vote
7.0
- Band:
Dead Heat - Duration: 00:30:00
- Available from: 10/10/2025
- Label:
-
Metal Blade Records
Streaming not yet available
With “Process of Elimination”, the Dead Heat confirm that they belong to that new lever of crossover groups which, even without pretending to rewrite the canons, manage to transmit energy and passion with remarkable immediacy. The Californian formation, led by guitarist Justin Ton (recently also engaged in the Tzompantli), moves with ease in that territory halfway between old school thrash metal and hardcore hardcore, combining a discreet range of riffs with direct and community attitude typical of the bands that live to climb on a stage.
Those who have followed the Dead Heat since the beginning know what to expect: attacks with a Slayer flavor, contaminations that wink as much to the Cro-Mags as well as to the Excels, plus a groove that occasionally looks at the first sepulture, in particular for that almost primitive fury that crosses more than a song. The most fitting comparison, in the present, remains the one with the Mindforce, with whom years ago they also shared a split: same communicative urgency, the same ability to merge two languages naturally. The reference to Power Trip, a better known name and more immediately assimilable also by those who do not follow the dynamics of the underground, is also inevitable.
Compared to the previous works, “Process of Elimination” introduces some more shades, with the tracklist alternating quick and dry pieces, closer to the hardcore spirit, with songs in which the Dead Heats allow themselves slightly more articulated structures, with changes of time and riffs that take a few moments to develop. These are not real surprises, nor of radical waste, but they are enough to keep attention high and to suggest that the band is not satisfied with repeating the same formula to the infinite. At certain moments there is a desire to experiment within the limits of the genre, a will to test one's songwriting without distorting the overall compactness.
It is in fact of a record that does not give breath, but that does not slip into the real monotony, thanks to that minimum of internal dynamics that the Dead Heat have been able to insert. There are no shots of genius nor perhaps songs destined to become immediate classics – despite the initial triptych really has an extra gear – but there are a shot and a basic consistency that, in the context, are worth almost as much as a dose of personality, even in a second half of tracklist where the overall effectiveness falls a little.
In the end, “Process of Elimination” is an album that invites more to think of the stage than to home reflection: each riff, every acceleration, seems to be conceived to unleash circle pit and interpretation. It is music that finds its natural habitat in the concert dimension, where physical proximity and collective participation amplify the impact of the songs. They are of course concepts applicable also to realities such as Enforced, Fugitive or juicy Mindforce and Power Trip: groups that live in direct energy and that sense of urgency and live charge that transcends gender labels.
In short, a proof that does not reinvent anything, but which reaffirms the general solidity of a band that knows well where to place itself and what to offer to its audience. An honest and immediate work, ideal for those looking for a discharge of adrenaline in this type of crossover and do not want to ask big questions.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
