Death Dealer Delivers Pure, Necksnapping Heavy Metal

Fans of pure head banging, neck-snapping heavy metal rejoice: the new Death Dealer EP, “Fuel Injected Suicide Machine,” is here. Led by guitarist Ross the Boss (Manowar, Ross the Boss Band, The Dictators) and singer Sean Peck (Cage, The Three Tremors, Denner/Shermann), the band’s EP, out now, is a metallic onslaught featuring four songs that will leave fans clamoring for more – a fourth full-length Death Dealer record is in the works.

The album’s title track, in a nod to the Mad Max films, calls to mind a post-apocalyptic future. The song, preceded by the ominous introduction, “The Dead Never Listen,” is an explosion of furious, riffs from Ross the Boss and fellow guitarist Stu Marshall, and breakneck rhythms courtesy of bassist Mike LePond (Symphony X, Silent Assassins) and drummer Steve Bolognese. Peck delivers the goods on a grand-scale vocally; his dynamics and range measure up to any singer in the business. The anthemic “Freedoms Not a Cry” follows as Peck calls out the “heavy metal hellions” that represent the band’s fans. “Blood for Gasoline” turns out to be prophetic and “Invasion” wraps things up with an unrelenting metal assault.

We recently spoke with Ross the Boss and Sean Peck.

Congratulations on “Fuel Injected Suicide Machine,” an absolute bulldozer of a pure heavy metal EP

Ross the Boss: That’s the only way we know how to do it. It’s what comes out. We write the music that we like to listen to ourselves. That’s the advice I give young musicians. Don’t chase trends. Write music that makes the hair on your arm stand up. Then get a real singer that can obviously soar above the music and a great rhythm section.

There are many bundles available for “Fuel Injected Suicide Machine. It’s a gift for fans that still want to hold vinyl or a CD in their hands. You’re also not making the EP available on Spotify. Why is that?

Sean Peck: The EP is not on Spotify and there are bundle packs with different colors and other special items that are shipping as we speak. We did two secret cover songs for people who pre-ordered. There’s a two-disc pack with 11 songs from other bands on the label. The sampler disc is fun; there’s a guy from each band introducing each song. We got the idea for multiple covers from comic book artists that would do 10 different covers for one comic. We thought, ‘Why don’t we throw that into the vinyl world.’

Ross the Boss: Everybody in the industry is saying, ‘you have to have Spotify.’ I just said, ‘I don’t care.’ If you want to hear it you have to buy it.

Many of your fans want to know when you’re releasing your next full album

Sean Peck: There was time during the pandemic and we just thought that it was time to write. It flows out of us. We kept going and going and we stockpiled a lot of music. The fourth Deal Dealer album has already been written.

Ross the Boss: We weren’t wasting time. As frustrating as this has all been, and who knows where it’s going, we managed to emerge victorious.

Sean Peck: This EP isn’t filler until the next album. I’d put any of these songs up against anybody. The reaction to this band is amazing. When I was touring with The Three Tremors people constantly asked me, ‘When is the next Death Dealer coming out?’ There’s a ton of incredible music to come. There’s Death Dealer as far as the eye can see.