If you have never heard The Dillinger Escape Plan before, their musical style can be summed up in one word: C-O-M-P-L-E-X-I-T-Y. This band is insane, uncomparable to anything else out there at the moment. DEP brilliantly combine new-school hardcore, metal and jazz in a vortex of noise and technicality. Their songs have unusual time signatures whichreally defines their style. Their music has previously been described as math-metal (noise-calculus, sound-algebra, call it however you like) and Miss Machine comes nothing short of this. Kicking off with a proof that DEP still have their touch to surprise the listener, 'Panasonic Youth' starts with an incredibly spasmodic blast beat, a good example of their style; switching from heavy beats to complex guitar riffs to breakdowns and keeping a certain musicality all along. This track also shows Puciato’s screaming abilities, altering between a high nasal scream and a deeper yelling.

The song is quickly followed by the track with the ironic title 'Sunshine The Werewolf' which sounds like an extension to 'Panasonic Youth'. The epic breakdown around 1:25 is what makes this song. Lasting for 2:10, the breakdown slowly builds up, accompanied with an orchestra of trumpets and violins, to then once again break into a heavy beat with violent guitar strokes. Then comes the strange intro of Highway Robbery, followed by a macabre whispering slowly gaining intensity to then become a terrible scream. The bridge and chorus are fairly simple and good to sing along. The chorus then transfers to a short ghostly singing voice that sounds as if many different voice were overlapped and blended together. After that, the song takes the same structure as before until the breakdown at 2:06. A few simple guitar notes are accompanied by a high-hat for a little while and then the other instruments join is, as well as two spectre-like voices singing harmonies off each other. The song then goes back to it’s regular pattern and Greg starts screaming like a madman again. He alters his voice towards the end and sounds surprisingly like 'Speedo' from Rocket From The Crypt. Overall this track is nothing amazing for a DEP song, but is a very good live song since the crowd can easily sing along and the beat isn’t too hard to follow.

'Van Damsel' also sounds like a very good performance song, being heavier and chunkier than Highway Robbery. This song is more directed towards aggression and anger in it’s sound and lyrics. It ends with a symphony of feedback swells and turns into the intro of a song that almost sounds like a movie soundtrack; 'Phone Home'. This is one of my favourite tracks on the album. It takes 1:42 to become heavy and violent, for everything before that is a perfect mix of palm muted guitar riffs, creepy whispering and background noises. But when the song does take off with the heavy chorus, the listener isn’t disappointed, it seems as if everything is pushed to the max, the guitars, bass, crashes and Greg’s voice turn into instruments of aggression and hostility. The song then comes back to the same previous verse form but is now accompanied by violins. This sounds just like a enraged opera would sound like. The chorus comes once again before hitting the 2:32 mark; right when you thought DEP couldn’t get any more aggressive, they spin kick you right in the jaw with the most heart pounding 30 seconds of your life.

The next song on the CD is 'We Are The Storm' which begins like a typical no-intro DEP song, immediately driving all the instrument into organised rhythmic chaos. The first 1:57 are extremely heavy but then pacify into am very smooth melody. Whispers and a guitar riff repeated over and over again become hypnotizing until 3:28, when the song fades out into complete silence. But watch out, the song isn’t finished! Don’t get too frightened when it blasts out again into another jerky sort of blast beat to then end, just as abruptly as it started. Crutch Field Tongs is the typical Dillinger Escape Plan middle of record track. 53 seconds of metallic and machine sounds. It could be compared to "*#.." of "Calculating Infinity". Just enough to break the album in half and introduce my favourite song of the album: 'Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants'. This song, is simply, ass kicking. A perfect combination of melody and aggression. Greg’s eerie voice, the guitar riffs and an organ playing in the background give this song a stoner metal feel to it that reminds of Queens Of The Stone Age. The chorus is great to sing-along to and totally shows off Puciato’s vocal range; rapidly changing from very melodic singing to terrible screaming. But remember, this is no recording trick,he actually switches his voice that way (as one may see in the studio footage from the extra DVD that comes with the record). The song also has a very catchy jazz breakdown and bridge that will surely give a well-earned break to all the moshers in the pit. This song is truly something new and fresh for DEP, a totally new direction in their soundthat is obviously influenced by their work with Mike Patton.

'Baby’s First Coffin' manages to cram three different riffs in the first 10 seconds, charging the listeners ears with a burst of information to compute. I especially like the effects in this song; screeching soundslike a computer modem or a fax machine, distortion on Greg’s voice and very neat whammy effects on the guitars. The various structures in this song do not repeat often which gives a very progressive sound to this song; constantly building upon what has previously been layed down and transforming it into a completely different riff. 'Unretrofied' is next on the track list and on my personal favourite list as well ('Unretrofied' is an invented word by the way, I haven’t found any definition for it anywhere. The closest word I found to it was 'retrofection' which is, well, just look it up...). It starts off smoothly, sounding once again like a movie soundtrack but then starts melodically with guitar chords overlapped with a neat little guitar riff and an electronic synthetiser.The verses are catchy, with their upbeat bass riff and energetic drum beat. The chorus sounds very melodic, once again featuring Greg’s singing skills.

Last but not least is 'The Perfect Design', another excellent song which reminds me of 43% Burnt off 'Calculating Infinity'. The riffs in this song are numerous and incredibly technical. The very first riff is just an example of their complexity. The song also has a nice jazz breakdown in the middle. Greg’s throat must definitely be sore after this song because he really goes balls out on this one, ending it with a series of atrocious howls, wrapping up the CD quite nicely.

The Mike Patton influence is very obvious on this record, especially on tracks such as 'Sunshine The Werewol'f, 'Phone Home', 'Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants' and 'Unretrofied'. Getting Dimitri to leave the band wasn’t such a bad thing after all because I doubt that he would have been able to accomplish what Greg did on this record, that is, helping DEP expand in a new direction using melodic singing and different screams which I don’t think were in Dimitri’s vocal range. All and all, I think it was a smart move. If they keep moving in this direction, their future material will just get better and better. As for technical aspects of the album, it is well mixed and mastered, adding various extra sound effects throughout the CD such as bells, electronic noises and various distortions. Trumpets and violins also helped give a special touch on some tracks. The lyrics are dark and anger driven, often metaphorical, reflecting some of the band’s personal concerns and global issues as well. The album also comes with a DVD featuring live and studio footage. The studio footage video is quite funny and shows the process of recording with DEP. The live footage is very impressive, showing how crazy the band is live. Unfortunately, the DVD isn’t that great, there are only about ten videos but the extra cost related to it isn’t exaggerated so it’s a good deal. This is the kind of record one has to listen from beginning to end (and a few times more on top) to truly appreciate. The tracks connect with each other quite well, as if each track was a piece of the larger 'Miss Machine' puzzle. Overall this CD is an incredible auditive experience. After all the innovation these guys made, they still find a way to be innovative and keep innovating.

This record is a must have for any Dillinger fan, and a safe bet for anyone who is curious about the musical maelstrom that is... The Dillinger Escape Plan.