Dead Heat Elimination

When I was in the Metal Blade shop picking up the new Armored Saint, I was surprised to see that they had a new Dead Heat album for sale as well. I mean, I know that I haven't been paying attention to discover new releases, but still, I thought that I might have heard along the way that Dead Heat had a new album out last year.

The new Dead Heat was an instant buy for me. I didn't bother to preview the album first... nope, just drop it in the cart and check out. Shortly after making my purchase, I queued the album up on Spotify, and my first thought was that maybe I'd made a mistake in jumping to buy it so quick. That initial listen was very underwhelming. It felt flat and lifeless and I regretted buying it. I didn't bother to listen to it again, and the record has been sitting untouched in a pile of new vinyl for the past two months. I figured that I'd give it a spin this week, so that I could write about it here and move on... but you know what... this record is actually great! I don't know what my problem was when I heard this back in March, but I'm so glad that it is clicking for me now.

I've previously compared past Dead Heat records to the crossover style of Suicidal Tendencies album Join The Army, but listening to Process Of Elimination right now, all I hear is straight up thrash. Had I picked this up last year when it was released, it would have easily made my Best Of 2025 list. This album rips.

Endless Torment

It has been a couple of years since we've heard from Dead Heat, so it was cool to see a new EP drop from them last year.

If you are familiar with the band, you know exactly what you are going to get with Endless Torment. Dead Heat nail that crossover thrash sound that I absolutely love. Think bands like Suicidal, Excel and Crumbsuckers... they just play that style perfectly, and I will eat it up every time. There are only five songs here, but at 18 minutes it is kind of the perfect length. Get in, rip it up, and leave 'em wanting more. Great stuff.

Maybe it is because the cover art is so over the top, but I kind of like the look of this obnoxious splatter pattern and screened b-side. 250 pressed.

Dead Heat At War

I was a little late to the Dead Heat party, but when I discovered their Certain Death album at the end of 2020 they became one of my favorite finds for the year. I love that old school crossover sound, and Dead Heat nail that style. When it was announced that Triple B was going to be releasing the band's new album, I was excited to check it out.

I can't keep up with the Triple B preorders and their midnight drops don't help, so of course I missed out on the more limited pressing for the World At War album, but that's okay because the red inside yellow vinyl looks better (even if it looks nothing like the mock up that Triple B was posting on Instagram).

Initially, I was a bit disappointed with this new record. I'm not sure why, but it seemed to fall a bit flat compared to the first album. I've been spinning it a bit more recently, and it is clicking much better with me now. This is some solid crossover that still maintains that Suicidal vibe they had on the first album, but also isn't afraid to try new things.

Dead Heat With Mindforce

The Mindforce / Dead Heat split was originally released as a 7 inch back in 2018. I was unaware of the record when it was released and it took a year or so before it popped up on my radar. I wasn't familiar with Dead Heat at the time, and wasn't feeling their side of the split when I first heard it, so I ignored the entire record. It took me until 2020 to finally recognize how good Dead Heat were, but by that time the split 7 inch with Mindforce was dropping on Discogs for over $40. I wasn't paying that price for a newer record that was only pressed on black vinyl, so I figured that I'd wait until the hype died down and the price was more reasonable.

When Triple B announced that they were doing a reissue of the Mindforce and Dead Heat split, I figured that this beat waiting around for the original 7 inch to show up at a decent price. The reissue moves up to the 12 inch format and gives us a different look with the cover art. I dig it.

I like the look of the red and black split colored vinyl, so I'll happily take this one over the shitty looking splatter option. 500 pressed.

While I was picking up the split with Dead Heat, I figured that I might as well grab the new pressing of Excalibur. The 5th pressing changes things up again for the cover, and goes with a nice looking white and blue colorway. The vinyl on the other hand looks bland. It was supposed to be a tan and blue mix, and the mockup looked good...the actual record on the other hand misses the mark.

This pressing includes the Man Of Peace flexi, this time on white plastic.

This is the third copy of this record that I now own. I still love this record, so I have no problem owning multiple copies.

Certain Death

I heard the name Dead Heat thrown around a bit last year, but I never paid it much attention. They were on a split 7 inch with Mindforce, but since they weren't Mindforce, I never really give thier songs a chance. When they released their album last year, I took one look at the album cover and immediately passed on it. That shit looked terrible.

At some point, one of their songs ended up popping up in some random Spotify playlist, and as I was getting ready to hit the button to skip it, the song kind of caught my attention. It wasn't the shitty metal sound that I was expecting...instead I found it had more of a crossover style and reminded me of Suicidal Tendencies Join The Army record. Now this was a style that I could get behind, and I immediately queued up the full album to really check it out. Within seconds, I was hooked and it had me thinking of those early Take Offense records. I knew that I needed the vinyl.

I was late to the party, so of course the first pressing was sold out. Edgewood Records had the second pressing available, but I was able to find a first press still available on Discogs...and at a cheaper price.

The blue and silver split is limited to 200.