The Black Dahlia Murder lost a giant on May 11th, 2022, with the death of co-founding member Trevor Strnad, who had penned the lyrics and fronted TBDM across its nine-record discography. The question of how you replace someone as well-loved and well-respected as Trevor must have been a matter of some discussion internally. The solution from the veteran melodeath outfit was to keep the job in-house. Rather than bringing in a new face, guitarist and co-founder Brian Eschbach picked up the microphone, while he was replaced by Ryan Knight—who previously slung the six-string from 2009’s Deflorate to 2015’s Abysmal. Even though I appreciated this solution, it was still difficult to press play on 2024’s tenth The Black Dahlia Murder LP, Servitude. It felt strange to know that our affable, bearded, and dad-bodded metal nerd was no longer going to be screaming at me about lycanthropy. I wondered whether I could enjoy a Strnadless TBDM record or if it would change their sound irrevocably.
Servitude by The Black Dahlia Murder
You know how The Black Dahlia Murder sounds. Giving strong Gothenburgian vibes, Servitude still deals in the bounce of the Björriff (like “Panic Hysteria” or “Asserting Dominion”), but with the post-Ritual light chaos and groove that helped to transform and mature their sound (“Evening Ephemeral,” “Mammoth’s Hand”). The guitars anchor Servitude’s sound, held firm by sick riffs at breakneck speed, accented with unexpected melodies (“Servitude”), stadium solos (“Mammoth’s Hand”), Gorodian gymnastic harmonies on an Obscura vault track (“Transcosmic Blueprint”) and even 29 seconds of Opeth (“An Intermission”). While Ryan Knight and Brandon Ellis give a master class in metal guitars from neoclassical to thrash, the rhythm section of bassist Max Lavelle and drummer Alan Cassidy1 rumble and blast, driving the sound forward with an intensity that stems from Florida rather than Sweden.
Over the flurry of guitar gymnastics and blast beats, Eschbach’s growls and screams pace a familiar path. At first, my brain didn’t want to accept what it was hearing. When listened to actively, however, I recognized the lower screams and throatier gutturals. And then suddenly, Eschbach was just the vocalist; barking lightning (“Panic Hysteric,” “Evening Ephemeral”), working both his slightly condensed upper and lower ranges in the trademark style of which Trevor was master. While familiar, Eschbach’s approach to rhythm feels like a guitarist doing vocals. He works in lockstep with the groove being carried by the band to create staccato punctuations (“Transcosmic Blueprint”) and syncopated swings (“Asserting Dominion”) that make his performance stand out.2 While Trevor was freer with rhythm and expression, Eschbach’s performance is percussive and precise. The weakness in his performance can be found in the guttural vocals, which don’t reach as deeply or hit as hard. But when all is said and done, Eschbach’s performance sounds like The Black Dahlia Murder.
Servitude seems like an album written to succeed or fail based on the execution of a well-established sound. The devil is, therefore, in the details: the songwriting, the riffs, and especially the guitar solos. And in those places, The Black Dahlia Murder isn’t taking risks. The writing isn’t suddenly progressive, “Aftermath” starts in 7, but they revert to 4/4 and never change time signatures again for the rest of the album.3 There is no revitalization of Ritual‘s or Everblack‘s adventurous arrangements. Where the songs surprise is when they sound chaotic, giving Carnosus (who gives TBDM) or euro-tech and straying further from the Björriffs that propelled them to prominence (see “Evening Ephemeral,” “Utopia Black” or “Mammoth’s Hand”). And Knight and Ellis drop killer solos. “Cursed Creator” hits with shred and harmony, “Transcosmic Blueprint” gives jazz fusion, while “Evening Ephemeral” starts Servitude off on the guitar heroics that made Ryan Knight one of my favorite guitarists ever. Oddly, though, there are a couple of duds as well (“Asserting Domination” is bland, while “Servitude” is fine).
The core of The Black Dahlia Murder hasn’t changed, so the core of Servitude was going to be good. At 35 minutes of riffy, guitar-driven melodic death metal, it’s easy to surmise that The Black Dahlia Murder couldn’t fail on Servitude. And yet, there is a risk inherent to releasing a record following the tragic passing of one of the scene’s most beloved personalities. In a way, you could criticize Servitude for playing it too safe. It hits all the notes you expect it to hit with its Industry Standard Mastering Job™. The Brandon Ellis and Mark Lewis production is functionally indistinguishable from previous albums. And there’s a familiar-but-not-quite feel to certain riffs or melodies. Yet, as a whole, Servitude succeeds at both being very good—hitting extra hard on those last three tracks—and feeling like an honorable way to continue the legacy of one of melodic death metal’s premiere acts.
Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3s
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: September 27th, 2024
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