There are insane music feats — and then there's a string quartet covering the Dillinger Escape Plan's One of Us Is the Killer in its entirety. NYC's Seven)Suns have done just that, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the mathcore titans' teeth-rattling 2013 opus — a classical-music reinvention that comes approved by Dillinger's own guitarist-songwriter-bandleader Ben Weinman, now of Suicidal Tendencies.
For their part, Seven)Suns are spearheaded by founding violinist Earl Maneein, who has performed with Jay-Z and Rihanna, and been described by Metallica's Robert Trujillo as "a kickass player who pushes the creative boundaries."
Indeed, he does. Watch Maneein and his cohorts — violinist Adda Kridler, viola player Fung Chern Hwei and cellist Jennifer DeVore — tear through Killer's concussive opener, "Prancer," in the video above, which Revolver is proudly premiering today.
"Prancer" is one of my all-time favorite DEP songs," Earl Maneein tells us. "It's a tie between that one, 'Farewell Mona Lisa' and '43% Burnt.'
"I first heard it live at Amityville Music Hall in Amityville, Long Island. It's not a big club and they played three nights, two sets each night, all sold-out. When they launched into 'Prancer' — literally — I can tell you there was no safe space in the venue. People were using the walls to kick off and slam into each other, Ben and Greg were walking on people's heads, Billy was dangerously close to chucking his set across the room, while Kevin and Liam were holding it down. So I knew what kind of challenge I had in trying to recreate that feeling in this string quartet arrangement.
"Ben sent me stems of the original track and I think I spent four hours one night trying to figure out 10 seconds. I eventually did, and this is the result. I think I managed to capture the menacing, sarcastic spite of the original, but that wouldn't have happened without Jenny, Chern Hwei and Adda deeply understanding the ordered anarchy and aggression that is not usually present in classical music, needed to pull this arrangement off. We hope you like it."
Seven)Suns' full-album cover of One of Us Is the Killer is due out September 29th on Silent Pendulum Records. (It's available for pre-order now on vinyl and digital). Below, see Dillinger playing "Prancer" live for comparison, and watch Maneein in conversation with Weinman.
