The Dillinger Escape Plan

The frenzied tempos and head-spinning time signatures of mathcore trailblazers The Dillinger Escape Plan were matched in intensity only by the band’s live shows. Frontman Greg Puciato often did death-defying stunts during gigs, such as climbing on speaker stacks and swinging from the ceiling. Unsurprisingly, the New Jersey band had their roots in hardcore punk, as guitarist Ben Weinman cofounded the band in 1996 with original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis. Their 1999 debut, Calculating Infinity, leaned into the nascent metalcore movement. Minakakis left the group after the release of the full-length and was replaced by Puciato, but the group altered their chemistry further through collaborations with Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton, who sang on the band’s 2002 EP Irony Is a Dead Scene. In the years since, The Dillinger Escape Plan continued to tour and release music, although the 2016 album Dissociation ended up being their swan song, as the group broke up the following year.