Few bands feel as essential right now as Oxnard’s finest thrash punks, Dead Heat. Their crossover-ish style has grown more metallic with each listen, as a band mostly comprised of those of immigrant descent, let’s just say there are many middle fingers on their upcoming magnum opus Process of Elimination, out October 10 via Metal Blade Records. It feels weird calling anything by Dead Heat an opus, as they are particularly noteworthy for their efficiency, and that’s on full display throughout their first for Metal Blade. Every song features multiple “rewind-worthy” moments, for those of you old enough to know there used to be a physical button you had to press to go backwards (now you just do that at the voting booth).
Process of Elimination cements the band’s slow ascent into thrash metal royalty because it’s their most metallic by a long shot. Darker, more ferocious, yet more nimble on their feet, Dead Heat breathe fire throughout their short runtime by trimming any and all possible fat along the way. According to vocalist Chris Ramos, that notion of addition by subtraction was especially noteworthy:
“The shift in everything was doing more as a whole (group) and actually understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses. After all that we realized we were literally using the process of elimination to get through and make sure we come up with the best version of this band.”
“With this record we wanted it to be our most powerful and hard-hitting yet,” he adds. “I feel like we’ve evolved our sound into something that flows a lot smoother in transition. I think what surprised us the most is probably how well we worked under the pressure of writing this in the time frame we had. We had an idea but no clear vision of the end ‘til the end then it all just magically flowed together.”
Thrash thrives in the political and personal, where guitar pyrotechnics match up with songs that feel like lobbing musical M80s over a certain fence with rallying calls to build and support a better community. That process of elimination revealed itself as a simple mantra of how to partition out the negativity to create something worth building on, both professionally and in his own life:
“I think there was a couple things on this record that I was trying to convey without being too personal but just enough so it’s relatable to everyone. There are themes in these songs of living life to the fullest, to protecting your own, to political hatred, to rejoicing in yourself, but in all I tried to have a common relativeness so anyone can comprehend and pull themselves into these songs. Our worlds are always shifting in a way that obviously affects and influences our outcome so yeah what we are now is literally a result of using the ‘process of elimination’ in terms of coming out with the best DH we can give.”
“I think for me a couple different influences,” he continues, “even though not shown apparently were a lot of Mexican artists like Chalino Sanchez, Vincente Fernandez, and Ramon Ayala to name a few. I ended up writing some of my lyrics inspired by songs they had written.”
That sense of camaraderie always extends into those who like to march along to the DH stomp, whether by showing up for a live show or those they tour with. The live show—as seen in viral live videos from Hate5Six and others—has been where Dead Heat have shined the brightest (before this record, natch).
“Touring and playing live have always been a big factor in this band and have always impacted the way we perceive it,” Ramos says. “The audience reaction to us doing our thing for us is more than anything everything else. We’ve grown influence from our fans as well with our new music. We just want to give them something to headbang and mosh to. I think I learned the most from Chanch: He taught me it doesn’t matter if you’re supposed to be co-pilot, it’s OK to fall asleep.”
While sleep is essential, don’t sleep (I’m sorry, editor) on Dead Heat, as thrash metal doesn’t sound this alive very often in 2025. This is the kind of record that stands the test of time.
Process of Elimination is out on Friday, and you can preorder it from Metal Blade Records. Follow Dead Heat on Facebook and Instagram.
Photo courtesy of Dead Heat
