The Dillinger Escape Plan

Formed in the late 1990s in Morris Plains, New Jersey, The Dillinger Escape Plan developed an extreme approach to hardcore and metal, characterized by broken rhythms, abrupt tempo changes and dissonant harmonies often associated with the mathcore movement. Initially fronted by Dimitri Minakakis and, from 2001, by Greg Puciato, the band centered on guitarist Ben Weinman and a frequently renewed rhythm section, including Chris Pennie and later Billy Rymer on drums. After gaining early recognition in the underground with the EP Under the Running Board (1998), The Dillinger Escape Plan released Calculating Infinity in 1999, an album that established the basis of their dense, fragmented songwriting. The collaboration with Mike Patton on the EP Irony Is a Dead Scene (2002) opened the door to more pronounced excursions into deconstructed pop, jazz and electronics—directions continued on Miss Machine (2004) and Ire Works (2007). Subsequent records, Option Paralysis (2010) and One of Us Is the Killer (2013), refined this blend of brutality and more melodic passages, favoring shattered structures and constant tension. The Dillinger Escape Plan concluded its career with Dissociation in 2016 and ceased activities in 2017 after a farewell tour that marked the end of nearly twenty years of intense performing.