The Black Dahlia Murder's 'Servitude' - Album Review

As I have mentioned a few times this year, I have been enjoying making a lot more effort with extreme metal of late. I have covered more genuine extreme metal releases on the blog this year than I likely ever have before - and it is great to finally feel like I am getting something of a foothold on the huge and expansive death metal genre. I intend to keep picking up some of the genre's biggest releases each year going forward - but it is likely that today's review will be my last extreme metal foray for 2024, as there is nothing else on the horizon which I have earmarked to check out. I am rounding up 2024's extreme metal coverage, then, with something a bit closer to my pre-existing heavier tastes - and it is the turn of the American melodic death metal act The Black Dahlia Murder to finally get some attention. I have been a melodic death metal fan for many years at this point - and I can trace this back to the late 2000s when I transitioned from my love of certain metalcore bands over to the melodic death metal scene, with Arch Enemy being one of my first big discoveries. The Black Dahlia Murder, though, are a bit different when it comes to melodic death metal - at least what the genre is in my head. Clearly it is a broad church, like most metal subgenres, but the image of melodic death metal that I tend to subscribe to is the Swedish take on the sound - with bands like At the Gates, Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames being real touchstones. The sort of melodic death metal I tend to like, then, is that with big guitar hooks, anthemic choruses despite the use of harsh vocals, and perhaps even an atmospheric depth thanks to the presence of keyboard player. Clearly there is more to the genre than that, but it is the sound which I have always gravitated towards - and it was not until more recent times that I started to listen to other examples of melodic death metal, including The Black Dahlia Murder. I first started to listen to The Black Dahlia Murder in 2022 in the lead up to that year's iteration of Bloodstock Open Air - which they were scheduled to play. In May 2022, though, the band's founding frontman Trevor Strnad died. Whilst the cause of his death has never been officially revealed, it is heavily assumed that he took his own life - so it was unsurprising that the band cancelled all of their upcoming shows and many wondered whether they would continue on at all. Most would have understood if they had split up given the tragic circumstances, but later in 2022, following some consideration, the band announced that they would carry on with founding guitarist Brian Eschbach taking over on vocals - with former guitarist Ryan Knight returning to allow Eschbach to focus on singing. Eschbach had often been a secondary vocalist in the band, particularly live, so the move made sense - and with him being the only original member left it also made sense for him to be the new leader and focal point. Four years on from their last album, 2020's Verminous, then, and two years on from Strnad's death, The Black Dahlia Murder unleashed their tenth studio album Servitude last month - their first without Strnad and their first with Knight since 2015's Abysmal. Rounding out the line-up, then, are guitarist Brandon Ellis, bassist Max Lavelle, and drummer Alan Cassidy - all of whom have been in a band a fair while at this point.

The Black Dahlia Murder's take on melodic death metal is much less flashy than those aforementioned Swedish bands - and it is much closer to traditional death metal and thrash. The band's songs tend to be short and fast - with higher screams than traditional death metal growls and shredded solos. There are some flashy lead guitar moments, but they are more restrained overall - with pace and energy the core identity. Despite Strnad's death, the band's sound has not really changed at all. Eschbach is certainly a strong vocalist and his style is not all that dissimilar to Strnad's - so Servitude picks up where Verminous left off despite the tragedy. Like most of their albums, it is not much longer than 30 minutes - with most of the songs being around three minutes long. Evening Ephemeral kicks things off and the band's classic sound is present from the off. It does start off somewhat atmospherically, though, with some weather sounds and haunting piano melodies - but this scene-setting does not last for long, as a staccato riff and massive drum barrage soon kick in. Before transitioning into the song proper, which is very thrashy, there is a mid-paced riff which establishes an early groove - but once Eschbach starts to sing, the guitars of Ellis and Knight thrash away with fast-paced riffs whilst the blast beats and fast footwork of Cassidy create a whirlwind beneath. The song is somewhat on the dynamic side at times, though, with the mid-paced feel of the intro returned to during something of a bridge later on - although this moment is short lived as it soon explodes into the album's first guitar solo. The solos here are generally fast-paced and shredded, and this one conforms, whilst there are a few subtle lead guitar moments in the song elsewhere - albeit, apart from a couple of more heroic moments, they tend to be mixed into the background. Panic Hysteric dispenses with any scene-setting or groove-based moments, and launches into an extremely thrashy riff from the off - and never really lets up. There are a few more grinding moments riff-wise, but the pace does not really slow. The guitar approach changes subtly to create a point of difference - but the drumming never really lets up which means that the song maintains its overall break-neck attitude. Lead guitar work is a bit more prevalent here, though, with a few riffs throughout which feel like Killswitch Engage on speed - whilst there is a breakdown section which showcases some great harmony runs between Ellis and Knight, before one of them launches into a furious solo. The track is full of caustic vigour, but the riffing feels more hooky here - which helps the song to remain memorable. Aftermath acted as the album's lead single, so it was the first look which the band's fans had of the new-look The Black Dahlia Murder. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, the track stays very true to form - and is perhaps even more intense than the two which came before. Cassidy's drumming is very much based around blast beats during the verses, and the intensity never really lets up - even during more galloping sections which feature more of a classic metal flow. Eschbach impresses vocally with a mix of higher screams and some deeper growls than is typical of his approach - with a slower-paced bridge seeing some of these guttural vocals before a more restrained and howling guitar solo is deployed. The rest of the song picks the pace back up, though, this mid-section a brief respite, and it introduced the new era nicely back in June.

Cursed Creator is a bit different from what has come before and it slows the pace down somewhat - going for a chunkier, mid-paced approach which does not feel as intense but does not lack for heaviness. Generally the band operate at thrash-type speeds, but there is a bit more of a traditional death metal chug here - with less busy drumming to allow the double bass rolls to feel natural and the riffing consists of some more traditional motifs which feel more expansive and less pin-point. I like the grooves which the song conjures up, then, and it is a welcome change of pace from the fast speeds of the previous songs. The slower pace allows for some more lead guitar moments, too, and the chorus has a few choice leads to back it - whilst the later solo is more expressive thanks to the reined in pace. The guitarists really get to lit rip during the song's closing minute or so, too, which includes plenty of excellent runs and melodies beneath Eschbach's screams. Following the brief, acoustic-based instrumental An Intermission, which returns to the atmospheric manner in which the album opened, albeit guitar-based, the pace is picked back up again by Asserting Dominion - a thrashy track which fuses the sound of the previous song with the sound of the opening three. It is perhaps not quite as fast and intense as those opening cuts and there are moments which groove a little more. The riffing is a good mix of 1980s death metal weight and thrash speed - but there is also a great and much more defined chorus here which features Gothenburg-esque harmony guitar melodies and some hooky Eschbach vocals. There are other moments in the song, too, which feature Ellis and Knight teaming up for some NWOBHM-inspired guitar leads - but they are not overused to limit the comparisons to the Swedish scene. The melodies are very memorable, though, and the song is one of the overall highlights on the album as a result in my opinion. This sense of melody follows into the solo, too, and it one of my favourite solos on the album as a result. The album's title track follows and it is a proper thrasher with little of the more dynamic approach of the previous song - with the band instead just going for the throat. The riffing is extremely in-your-face this time and the flourishing lead guitar moments of the past couple of songs are generally absent. The rhythms and pace are what make this song what it is, with some blast beats returning, but there are some brief moments which feature what sound like some sweep-picked melodies behind a slightly less intense riff - and these sections bring early Sylosis to mind somewhat. The lead guitar dominance does reassert itself towards the end, though, with the last portion of the track being much busier and interesting from that perspective when compared to the much riffier early movements.

Mammoth's Hand is another track which brings the pace down quite considerably - and the song opens with some soaring, emotionally-charged guitar leads. These sort of very 1980s-esque guitar moments are not something which are that common on the album, so they help the song to stand out, and the much more deliberate pace also helps with such. Whilst parts of the song are a bit faster than what would generally be considered as mid-paced, given how fast much of the album is it feels much more mid-paced by comparison - and it is great that a few grooves are allowed to really develop here, alongside some mournful backing guitar leads. I would also shine the spotlight on Cassidy, who turns in an excellent drumming performance. Rather than laying into his double bass drums and relying on tight thrash beats here he instead is forced to do something a bit different - and there is something jazzy about some of his beats here which include rogue tom hits and a few jagged bass drum patterns which differ from the norm. They are a big part of the grooves, too, alongside the slower riffing and leads of Ellis and Knight - and the more restrained backing brings the best out of Eschbach's growls. Transcosmic Blueprint returns to business as usual, though, with the track picking up the pace following the fatter grooves of the previous track. It is perhaps not as thrashy as some of the other songs, though, and instead harks back to some of those more metalcore-inspired moments referenced earlier. I have often thought that there is a thin line between the heavier end of metalcore and the most accessible end of melodic death metal - and this is a song which would likely appeal to most Killswitch Engage and Trivium fans. Some of the guitar melodies which surface throughout are used in a similar manner to how those bands create those heroic-sounding patterns - whilst a great trade-off guitar solo sees both Ellis and Knight trading licks and soloing in unison at times. The song is still fast paced, but the riffing feels much more defined overall and less chaotic - which helps some of them to stick a little more and also ensures that the chorus feels somewhat more weighty. The album then comes to a close with Utopia Black, which is somewhat more diverse than much of the rest of the album. It opens with a bit more of a mid-paced riff, which sounds powerful, before evolving into something much more extreme. This song is the one here which is likely closest to being genuine extreme metal - with some of the most intense and long-lasting blast beats on the album. Parts of the verses are close to a black metal aesthetic, then, thanks to these prolonged periods of blasting - but the whole song is not like this. There are much more traditionally thrashy moments, too, as well as the occasional break in the pace to introduce a more slab-like riff. This is a song which takes many twists and turns, then, and it is clearly one which builds on a few of the ideas flirted with elsewhere on the album and expands on them. It could have done with perhaps being a little bit longer, though, to fully allow some of these ideas to flourish - as it comes to a rather abrupt end, as things transition back to the weather sounds and piano which opened up the album. Overall, then, this is the first album from the band which I have truly digested and I have been enjoying my time with it. It sounds very similar to the few other albums of theirs which I have heard - but it is good to hear the band sticking to their well-established formula, especially given the necessary reinvention.

The album was released on 27th September 2024 via Metal Blade Records. Below is the band's promotional video for Aftermath.