Dillinger Escape Plan, By the End of Tonight, Pretty Little Flower, A-dream Asleep Fitzgerald's June 2, 2011

The Dillinger Escape Plan seem to have caused something of an glitch inside their own genre. In spite of being wildly popular, they haven't seen much press compared to the amount of admiration they receive.

The band's recently released fourth studio album, Option Paralysis, has been winning high praise and even landed them a touring gig with the Deftones. That tour came to a close about a month ago, but didn't stop in Houston.

Deftones or not, though there were plenty of fans in attendance Thursday night.

Upstairs, Fitzgerald's was peppered with people of all walks of life. There was an old biker, the kind you want to talk to because you're certain he has some amazing stories; a dozen or so high school students wearing As I Lay Dying T-shirts, all of whom awkwardly stood outside wantingly gazing at the of-age attendees who were smoking and drinking; and plenty of fans of hard rock, hard-hitting performances and, specifically, Dillinger Escape Plan. And we were all standing together, sipping our drinks below the chandelier that hangs from Fitz's roof.

You know, because we're classy and all that jazz.

Dillinger brought the thunder. It stormed, it rained; Hell, it snowed. You read right, Houston. It snowed inside a venue. Not really, of course. But we just want to make sure that you have an idea of what those in attendance last night witnessed firsthand: DEP brought their A game, leaving the crowd sweaty, breathless and panting for more. It was punky, melodic, screamy and everything in between.

Our hearts were racing, and Aftermath isn't even big fans of this kind of music. But anyone who attended the show, however unsure they may have been as they walked inside, left with a newfound appreciation for the genre and (perhaps) its most underrated heroes.

By the End of Tonight (above), straight out of our fair city, also put on a strong showing, and they may have been Aftermath's favorite of the night. But how to describe their music... Think Explosions in the Sky if every member had an older brother who was a big fan of metal.

Many of their songs began with an uplifting feel, a simple riff played over and over, soft and sweet then heavier and faster as the percussion section followed suit, and it all eventually turned into a rip-roaring, hard-hitting, eardrum-shattering tornado of heavy rock.

The flops of the evening were Pretty Little Flower, who didn't offend us but also failed to bring about much emotion from much of the crowd. We'll applaud them for being a two-piece and having enough charisma to command the stage without any theatrics, but their sound was a bit monotonous. They're something of a one-note band, at least in comparison to the evening's other acts.

Before PLF, Houston's own A-dream Asleep (right) took the stage. There was a bit of confusion on their part, because they thought the set they thought was scheduled for 9 p.m. actually began at 8:30. The band informed its fans of the mixup through a last-minute Facebook update.

We left home just after 8:15 p.m., and we miraculously made it to the door on time... only to wait in line for nearly 10 minutes. Luckily, we made it inside to find vocalist Mikey Seals flailing around on the floor in between a few dozen onlookers, half of whom seem frightened while the other half were eager to get involved.

It was quite the night.

Personal Bias: We've been raging for the past two weeks straight, so why not continue on down that road?

Overheard In the Crowd: "Dude, accept my fucking 'Words With Friends' request. I know we work together, but what the hell? I mean, do you not value our relationship?"

Random Notebook Dump: Wear sunscreen this weekend, kiddos. It's going to be hot.