Here’s my first candidate for a spot in the top 10 of 2010.

I’m a bit new to the party when it comes to New Jersey’s Dillinger Escape Plan, but Option Paralysis, the group’s fourth full-length, is one that can get even the most cynical metalhead to join.

Trying to classify what DEP actually does is difficult. The band combines math metal, prog metal, hardcore, pop—the whole ball of wax. Consider the extraordinary first single, “Farewell, Mona Lisa.” It starts out as a math metal freakout: guitars and drums are all over the map as singer Greg Puciato screams about the end of a relationship. After two minutes of this, the band downshifts into a psychedelic groove before Puciato cues up the explosion—both musically and emotionally—“Don’t you ever try to be more than you were destined for/or anything worth fighting for.” It’s as well-crafted a metal song as you’re going to find this year.

“Farewell, Mona Lisa” also sets the tone for the wild experimentation the band delves into. Take the marvelously-titled “Gold Teeth on a Bum,” which starts out with a pop groove and then gets progressively heavier as it goes along. “Widower” takes things to even more of an extreme, starting out as a gentle piano ballad before the drums kick in and the band starts to pick up speed to the point where there’s nowhere left to go except back to the cocktail-piano riff.

“Room Full of Eyes” is basically two songs in one: after speedy math-metal jam for about two minutes, the band completely stops before launching into a pummeling slow jam. “I Wouldn‘t If You Didn‘t” works the same way, speedy first two minutes before the piano and Puciato’s Mike Patton-esque vocal style kicks in. “Chinese Whispers” sounds like it also would be at home on the band’s previous album, “Ire Works.” “Parasitic Twins” could be the bonus track from the next Nine Inch Nails album, with its skittering drums and ambient piano melody, mixed with fuzz guitar underneath.

Option Paralysis is certainly the sound of a band at the peak of its ability. The entire band sounds confident, even as it strays farther and farther from its post-hardcore roots. Guitarist Ben Weinman’s playing is pure chaos but always seemingly in control. Drummer Billy Rymer shows he can play frenetically as well as controlled. In fact, controlled chaos may be the best way to describe Option Paralysis. And in the world of metal, that is a good thing indeed.