it, as I think they are still able to mash melodic with extremely chaotic in an interesting way, and I think Greg gave the band a lot of character. That being said, the pure aggression on this album it’s quite admirable in its own right.

[@UrBeat06]

as a life long Dillinger fan, that is probably the best condensed version of a Dillinger explanation ive ever seen or heard. Well done.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Thank you, Brian! I need to watch this again.

[@ThePuertoricanBeastJonathan]

Life changing band ❤

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Definitely a new kind of music.

[@MediaHell]

Calculating infinity is seriously one of the best albums of my lifetime! In my opinion it really makes a lot of other metal bands and metal/punk/hardcore etc albums seem just so tame in comparison. Despite the album being chaotic and spastic its shockingly nuanced in its execution and musicianship. Seriously a 10/10 album from a band that imo never released a lackluster album.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

It is an amazing work of art

[@oceanmachine1906]

I originally discovered DEP from Devin Townsend's "Deconstruction" which is an incredible and extreme epic masterpiece itself. When I saw that DEP also collabed with Mike Patton, I was mindblown.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

You have consistently good taste! :)

[@rdomain]

LEGENDARY band. Up there with King Crimson. Pushing music to the limits and going out on a high. They will be missed.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Absolutely.

[@reneebear3641]

Maybe it’s that I started out music as a percussionist but I hear the vast amount of DEP’s music as a series of accents & non-accents that highlight grooves that rarely fit in 4/4, sometimes not even fitting into a tempo (like the parts on Prancer or Lurch) but still have a heavily rhythmic feel to them, which I’ve always adored

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Yes, I agree. That's one thing I love about this album. Very different way of songwriting. Kind of sheet music-agnositc.

[@NathanCastellanos]

I'm glad that this music exists, it is beyond my technical comprehension, and it does create an emotional/intellectual/guttural experience that most of what I listen to casually doesn't, but I can't quite categorize that experience as enjoyment.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Agreed. It's not music to "enjoy"

[@biorythmicshifter]

This album flipped my musical world upside down when it first came out and I was pretty desensitized from all the death metal and grindcore I had been listening to. This shit sounded three dimensional in comparison to most heavy music…I still love this album to this day.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Me too. So glad it affected so many people

[@OhNomad]

Thanks for this illuminating review. I’ve adored this album for 20 years. I’m glad it still has reach and traction.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Awesome. It's polarizing, for sure. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@fravellist]

Been on my playlist for 21 years, work of genius.

[@rrrickm4832]

Loved this album since it first came out. Glad to see it recognized somewhere. Dig the channel bud!

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Thank you so much. Please subscribe.

[@ghiblinerd6196]

Remember in back to the future when the audience was staring at Marty after his guitar solo? When their first two albums came out it was the same situation. It’s like these guys came from the future to show us what the future apocalypse is like in music form.

[@juanjefff22]

If you like all this mathcore/dissonant odd metal stuff, be sure to check out early Ion Dissonance (firts 2 albums are perfection imo), Psyopus (all of psyopus, is just a perfect discography) and Gorguts (album Obscura and onwards, provably the best death metal ever made); and that's good for starding. Keep up the good work with the channel!

[@oceanmachine1906]

Gorguts most recent stuff is even greater than their earlier stuff, they basically went full prog

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

I wouldn't say I'm really into it, but some music stands out, like Car Bomb's "Meta" album.

[@juanjefff22]

@@MakeWeirdMusic yeah, car bomb is top notch. I forgot to mention a band that really stand's out, Psychofagist, check out their farewell album, Songs of faint and distortion, it's more like a really John Zorn/Yoshida Tatsuya inspired metal, really good stuff.

[@sebastianx13]

@@MakeWeirdMusic really like Car Bomb

[@unknownartist8431]

Could you break down miss machine like this? Really good insight!

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Maybe much later. I barely can get through my to do list

[@ogey_elise]

43% Burnt is still one of the heaviest songs I've heard in my brief 30 years of life. These guys were something else in a live setting.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Yeah. Otherworldly

[@alexanderkatashov8824]

It reminds me of the Ruins in terms of musicianship and overwhelming energy

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Agreed.

[@stefanhojnacki6046]

Some great commentary on an incredible album. I was at that NYC show where Greg jumped off the balcony. That gig was WILD. I got kicked in the head by somebody crowd surfing and almost lost my glasses.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Wow, I heard from another couple friends that show was incredible. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@pejpm]

Me too! 😊

[@eliptikstudios8996]

great video. I feel like this music doesn't just appeal to people into strange jazzy music, I also feel like it resonates heavily with people in my boat, who don't really have a lot of musical knowledge besides basic stuff, and simply feel it out. It's always strange to me when I hear someone talk about music like this and they say things like "I think I get it, then they move on" or other things along those lines. Personally I feel like I got this album from the start. Every weird pattern is just like a sentence that gets stuck in your head, and you remember what order they happen in. (that's how I digest most music in the first place, but here it really comes in use due to the weirdness of it). thanks for continuing to help spread this work

[@Jar3D226]

Thank you for being my new favorite youtube channel.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Excellent! I hope you’re subscribed. Tell your friends! :)

[@eigenstatezero]

Well spoken. Intriguing and inspiring music. I find myself delving deeper into weirdness with my own music and this channel is certainly helping. Good work.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Right on. Thanks for resonating!

[@jordansobolew1661]

This album definitely changed they way I saw music. Then a few years later, the band Hella did it again with Hold Your Horse Is.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Hella was awesome. Thanks for sharing, Jordan

[@FasterMusicCreation]

Awesome video Anthony. This was one of those life changing albums for me in that it was so different to me, I actually hated it at first. But then it got into my bloodstream and I was infected for life. Love this album. I have to re-buy it now for my phone. I’ll be listening while imbibing a chilled gargleblaster.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Thanks for your help, Aaron

[@FasterMusicCreation]

@@MakeWeirdMusic My pleasure!

[@rustypadhraigdiarmuidseano3192]

the Dillinger Escape Plan have had a profound impact on my life since about 2006... and still to this day 5 years after their bow-out. All Dillinger is gold for me. The spazziness of Panasonic Youth or the melodiousness of Widower... and everything in between. It's all good for you!! i just could NOT BELIEEEVE

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Thanks for sharing and watching, Rusty!

[@brunocarrasco8926]

Great video Anthony! Amazing record.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Thanks, Bruno!

[@drackaryspt1572]

I'm so happy to discover a channel, who shares the same interest and wonder, for understanding such an interesting and complex album that the Dellinger Escape Plan's Calculating infinity showcases, in such controled bursts of chaotic outbursts to put it in betters words its a kind of psychotic, frantic and human way of reflecting the machine like precision, of a device, throught their beautifully orchestrated playing that I really Loved. Thanks for the great video man!! Also, if you feel interested in checking out some more stuff like their work but are looking for something a bit more depraved, in the way they play it, this would be the band Dauthers and their album Songs of Canada for a more grindcorey/mathcorey, drudgery feeling to their approach towards song making and how terrifying it sounds its almoust like, making the machine they were already playing As, scream and roar it's beautiful, but their latest album and probably final since the band broke up after the lead singer was accused and in My Opinion Proved sexual and violent miscondutc, even so their last album is such a great show at the terror and horror of what a broken mind, trying to understand the horrors of reality, showcases into a musical expression. Amazing really. If you want to check out some more I'd recommend Looking into Noise Rock bands Like Swans, Neurosis and Oxbow and much more, but these are 3 examples of What I Feel are In My Personal Opinion, The Best Representations/Depictions of what this style of music is trying to Portray. I Hope you find the recommendations as an Unsetling and as Joyfull as I have! Cheers!!

[@sebastianx13]

Such a great album

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@markdearlove8634]

That just blew my mind. I hovered over the key board for a good 10 minutes looking for something coherent to say. Got nothing, but thank you.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Seriously, it's music from outer space or something.

[@SequoiaSounds]

Thank you for sharing of this amazing album that I've listened to countless times over the years! I introduced myself to it back in 1999 when I went on a somewhat spontaneous hardcore/experimental metal/rock/punk shopping spree in Tower Records, London, picking up recent releases by the likes of Converge, Pitchshifter, Cave In, Refused, Neurosis and Atari Teenage Riot (none of whom I had ever heard music from before). However, it was Calculating Infinity that most blew my mind that evening, and expanded my ears to what could be creatively possible, combining such complexity with a ferocious, uncompromising energy and insane technical ability. It continues to be one of my very favorite albums! Due to a touch of serendipity, I actually posted my own updated solo piano arrangement of 43% Burnt yesterday that I've been working on since last week 😃 kzbin.info/www/bejne/a4aViKKPoNumrrM

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

We need to do a video together

[@michaelmoffat5720]

where can I Find your piano version?, i would really really really love to hear it

[@TheAntinowherelane]

DEP & Refused were also life changing for me. Totally broke musical molds left and right.

[@WhoopWu100]

Such a great album!

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Glad you like it!

[@tedmooney1167]

The fun of studying these pieces is to know the arrangments in and out, and with complete knowledge of what every instrument is playing... the real satisfying enjoyment begins and continues to this day.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Absolutely. It's mysterious and wonderful.

[@snavs420]

This album is the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band of aggressive music. Often imitated, never duplicated. A band that legitimately scared me when I first heard them. The way they instantly shift from violent screeching guitar riffs to delicate melodic jazzy bits, it just felt so unnatural and sinister to me at the time.

[@KeizerrO]

Great video, love the contrast between your calm explanations and the chaotic aggression of the songs that follow

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

That's how I feel about the album. I'm glad you picked up on that. I was wondering if anyone else would.

[@KeizerrO]

@@MakeWeirdMusic Cool, in case haven't heard them before the band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (and their other incarnations) seems right up your alley. Weird timesignature changes , dissonant melodies, homemade instruments, but they make it all sound so organic.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Oh I'm well aware of them. Just haven't gotten to it. :)

[@AndyRaze]

I've definitely listened to this in it's entirety more than twice in a row on *at least* one occasion.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Your brain music be twisted lol

[@AndyRaze]

@@MakeWeirdMusic it's been that way for a long time.

[@brotheryeti]

One of the important bands in my musical evolution. Along with Roadside Monument, At the Drive In, and the Refused, really showed me that music could be so much more than the music I grew up with. I've hung out with them a few times and they are super nice guys. Wish I could have seen them one more time before the quit.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Game-changers

[@patrickshine9621]

Calculating Infinity is one of the single greatest and most ground breaking albums of all time.

[@EVILTRICKZ29]

You could do a 3h digging of this album and still wouldn’t go deeper than the surface… it’s such a musical UFO ! And this was released more than 20 y ago, even before Daughters et Converge went big. Inspirational to say the least

[@hilton9304]

Yes absolutely...after hearing "Calculating Infinity" song, I was always trying to figure out the way the rhythmic goes. Finally I found it and started to think how and why. Till this day, I got no answer but absolutely changed my way of studying and listening music as so as composing. Anyways, amazing video ! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us \o/

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Hey Hilton, thanks so much for watching and commenting. Glad the album hit you the way it did.

[@KingsDenStudios]

Great review of this classic! Subbed 👊👊

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

🤘

[@sleats4158]

i love this review, 43% burnt always reawakens a blind need to go insane

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Thanks, sleats. Glad you enjoyed it. I just rewatched it and thought it turned out pretty good, too.

[@racheltyrellcorp9694]

Thanks for the sharing ! It kind of reminds me At The Drive-In, though in a crazier way

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Just a little crazier tho gahaha

[@posisteve]

when this dropped, my buddies who were the best metal guitarists had no idea where to even start. we all were just blown away. still a top 5 album all time

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Yeah, it's like a whole other world of music was discovered

[@jamesgustin4709]

The Dillinger Escape Plan is my favorite band for a reason. That reason is because music snobs will tell you that you can't do something, but they do it anyway. It's the most terrifyingly beautiful disaster I have ever heard. It's shocking, grotesque, chaotic, insane, and at the same time calming, soothing, and angelic. Most importantly, it's weird. It's confusing. It's impossible. Happiness is just a smile.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Curious, since they're your favorite band... How much can you listen to in one sitting?

[@jamesgustin4709]

@@MakeWeirdMusic I can listen to them all day long. In fact, I put on The Dillinger Escape Plan to clean my apartment to.

[@mattyoung6690]

You definitely "get" TDEP! They're my favorite band on Earth and I've seen them live 9 times, including 2 of their final 3 shows. I'm a classically trained musician with tons of musician friends and I struggle to explain to most of them why TDEP is my favorite band in the world. Thanks for giving me a video I can start sending them because you nailed most of what I try to get across. You've earned a new subscriber (I also bookmarked your interviews with Ben Levin and Courtney Swain since Bent Knee is one of my other favorite bands). I'd love to hear your thoughts on TDEP's evolution in their later work like Option Paralysis (my personal favorite album), One Of Us Is The Killer, or Dissociation.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Wow, thank you Matt. Really nice comment. I need to re-listen to the newer stuff. I really liked Miss Machine. Some of the new stuff I'd heard resonated with me and other stuff was a turnoff. But I'm now believing there are only two types of music: Music I understand and music I don't.

[@Saltbreather]

I love the way you describe it as “ordered chaos”

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Hard to think of it any other way

[@der_brecher5202]

I guess everyone has this one record, that completely changed the way they approach and think about music. Calculating Infinity is that record for me. Without a doubt the most important album in my life.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Yep. Music changes lives.

[@tenfourgaming940]

The golden gods blood stuff with Greg was totally by accident, they didn’t do it on purpose, apparently either Ben or Liam nicked him on his hairline during the first song with a headstock as they’re all moving around so much. Greg apparently didn’t even know he was bleeding until minutes later he just thought it was sweat. I’ve seen these guys live three times and it was by far the most entertaining and “like nothing else” show each time. Great video man, these guys need to be appreciated for being truly unique and for the most part DIY. They are and always will be favourite band x

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Thanks so much! I love these informed comments.

[@povertygamer]

I was 17 when I first saw Dillinger @ Stalag in Philadelphia. I bought Calculating Infinity the week it was released when I was 19. Now I'm 41 and The Dillinger Escape Plan is still my favorite band.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Amazing group

[@mythosspecialist1352]

This and Catch 33 are some of my favorite albums of all time, right along with Peace Sells But Who's Buying.

[@MisterTokolo]

This album came to my notice around 2010 from a friend of mine, first I heard 43% Burnt and I didnt really get the idea of the band, neither I like the vocals since I come from a musical taste with fully clean vocals and a prog centered mind. Not until 2011 saw Chris Pennie explaining what was he playing and exploded my mind how much music theory he knew. I only thought it was just memorized random stuff, and I knew they were following odd time signatures, but when he started to explain his grooves which had Quintuplets, Seventuplets, ofcourse polyrhythmic ideas and complex drumming, I really had an interest to listen to the whole album and MAN, its pretty mind blowing. Its still not my cup of tea, but i really feel inspired to write my own proggy jazz rock ideas following the same structures this guys had in this album. This album didnt impact my taste, but rather my music theory and expressiveness on music it did defenitely.

[@noeramirez7575]

Love Dillinger, the way I describe this band to people who don’t know is that their music demands you pay attention to it, you may hate it or love it but you can’t ignore it.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

It's really, really out there. Very glad it exists.

[@coreymcd22]

Its about time to revisit this one, this and Miss Machine definitely set me on a path of progressive and experimental music in my late teens that ensured that I would never be "right" again. Saw them live while they were touring off of Miss Machine and I will never forget that, I was sure someone was going to die, haha.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Awesome

[@mdfmma123]

Got into them in 2004 by chance. Miss Machine had just come out and they were selling it in Hot Topic. I had heard the bands name before so I asked my mom to buy the cd for me (I was a freshman in high school). TDEP is to this day one of my favorite bands of all time, and have been a staple in my life since I bought that album. I’ve seen them live four times now and they have been the most fun and insane shows I’ve ever been to.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

They really make an impact on people. Thanks for sharing, Vince!

[@emptyroomd9567]

There are time signatures on this record, but let’s all be honest. Most of us who took music theory. Can’t keep up with the level of time. Signatures these guys switch up.

[@zechs5079]

A lot of these bands don’t consider time signatures in the moment, they might figure it out afterwards

[@dooleykeith]

As hard as I try, I have trouble turning others on to this incredible band. You said it - this band throws more energy off the stage than ANY band, EVER. There is nothing to compare them to, and need(ed) to be experienced live. (D.E.P. is done, sadly...) Their final farewell shows in NYC were amazing. They brought back every old band member including Mike Patton to appear onstage for a few songs. Nobody else does that; what a great tribute to old members, as well as to the old fans. Unbridled creativity, energy, musicianship, and especially SHOWMANSHIP. I saw them twice - once opening for Soundgarden and NIN on the "One of Us is the Killer" album (their best IMHO) and a second time headlining on their final tour. If you saw them live, you know, and if you didn't... I'm sorry you missed them.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

It's more polarizing than Trump! haha

[@PeatCowman]

Very informative video, cheers. My interest in BTCC fell off years ago, so ive been out of the loop wjth the recent regs. Ironically, i attended loads of events in the BTC era. Maybe thats what led me to love multiclass sportscar racing do much.😂

[@KelticKabukiGirl]

I used to gig with them before Under the Running Board came out. It was this lineup. We were all from the same Northeast Metal and Hardcore scenes. We were similar but more melodic.

[@ivyhallquist3159]

The thumbnail: "You're going to hate this album." Me: "Joke's on you. I'm into that shit."

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

LOL thanks Jonah

[@aliquidcow]

It's taken me about 20 years to finally get into DEP properly. I've always been aware of them, and some of their more 'accessible' tracks I've kind of liked, but I felt like I could never really get into them properly. Then recently for some reason I just decided to really give this one a go, and I just took it two or three tracks at a time, listening to them many times to familiarise myself with them before moving along. Now I really dig the album and I'm working my way through their discography. The Mike Patton EP is pretty insane. At first I thought it was a shame they only did 3 songs with him (and a cover), but I think a whole album like that EP would probably be just too much to take.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Hahah, thank goodness it's just an EP! :D

[@meowcholos]

i like their music better than my favorite music. dillinger puts me in a mood, whereas other music i seek out to fit a mood.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Very interesting! DEP does demand a reaction doesn’t it

[@mattframe9210]

This album made we want to play and write music like this. I have in no way gotten as good as this, but ive had a crack.

[@hagimusicproductions3176]

I love this album its fantastic, saw them with Botch on 2000 (although if I am honest Botch blew them away that night) but this and Under the Running Board EP are true classics

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Agreed

[@_Panic]

I was like 14 when I found Dillinger Escape Plan. Many moons ago listening to stuff like Zao, Poison The Well, Life Of Agony, and Rifles at Recess.

[@CBNHB-5000]

This album came out when I was I in high school. We used to put this on at wild house parties and everyone would go nuts and houses got destroyed. Saw them open for Bungle in Philly and stood next to Patton behind the soundboard, he was as blown away as a I was. Chris Penne changed the game on drums. These guys we’re just kids when this was made too. Classic

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

A work of genius, for sure, Christopher. Thanks!

[@zubizabata]

Great vid. A Ben Weinman comment brought me here, so kudos on that. I can speak for days for this album and usually don't wanna, but since you asked about it in such a polite manner, yes, this was a highly affecting hearing for my fresh out of high school self, back in the day. And still is, in many many levels beyond the sheer musical appreciation and enjoyment. You know how black holes are the direst thing ever known to man, a dark, vast and catastrophic mystery (the now famous black hole photo oddly enough matches the artwork's color scheme)... And our only hope when we encounter one is that we need to accept and embrace the "different". Different physics, different perception of reality, different reality for that matter - to accept the fact that there are these huge, defining non-spaces in our universe within which everything we know is invalid. And this hope only translates in a brief moment of understanding before we stretch to infinity. That's "Calculating Infinity" for me.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Ben Weinman mentioned this video? Where?

[@zubizabata]

@@MakeWeirdMusic "I really enjoy hearing people's take on this album after all these years. I remember this time so vividly. Brings me back." Is his latest post on FB 4 hours ago, with your face as the featured pic :). He also tagged the rest of the crew. ( In case it's public facebook.com/benjamin.weinman.1 )

[@zubizabata]

And be sure to read the comments ; )

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Thanks so much!

[@kevinwalsh691]

I recorded in the same studio they recorded this album in (trax east , south river nj). Steve Evetts their and our engineer/producer ask us if we wanted to hear the new Dillinger. He played the first 30 seconds of sugar coated sour and I just looked at my drummer and said “ I quit” lol. We played shows with those guys in the early years and they are just a ball of energy. That album was a game changer. It’s like you threw the tazmainian devil in a blender and forgot to put the top in when you hit purée.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Hahaha great simile. Thanks, Kevin

[@mikesomersdrummer8042]

Arguably the greatest heavy album ever made 🙌🙌 Also a very strong case for the best drum album, or top 5-10 of all time. Chris Pennie the GOAT!

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Dude, 100%. It is a masterpiece.

[@mikesomersdrummer8042]

@@MakeWeirdMusic Check out Candiria “Beyond Reasonable Doubt” next. Whole album’s incredible but especially the drumming…holy fuck 🙌🙌🙌

[@drownthepoor]

Also it's worth noting: This record was recorded to tape without the use of a computer.

[@zanebarrett3728]

Ben did all the guitar and bass work on the recording too. Fucking genius!!!

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

I did not know that! Wow.

[@drownthepoor]

I've been listening to Dillinger for... nearing 20 years? I'm fairly certain I was at that show you posted where he ran on heads. He started the show by throwing the mic stand into the crowd. I'm maybe 16 there with my girlfriend and 3 other friends. By the end of the set we're in the front row and Greg lights a stick and grabs a bottle of liquid. He proceeds to "breathe fire" and I can still distinctly feel the unburnt fuel falling on my face. This was just after the banning of indoor pyrotechnics due to 50 people dying at a Great White concert. TDEP was heavily fined, and I think I speak for everyone when I say: Priceless :)

[@-cobainism-]

idk if you mentioned this, but my favorite fact about calcInf is that it was all recorded in ONE TAKE, which is just absolutely fuckin insane

[@Imperialomen]

This album is godlike. I love how noisy and erratic the flow is. Normies can't stand the chaos only the chosen could stand the onslaught

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Me too. Like drinking from a firehose.

[@EthanRadell]

Ive been die hard since I found them in highschool like 8 years ago and I know this album like the back of my hand now. I have to say, to this day, there isnt anything out there that matches the energy and vibe of this album. Maybe converge but still no cigar. This album truly expands your mind lol

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Totally agree, Ethan. Mind-expanding.

[@Evilmothra]

Just a reminder this was recorded live to tape

[@ThePeca1988]

I started soft with Option Paralysis, i think it was Panasonic Youth i first heard, then got into their other stuff, and yes, you kind of need a good ear traning to listen through an album, but then it grows on ya 😀

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

"Started soft" hahaha, not possible with DEP

[@sirspookybones1118]

No matter who you are, Dillinger (especially Calculating infinity) leaves you feeling a whole lot different after hearing

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Absolutely.

[@ericarmstrong6540]

This is reminiscent of John Zorn's "Naked City" project that emerged near the same time period. Players were Zorn, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, Joey Barron and Wayne Horvitz. Mike Patton and Mr. Bungle also comes to mind, too. I like it.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

I was just talking to someone yesterday about that album!

[@drhall343]

I've always wondered if the part at 7:35 was somewhere influenced by Steve Reich. (By the way, great video. So great to see a channel dedicated to the experimental and extreme.)

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Thank you!

[@ANDYWOUNDSABRXS]

I remember buying this at our local store, afterwards I asked the guy what else is like this.. Only got one recommendation, Cephalic Carnage 'Exploiting dysfunction' I was abit spewing cos it was nothing like I was after, but.. A bit later I realized RELAPSE records were where I wanted to spend my money. From DEP, to Cephalic, to Merzbow, Masonna, to Neurosis to Origin. Not the same but still amazing. Also, the production of 'calculating infinity' is one of the best metal/hardcore productions ever. Its clean while heavy, heavy while clean, snare pops, kick is sweet. This record made me get into analogue gear. You can hear it, its too perfect and they did it all on tape! How?!

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Yep! Lol

[@mattclare3503]

No one hates this album, youre out of your element!

[@Blkjohnny1337]

There are plenty of people who don’t like this unfortunately. Can’t win em all.

[@BlueCrayon77]

I'm late to this video, but have to mention my discovery of this album and band. I was into heavy music at the time and I think I bought an album by another artist on Relapse Records (can't recall who) and with it I got a 2CD Relapse sampler album. There were two tracks from Calculating Infinity on the CDs and they were so different to everything else they stood out a mile as something special. I had no idea what was going on, but I was definitely intrigued. It sounds stupid, but at the time I definitely recall thinking "I didn't know this was allowed in music!" haha I'd always liked the power and intensity of heavy music, and the (initially) incomprehensible strutures of the Dillinger tracks amped up the intensity a 1000 fold! There was something magical about being confronted with such aggresion and disorder, it was almost a challenge where the band are saying "I dare you to like this and understand it". Basically changed my outlook on music and what it can be forever! Saw them live about 10 times. First time was in 2000.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Wow, can't believe you survived 10 of their shows! haha

[@BlueCrayon77]

@@MakeWeirdMusic Ha… I’m in the UK, and mostly saw them in small venues like pubs! The confined venues really amped up the feeling of danger! Haha. I’ll never forget the first time I saw them in a pub back in 2000. They started with Sugar Coated Sour and the instant chaotic explosion of frantic action from the whole band was something I’d never witnessed before (or since). Visual chaos to go with their sound… Ben the guitarist and Greg the (then new) lead singer also leaped into the crowd almost instantly, writhing around with mic, cables and guitar flailing about! Ha At another gig, Gregg jumped into a shelf of beer glasses, crushing himself into the glass… and smashing a few more with his mic for good measure. At yet another gig I clearly remember Ben flailing his guitar around so much, it actually flew off over his head and landed in the crowd… so he just waved his arms around for the rest of that track! Haha

[@thelastdaybreathinginetern1385]

I've been a Metalhead for 15 years. I love and miss Dillinger Escape Plan. My favorite Dillinger Escape Plan album is, One of us is the killer. I love all their albums though.

[@13opacus]

It really makes the rest of metal sound like the wiggles!

[@oferpardes6517]

I wouldn't know where to begin to expalin myself to you or to anyone I can't say that I don't enjoy "regular" music However The more unique, the more instrumentaly experesive - the more I'm drawn to it I can't tell if that's just the way I am or because I started at 14 listening to pretty everything all at once I've learned hundreded of albums in a year The Dillinger Escape Plan is something I listen to since there first EP - under the running board from 98 Which would have made me 13 at the time Sh1t what made me this way Anyone - check that EP out In my mind its the best they've written in the entire career Thanks for your video I think you made a real good one One of the good ones really

[@muaddib4329]

Ben Weinmen (founding guitarist) once said in an interview that Dillinger was borne out of a desire to finally hear the music they could never find on the radio. Many parts they've written were done on paper first and then they had to learn their own parts. I first heard this record when my older brother brought it home from college and I was in high school. I had been playing guitar for a few years and was mostly into punk and hardcore at the time and hearing Calculating Infinity almost broke my mind. One of those "either Im going to quit guitar or this is my inspiration" moments. I am now an old man and own all of their records and although they ended with much of this original ferocity and mayhem intact I think their record Miss Machine is my favorite. Close second is Ire Works.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

The world needs more people like Ben who are willing to create the sounds they hear in their heads-instead of re-creating the sounds other people are making!

[@nicklose3631]

I saw them play in the basement of a venue in 99 or 2000 when they were touring for this record. I believe Drowningman and Candiria were with them and it was absolute insanity. Even in the basement of said venue, they had strobes and a very small but totally pro setup and played with a ferocity that people had never seen. These dudes were serious. I was sandwiched up right at the front of the less than 2ft high platform we called in a stage in there behind one other guy. Ben Weinman slung his guitar behind his back and grabbed onto a pipe just above us, swinging himself up and onto the audience. His guitar swung back out from behind him, went directly around the guys head in front of me and the headstock stuck me directly into the bridge of my nose and into my right eye socket. Luckily it didn't take my eye out but I was pouring blood from my face and as a 15 year old punk/metal kid... I couldn't have been more stoked. Every single person in that basement knew this band was going to be huge.

[@oceanmachine1906]

Yes, DEP are legends.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Agreed.

[@DaydreamDeluxe]

It was really interesting hearing your thoughts on Calculating Infinity! Dillinger Escape Plan have been one of my favourite bands since I was 17! If you want another album to check out that's on the spectrum of CI, check out Jane Doe by Converge!

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Lots of people have recommended this one. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@KelticKabukiGirl]

Also, I can listen to this shit all fucking day, and play it!

[@clabbert7694]

I’d love to recommend the band the sawtooth grin to you. They have a pretty similar sound to this iteration of Dillinger, only with much of the weirder and more abrasive elements turned up. The record the cuddle monster is probably my favorite work of theirs

[@buriedNglass]

saw them 3 times in a row after this came out . take this album , put the band in front of it playing it exactly the same AMPED with energy like a thousand moving parts phasing through your body while a guy is swinging his guitar at your face as the singer stares into you screaming his apathetic gospel with a nuanced look of death .... quite the experiences , it was good times

[@WebsterA]

4:00 2 measures of 4/4 1 measure of 6/4 Every single second of this album can be counted. Albeit, difficulylt mostly. Lol

[@amusia1469]

Not completely the same vibe but 2004's Silent Circus by Between The Buried and Me had me at hello the same this album did back in the golden era of chaos

[@xFuzzyxPicklesx]

the harmonies are definitely a slayer thing, its like an early cave in/converge slayercore riff taken to an extreme level

[@skullfunk7513]

This sums it up so nicely. Very nice to hear some praise for one of my favourite albums and one of my favourite bands of all time! Out of curiosity, do you have any thoughts on the band's later works?

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Some of it is great, some of it feels a little too pop and trying to be accessible. For the most part, it’s not my style but I really love this album.

[@bunglegrind1]

One of my...well I'd say "milestone" albums, together with Mr. Bungle's California