Jersey math-metal freaks the Dillinger Escape Plan transcended the hardcore tag with the release of their trailblazing 1999 full-length debut, Calculating Infinity (Relapse). Around the same time, the band also became friendly with avant-rock genius Mike Patton, who’s been known to show his love for ear-splitting extremes in groups like Mr. Bungle and Fantomas. When Dillinger recently found themselves between frontmen, they teamed up with Patton to record this eagerly awaited one-off EP for the punk label Epitaph.

It’s a fruitful collaboration — Patton pushes Dillinger to dizzying new heights of eccentricity, and his deranged howl has rarely sounded more immediate. The band start off "Hollywood Squares" with their trademark grindcore skronk, moving through enervating bouts of polyrhythmic noise improv and jazz-fusion schmaltz before it all comes crashing down at the end. Patton drags "Pig Latin" into bungled-up chamber-pop territory, and "When Good Dogs Do Bad Things" is a clinically insane horrorcore masterpiece. In any ordinary context, the band’s noise-addled take on the Aphex Twin glitch-metal standard "Come to Daddy" would stand out; next to the dazzling original material here, it’s almost an afterthought.

(The Dillinger Escape Plan perform this Tuesday, September 24, at the Middle East. Call 617-864-EAST.)