The Murder of the Black Dahlia – Review of “Servitude”

The murder of the black dahlia lost a giant on May 11, 2022, with the death of co-founder Trevor Strnad, who wrote the lyrics and TBDM across its nine-record discography. The question of how to replace someone as popular and respected as Trevor must have been the subject of some internal debate. The veteran melodeath outfit's solution was to keep the job in-house. Rather than bring in a new face, guitarist and co-founder Brian Eschbach took the microphone, while he was replaced by Ryan Knight – who had previously played the six-string on the 2009 album Deflower until 2015 Miserable. Although I appreciated this solution, it was still difficult to make a decision on 2024's tenth The murder of the black dahlia LPs, bondage. It was a strange feeling knowing that our likeable, bearded and well-built metal nerd would no longer yell at me about lycanthropy. I wondered if I could enjoy a strnadless TBDM recording or whether it would irreversibly change their sound.

You know how The murder of the black dahlia Sounds. Strong Gothenburg atmosphere, bondage still deals with the Björriff bounce (like “Panic Hysteria” or “Asserting Dominion”), but with the post-ritual light chaos and groove that have helped transform and mature their sound (“Evening Ephemeral”, “Mammoth's Hand”). The guitars anchor bondage's sound, held by blatant riffs at breakneck speed, accentuated with unexpected melodies (“Servitude”), stadium solos (“Mammoth's Hand”), Cityian gymnastic harmonies on a Obscura Vault track (“Transcosmic Blueprint”) and even 29 seconds Opeth (“An Intermission”). While Ryan Knight and Brandon Ellis give a master class in metal guitars from neo-classical to thrash, the rhythm section of bassist Max Lavelle and drummer Alan Cassidy rumble and rumble, driving the sound forward with an intensity that comes more from Florida than Sweden.

Above the swirl of guitar accordion and blast beats, Eschbach's growls and screams follow a familiar path. At first, my brain refused to accept what it was hearing. But as I listened carefully, I recognized the deeper screams and more throaty guttural sounds. And then suddenly Eschbach was just the singer, barking lightning bolts (“Panic Hysteric,” “Evening Ephemeral”) and working both his slightly compressed upper and lower registers in the signature style that Trevor mastered. Although familiar, Eschbach's approach to rhythm feels like that of a guitarist singing, working in lockstep with the groove the band is carrying to create staccato punctuations (“Transcosmic Blueprint”) and syncopated swings (“Asserting Dominion”) that make his performance stand out. While Trevor was more free with rhythm and expression, Eschbach's performance is percussive and precise. The weakness of his performance lies in the guttural singing, which does not reach as deep and does not hit as hard. But all in all, Eschbach's performance sounds like The Murder of the Black Dahlia.

bondage seems to be an album that is based on success or failure, based on the implementation of an established sound. The devil is in the details: in the songwriting, the riffs and especially the guitar solos. And at these points The murder of the black dahlia takes no risks. The writing is not suddenly progressive, “Aftermath” starts in the 7th bar, but they return to 4/4 and never change time signatures again for the rest of the album. There is no revival of ritual's or Alwaysblack's adventurous arrangements. The songs surprise when they sound chaoticgive Carnosus (who gives TBDM) or Euro-Tech and move further and further away from the Björriffs that made them famous (see “Evening Ephemeral”, “Utopia Black” or “Mammoth's Hand”). And Knight and Ellis play killer solos. “Cursed Creator” hits with shred and harmony, “Transcosmic Blueprint” offers jazz fusion, while “Evening Ephemeral” starts bondage Let's start with the guitar exploits that made Ryan Knight one of my favorite guitarists of all time. OUnfortunately, there are also a few duds (“Asserting Domination” is boring, while “Servitude” is OK).

The core of The murder of the black dahlia has not changed, so the core of bondage would be good. With 35 minutes of riffy, guitar-driven melodic death metal, it is easy to assume that The murder of the black dahlia could not fail bondage. And yet it is a risk to release a record after the tragic death of one of the most popular figures in the scene. In a way, one could criticize bondage for playing to It hits all the notes you expect from it, thanks to its Industry Standard Mastering Job™. The production by Brandon Ellis and Mark Lewis is functionally indistinguishable from previous albums. And certain riffs or melodies have a familiar, but not quite as authentic, feel. But overall bondage is both very good – the last three tracks are particularly powerful – and feels like an honorable way to continue the legacy of one of melodic death metal's finest acts.

Evaluation: Very good!
DR: 7 | Verified format: mp3s at 320 kb/s
Label: Metal Blade Records
Sites: Band storage |
Publications worldwide: 27 September 2024

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