Ear-piercing noise? Check. Furious fretboard noodling? Check. Glittery pop choruses? Um, huh?

Yes, that's right, folks, New Jersey's resident musical maniacs the Dillinger Escape Plan are at it again, and, on their newest full-length effort, Ire Works, they throw down another intricate puzzle for listeners to construct.

Ire Works seems to pick up where 2004's genre-blurring Miss Machine left off. The new release is a twisted tour through the worlds of jazz theory, rock and electronica, heavily draped in the band's patented brand of blistering, complex hardcore. It's a crazy ride, and it's not without speed bumps.

The album begins promisingly with "Fix Your Face" and "Lurch," a pair of tracks underscoring the band's typical flurries of dissonant guitar riffs, both interrupted sporadically by deft drum and bass interludes.

But things hit a snag when "Black Bubblegum" shows up. As its title suggests, this is Dillinger's take on pop music, but its results are less than impressive. Throughout most of Ire Works, lead singer Greg Puciato's versatile vocal style fits in appropriately with the sound the band has crafted. He can bellow and shriek with the best of them and carry a solid melody, but in the case of "Black Bubblegum," his fluttering falsetto might be better suited for inebriated nights at the karaoke bar belting out Jeff Buckley tunes.

 Instrumentally speaking, Ire Works is an impressive showcase of each band member's individual talents, but the album is ultimately anchored in Ben Weinman's guitar work. His consistent ability to shred is evident on more punishing tracks like "Milk Lizard" and "Dead as History," while his knack for channeling the warm, colorful tones of axe-master Al Di Meola is highlighted in the jazzier moments of songs like "Party Smasher."

Drummer Gil Sharone proves to be a more than adequate replacement for the recently departed Chris Pennie, who ditched Dillinger for a full-time gig with popsters Coheed and Cambria. Sharone, formerly of experimental '90s rock outfit Fishbone, manhandles his kit with machine precision, and his masterful rhythms start, stop and topple over one another with frightening ease.

The latter half of Ire Works steps back toward more traditional Dillinger fare and finds the band incorporating miscellaneous stringed instruments and glitchy electronics into the mix. It ends with the haunting "Mouth of Ghosts," a seven-minute sprawl of delicate piano work and drum play paired with Puciato's soaring vocals.

Occasionally, Ire Works' flow is interrupted by an oddly placed track like "Sick on Sunday," but "Black Bubblegum" is the only real stain marring an otherwise solid album.

Yet, it's hard to avoid looking at Ire Works without seeing it as Miss Machine, disc No. 2. It's more polished than Machine was, but the band seems to have traveled more sideways than forward, and Ire Works doesn't exist in its own universe like Machine and 1999's Calculating Infinity were able to.

But overall, Ire Works is another impressive effort from these Jersey boys as they once again prove that they are light years ahead of most of their heavy music contemporaries in terms of musical dexterity and concept. Regardless of the direction the band takes next, Ire Works makes it clear that Dillinger Escape Plan is headed somewhere as impressive as it is bizarre.