State of the Art: Dead Season

 *This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s State is Maine!

So June’s State of the Art starts with Maine. Where does the time go? Half way through 2016 already. So many great bands discovered over our great country already. This is why I really love this series. Find interesting music where I would not normally look and share it. What could be more Metal than that? Grass roots head banging at its best. Well, my first band jumped up in about thirty seconds of searching. A real no-brainer to write about. If you are not from the upper, east coast, you may not have ever heard of them. If you are, however, you already know who I am talking about. That’s right. It could only be Dead Season. This is a “holy-shit” good band!

Dead Season was founded in Oxford, ME in late 2002 with members Ian Truman on vocals and his brother Matt Truman on guitar and backing vocals, Steven Church on bass and Andy Hackett on the drums. After members changing over the course of 12 years, the band is back with a vengeance in 2016 with this original lineup. They have a long long steeped fan base that has often overshadowed national and international acts playing on their turf. This being said, it comes as no surprise that Dead Season has sold over 25,000 CDs that include “Down Again” EP (2004), “The Fight” EP (2005), “Rise” LP (2006), “When Everything’s Lost…” LP (2008), “Life Death” LP (2009), “The Negative NUMBers” EP (2011) and the 2012 re-release of “The Negative NUMBers” with bonus tracks from “The Flight” and “Down Again” EPs. They have had regular airplay on Northeastern radio stations, charted on Billboard Heatseekers (Northeast) in 2011 (even taken the top spot a few times!), been named one of Portland’s most influential bands by the Portland Phoenix, won the 2009 96.3 The Bone-FM Bone Bash Battle of the Bands, won the Music as a Weapon IV Tour, Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands for an opening spot with Disturbed in 2009, outsold Metallica and Disturbed in 2008 at local Bull Moose Music record stores and won the 105.1 WTOS-FM Battle of the Bands in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Dead Season has also shared the stage with bands such as: Slipknot, Stone Temple Pilots, Godsmack (2), Korn, Disturbed (2), Slayer, Megadeth, In Flames, Anthrax, Motorhead, Shinedown, Sevendust, Chevelle, Puddle of Mudd, Quiet Riot, Cold, Papa Roach, Five Finger Death Punch, Drowning Pool, Buckcherry, Saliva (2), Trivium, Killswitch Engage, Hatebreed, Lacuna Coil, Nonpoint (2), Machine Head, 10 Years, Mushroomhead, Soulfly, Powerman 5000, Black Stone Cherry, Chimaira, HED pe, God Forbid, My Darkest Day and Sick Puppies; all by invitation. Whew! It is a damned wonder they are not huge by now based on those accolades alone.

Give Dead Season one listen and you will know precisely why. One song. Pick any of them. It doesn’t matter. I have listened to everything I could find and there are no throw aways. That’s right. Not… Freaking… One… Over twelve years of nothing but goodness. Impressive stuff! This is a powerhouse Metal/Hard Rock band. With the motto: “Intensity, Integrity, and Inspiration”, they never disappoint. Intensity: Heavy, guitar-based, skull crushing Metal with acoustic passages and some of the coolest bass leads I have heard since my run-in with Source’s Dan Crisafulli during our coverage of Colorado. While having great production, their raw, emotions shine through. Influences and musical preferences said to be Pantera, Metallica, Tool, Deftones, Godsmack, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Mudvayne, In Flames, Demon Hunter, Type O Negative, A Perfect Circle, Five Finger Death Punch, Bush, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains you get the idea of Dead Season’s direction. Melodic, very Hard Rock and pure Metal. Integrity: this is a band that writes what their hearts speak. No candy-coating, no angsty generalizations and zero bullshit. What you see is what you get. The soul and personality of Dead Season laid out for anyone to hear. Inspiration: With important and mature subject matter like cancer, losing a loved one, honor, sacrifice, respect for a fellow man, frustration with betrayal, trust and love; no words are minced or wasted. It is obvious that a “moral” is very important to Dead Season. There is material here that is heart-breaking and tear-jerking, angry and frustrated without the hate often associated with these two honest emotions and most commonly just purely inspirational and positive. Vocals range from clean to understandable screams and are very effective in getting their point across. No sense writing important lyrics if the listener can’t understand what the hell you are saying, right?

Having an official Jagermeister endorcement and being an official “Jager band”, live shows are just as intense and energetic as their recorded offerings. Dead Season goes out of their way to include a heart felt connection with their audiences as well. They can be seen all over the Northeast in Maine, Vermont and other states in the area.  Based on their thoughtful song writing style, I honestly could expect nothing less. Dead Season is currently in the studio working on new material with release sometime later this year. I will definitely be looking out for it and keep our loyal readers up to date. Until then, check Dead Season. Buy a CD (or all of them!). You will not be disappointed!

Dead Season can be found: Facebook  Web  ReverbNation