“We’re gonna be coming out strong this year. Same beast, different animal,” promises/threatens vocalist Chris Ramos of Oxnard-based four-piece Dead Heat while discussing the brutal hardcore/thrash crossover band’s newest EP, Endless Torment, a July 28 release via Triple B and Tankcrimes Records, and their planned live shows. “We’re trying to ante-up the game and play ball in a whole new field.” In addition to playing more of the material that’s on their five-song banger, they’ll also incorporate some older songs that they haven’t performed in years.
As for the making of Endless Torment, Ramos says, “Right after we finished recording (our second full-length, 2021’s) World at War, (guitarist) Justin started writing more with (bassist) Vince and our drummer Yogie.” The then-five-piece band took a pause from writing in order to tour and then finished crafting the songs at the end of 2022.
They got into production in 2023, recounts Ramos, as “Our guitarist, Anthony, was making his way out of the band due to personal reasons, so our sound started to change up a little. The way we write lately has been influenced a lot by Sepultura and Slayer as well as other more heavy metal bands like King Diamond and Running Wild, so naturally, we started to sway to punchier type riffs. We’ve been trying to push ourselves to be more complex and as catchy as we can be. Everyone has been pitching in with the new ideas, so it’s made writing the new stuff a fun challenge that works for us.”
Ramos writes all the lyrics and explains some that appear on this EP had been written while he was writing World at War. “Essentially you get some songs about people we don’t like, and more or less about being the victor in situation(s) and coming out on top. Other influences were personal and came from a passing of life that affected me that I’m sure most can relate to. Then a couple of the other songs are pretty much about how life is not real, and that we’re all basically meant to do one thing… die.”
Dead Heat began in 2016 when their original guitarist—the aforementioned Anthony—discussed forming “a crossover band in the vein of NYHC-meets-Bay Area-thrash” with Justin. After the two wrote their first song, “Dead Heat,” they enlisted Ramos and the other three members. Though the guys were all basically “on the same page on what we liked when it came to metal and hardcore,” Ramos says. “We all listened to different stuff as well, so everyone was able to bring their own flavor to the mix.”
All of those flavors compliment the obvious main ingredient: being from Oxnard, a bastion of early-’80s hardcore punk. “I was able to be exposed to a lot of different music scenes early on,” Ramos says, “but obviously the biggest to come out was Nardcore, gravitating towards the more aggressive side of punk hardcore, which shaped me and the whole sound into what it is today.”
Endless Torment is available for pre-order from the Triple B Records store. Follow Dead Heat on Facebook for future updates.
Photo courtesy of Cezar Salas Olvera.
