Album review: THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER - "Servitude"

In 2022, the metal community was shaken to its core with the loss of the late, great Trevor Strnad. Trevor was universally loved and impeccably talented, and arguably was the heart and soul behind the melodic death metal behemoth that is The Black Dahlia Murder.

At the time you were hard-pressed to find anyone within the metal community questioning what would happen next. Would the band fold up shop and leave the legacy as it were? Or would they be able to find someone new to take the job of filling the shoes of one of the most impactful frontmen in extreme metal history?

Four months later, guitarist Brian Eshbach announced he would be stepping down from his role as the band's guitarist and instead take over the vocal duties, while ushering in former The Black Dahlia Murder alumni Ryan Knight. The band, consisting of drummer Alan Cassidy, bassist Max Lavelle, guitarist Brandon Ellis, and aforementioned members Eshbach and Knight, entered the studio in November of 2023 with producer Mark Lewis. We then held our breaths as a metal community, eagerly anticipating the comeback album of the decade. And that wait has yielded quite the reward.

Review

"Servitude" is the 10th full-length studio record from The Black Dahlia Murder, and the first with Brian Eshbach taking over the frontman duties. The album is in true TBDM fashion: filled to the brim with unrelentingly aggressive guitar riffs, destructive drums, and commanding vocals.

The opening track "Evening Ephemeral" gives us a haunting, yet subtle introduction and overarching theme, before coming in full speed ahead. Eschbach’s opening line “Now places everyone, the stage is set” gets the blood flowing and sets a tone of excitement that every good metal record has out of the gate. The album then dives into "Panic Hysteric", a track that lives up to its name with spastic guitar arrangements and incredible melodic lead work. "An Interlude" gives us a surprising, delightful breather, returning to elements that were in the opening track’s theme, before "Asserting Dominion" comes in to, in fact, reassert the listener that this is a band with something to prove and hardly ready to let up.

The album’s title track is a blistering, chaotic number that longtime fans will surely love and will hopefully become a live staple. "Utopia Black" closes the record in an epic, groove-filled fashion, before returning to the overarching theme set in the introduction of the record, leaving the listener hungry for even more. Brian Eschbach’s vocals are raspy, shrill, and reminiscent of the vocal performance in the band’s 2003 debut “Unhallowed”. Musically, the band successfully picks up where they left off with 2020’s “Verminous”, still showcasing the maturity of a long-term metal band, while still successfully delivering what the true The Black Dahlia Murder sound is.

This album is a beautiful tribute to the late Strnad and will go down as another fantastic entry into one of the strongest discographies in metal history. “Servitude” is available everywhere today via Metal Blade Records.

Track Listing:

1. Evening Ephemeral (3:55)
2. Panic Hysteric (3:07)
3. Aftermath (3:02)
4. Cursed Creator (3:35)
5. An Intermission (0:32)
6. Asserting Dominion (3:31)
7. Servitude (3:28)
8. Mammoth’s Hand (3:54)
9. Transcosmic Blueprint (3:48)
10. Utopia Black (4:00)