Tearing it Down

Dead Horse Trauma is not a band to rest on its laurels. Even among people who aren’t fans of the band’s sound, DHT is generally regarded as one of the hardest working bands in the state. Even as they released last year’s excellent “ViOps” album, they were already working on the band’s next phase.

“By the time ‘ViOps’ had hit, we were already planning to release something else,” said bassist BJ Forst.

“We didn’t stop recording,” added guitarist Seth Peters.

Dead Horse Trauma released “Kill the Precedence” last week.

 “ViOps” garnered radio play on XM Radio and received national attention. But the band didn’t want to be defined by a single album or sound. So they’ve decided to capitalize on that momentum by blowing it up. The new album, set to release this weekend, is called “Kill The Precedence,” and that’s more than just a title. The new DHT album upends virtually everything that people know about the band.

“‘ViOps’ was definitely a metal album,” Peters said. “But this new one is defintely more of a hard rock sound.”

The new direction will be most noticeable in two regards. First, there’s the new expectations placed on frontman Eric Davidson.

“(‘Kill the Precedence’) was a chance for me to show my progression as a vocalist,” he said. “It’s given me a chance to do some things that I maybe wish I had been able to do on ‘ViOps.’”

That means less of a reliance upon the dirty vocals that permeated “ViOps,” and a much stronger focus on melody and emotion.

But in addition to the revamped vocal stylings, people checking out DHT live will see a new wrinkle to the band’s act that won’t be apparent on the album. This past month, the band grew from a five-piece into a six-man operation, with the addition of former Mindrite guitarist Jayson Kempf.

“I write everything for two guitars,” Peters explained. “We backtrack the rhythms, and I play the lead. But with another body up there, it’s amazing in a live sense. It’s so fucking huge.”

“We’ve always been a two-guitar band,” Davidson concurred. “We’re just adapting the band to make the music like it’s supposed to be.”

“I wanted to work with people who were all on the same page,” Kempf said of his decision to come on board. “These guys are the hardest working local band I’ve ever seen. And the music’s sweet, too.” CV