Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato released two solo albums in recent years — 2020’s Child Soldier: Creator of God and 2022’s Mirrorcell — and is now out on tour in support with a killer lineup of opening bands, who, like his own music, are hard to define.

Trace Amount aka Brooklyn’s Brandon Gallagher — whose 2022 album Anti Body Language was released on Greg’s Federal Prisoner label – opened the Wednesday night (5/17) NYC show with a set of his electro-industrial noise.

Deaf Club, a supergroup of sorts, are from nowhere according to frontman Justin Pearson (also of The Locust and many other great things). At least that’s what he claimed while answering some crowd questions during some of his trademark stage banter. They played a wild set of screamy, hardcore-informed chaos that Justin just likes to refer to as “annoying” music, including a new song they wrote the night before in the van on acid, and Justin singing from the seats at the back of Gramercy Theatre.

Next was Escuela Grind who never disappoint with — to quote our own review from March — “a mix of metalcore, grindcore, and death metal that feels built for huge stages and gigantic crowds. Their rhythm section is ruthless, guitarist Kris Morash is both a master shredder and awesome headbanger, and vocalist Katerina Economou knows exactly how to work a crowd, with the perfect mix of grin-inducing stage antics and pure fury.” As they reminded the crowd, they released Memory Theater via MNRK Heavy in 2022. Give it a spin, and spin around the circle pit at one of their upcoming shows.

Taking it down a notch, Greg Puciato and band’s headlining set closed the night with a mix of alternative metal and other dark genres that highlight the DEP-frontman’s wide-ranging voice. Code Orange’s Reba Meyers was a surprise guest, joining Greg on stage to sing her part on “Lowered” from Mirrorcell and though no other guests joined on stage, Greg let us know that his Better Lovers bandmates (aka three members of Every Time I Die and Will Putney) were all in the building. He even covered a bit of Soundgarden at Jordan Buckley’s request.

Better Lovers play their debut show in July before heading out on tour with Underoath.

Check out more photos from the whole Greg show (by The Tinfoil Biter), below…