Third time’s the charm. But, in the case of Dead Season, they lucked out on the first and second times as well. For the third year in a row, the metal band has won the WTOS 105.1 Battle of the Bands. What are they gonna do next?

Big surprise: they’re not going to DisneyWorld. Instead, they’re going to Ushuaia in Orono, which may be lacking in flying elephants and enchanted fairy castles (understatement of the year), but makes up for it by being a great place to see live metal. Dead Season is throwing the second of two CD release parties tonight at the Orono venue, in honor of their brand new album “Rise” and to celebrate the win.

“They’re not gonna let us do it again,” said guitarist Matt Truman, with a laugh. “It’s just gone over so well on [WTOS] that we’ve won three years in a row. People request us all the time. We’re kind of retired from it now.”

The new album is its first full-length, and finds Dead Season cemented as a major Maine band with a statewide following. Its two other releases, both EPs, routinely end up in weekly top 10 lists for overall sales in music stores across the region, according to Soundscan. Not bad for a band with its roots as teenagers playing AC/DC covers after school.

“In junior high my cousins showed me a Metallica CD, and I loved it so much I decided I wanted to play guitar,” said Truman. “I started learning on my own. Learned some AC/DC riffs, but it gets kind of boring just playing by yourself, so I called my younger brother Ian into the room and said ‘Hey, sing this.’ Turns out it sounded really cool. He did a good Angus Young impression.”

Rock ‘n’ roll was put on the back burner while the Truman brothers went to college – Matt went to the University of Maine in Orono on a baseball scholarship, where he pitched for the UMaine team, including a few seasons as a closer. He also pursued a degree in mechanical engineering. Ian went to Springfield College in Massachusetts, studying business and English.

Both brothers headed straight into careers after school, with the elder Truman, now 28, working for an Oxford Hills engineering firm, and Ian, 27, getting a job teaching English at Poland Regional High School.

But Matt knew that once he finished school he wanted to start a band, since he wasn’t going to attempt to go professional in baseball.

“Dead Season formed in 2002,” he said. “I ended up finding Craig [Chaisson, bassist], and my brother, who I knew could sing. I wanted to wait to start a band until I knew we could have some quality guys, and make good music.”

It’s heavy stuff – but where other local metal bands focus on pummeling the listener with riff after brutal riff, Dead Season focuses on melody and hooks and technical prowess, not unlike the Deftones or Tool.

“We’ve got a new drummer [Andy Hackett] who brings in a double bass. He’s a much more technical drummer,” said Truman. “My brother has also gotten a lot better as a singer. It’s just generally more technical now, but we also have more melodies and hooks. We’re always trying to work that in.”

Truman feels that every new recording is a step forward for the band.

“We’d shop our CDs around to labels and industry people to see if they’d like it, but then we go and record a new project, and it’s just so much better than the last one,” he said. “We’re constantly growing and improving. This year especially, we’ve just gotten so much better. It’s exponential.”

But Dead Season can’t take the time to do a big tour, or quit their day jobs – they may be rockers, but they’ve got daily lives too. They’re waiting for the big day, when it all falls into place.

“We’ve got careers and mortgages and everything. We need something that’ll make us drop everything and go,” said Truman. “A lot of these kids go get a van and travel around and live off 20 bucks a day. We’re not that. I wish we could slug it out in the trenches, but it’s just not feasible. But we’re just going to be as professional as we can and make a top notch project, and when the day comes that it happens, we’ll be ready.”

Dead Season will play tonight at Ushuaia in Orono, with local rockers Downsoul and Bound By Fate. Doors open at 8 p.m. and tickets are $8. For information, visit www.myspace.com/deadseason1. Emily Burnham can be reached at burnham@bangordailynews.net.