Year: 2024
Total Time: 32:49
Label: Metal Blade
Having reached the fall of the current year and after we have already heard several good releases from various bands, it is the turn of the Americans THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER to release their new album. The album is due to be officially released on September 27th, 2024. It will be the tenth for the band from Detroit, USA, which is already 23 years old. The band moves in the field of Death Metal with some melodies and several elements of the modern sound, without having anything to do with the traditional melodic Death Metal of Scandinavia, especially the Swedish one..
“Servitude” is an album lasting only 33 minutes, which is a very positive thing for me. The album’s ten songs are almost all in the same musical pattern and duration, none of them exceeding four minutes. Only exception is the song “An Intermission” which lasts a few seconds and is exactly what the title says, a “break” in the middle of the album, necessary to relax us a little from the merciless pounding of the album.
“Servitude” starts with very wild moods! Without any delay, an unprecedented sonic bombardment begins from the very first seconds, with the riffs coming one after the other, while the melodic points are mainly in the solos. The Americans have perfectly matched the melodies with Death Metal, all in perfect proportion, thus creating an explosive cocktail! The vocals might have suited better if they were a little more “dirty”, but even so the result is very good! It should be noted that responsible for the vocals is Brian Eschbach, after the death of the band’s previous singer Trevor Strnad in 2022. Also, Ryan Knight returned to the band after his departure in 2016, taking over the guitars.
Let’s look closer all the songs. I said above about wild and aggressive moods from the very first seconds, so does the starting quartet consisting of “Evening Ephemeral”, “Panic Hysteric”, “Aftermath” and “Cursed Creator”. We are talking about a killer quartet of songs that – without exaggerating – are the definition of modern Death Metal with melodies. Wild, fast, aggressive, quite “old fashioned” but fresh at the same time. A thirty second break is necessary, found at the middle of the album. After taking a few breaths, we continue in the second half with five songs that are probably even better compositionally. With “Asserting Dominion” taking over after the break, the band sheds their completely rough character and puts in more melodic elements. The speeds are lowered but not to the extent of altering the character of the album. Then we have the self-titled song “Servitude”. This is one of the top moments here and, together with the following “Mammoth’ s Hand”, is voted for the top song of this release (I think “Mammoth’ s Hand” wins). The very first audition made a very positive impression on me. I am talking about a well-structured song, with the solos having the first role. The album continues with “Transcomic Blueprint”, perhaps the weakest moment in this massive chain that has been pounding us relentlessly for 26 minutes.
“Utopia Black” is the perfect epilogue to an album that, I really don’t believe there will be a fan of the extreme sound that won’t be won over by it, from the very first audition. A sweeping start with Black Metal (!) elements, that quickly give way to a Death Metal storm, while the last forty seconds are like a farewell from the band, which with this album literally blew me away.
Are there any negative things here? Yes there are. In my opinion, the drums should have a character of their own without having a generic sound. Maybe I would have liked a better cover too, with more details on it-this one looks like a pre-made thing. “You don’t listen to the cover” someone would say, nevertheless this is also part of the album.
To conclude, I don’t know whether the band members have managed to overcome the death of Trevor Strnad, however they seem to have overcome this tragic event and stand on their feet strongly. They also showed the same in their live performances across Europe in the summer of 2024. Fans of the extreme Metal sound give this album a chance. I’m sure it will win you over, without needing a second audition!
Rating: 8/10
Editor: Andreas Fytros
Related Link: THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER – Official Page
