Fronted by Faith No More's Mike Patton, Dead Cross is a hardcore punk supergroup featuring members of Retox, Slayer, Mr. Jungle, and The Locust. Guitarist Michael Crain, bassist Justin Pearson, and drummer Dave Lombardo formed the band in November 2015 in Southern California. Dead Cross began performing live one month later, with Gabe Serbian serving as the band's initial lead singer. Serbian left the lineup in 2016 and was replaced by Mike Patton. Although much of the band's debut album had already been recorded, Patton wrote his own lyrics and tracked his own vocals, both of which appeared on the self-titled Dead Cross in 2017. Released by Patton's own label, Ipecac Recordings, the eponymous Dead Cross charted at Number 12 on US Top Hard Rock Albums, Number 7 on US Vinyl Albums, and Number 180 on the Billboard 200. A self-titled EP followed in 2018, featuring two new songs as well as a pair of remixes of songs that previously appeared on the LP version of Dead Cross. By 2020, the band had begun to release new material, including a cover of Black Flag's Rise Above and an original track titled "Skin of a Redneck." A second full-length album, II, followed in 2022, featuring the singles "Reign of Error," "Heart Reformer," and "Christian Missle Crisis."