Servitude

The Black Dahlia Murder has developed a reputation over the past few decades as one of the leading melodic death metal bands in modern extreme metal. From Miasma to Nocturnal to Everblack, the band’s run of high-quality melodeath that appeals to a broader audience is truly something to behold. Very few bands can capture some semblance of mainstream appeal while maintaining these levels of aggression and extremity.

But TBDM has been doing this for years. Their tenth full-length, Servitude is yet another all-out ambush with dynamic, claustrophobic drumming and a spinning wheel of pummeling guitar riffs. As for the vocals, Brian Eschbach steps in to fill the shoes of the legendary Strnad, relinquishing his guitar duties to former guitarist Ryan Knight. Staying relatively in-house for these lineup changes pays dividends on this album, because the band overcomes the change of frontman like it’s nothing. The identity of the band is still spectacularly clear on Servitude.

The energy of this record comes bursting out of the opening gates with the tone-setting “Evening Ephemeral.” After a brief intro, the band gets right into the carnage with chunky riffs and calculated use of blast beats. Released on Metal Blade, the production is top-of-market clarity for this record, and the drumming reaps the most rewards from this. “Panic Hysteric” has dozens of little drum fills that add that extra layer of detail, and the mixing is great. “Aftermath” caps off the first ten minutes of the record with arguably the strongest riff, strongly pulling from earlier eras of the band. The lead single, it makes sense that this is the most complete song on the album.

The band is smart enough to keep this album on the shorter side at only thirty-three minutes, given the fact that they never take their foot off of the pedal. “Asserting Dominion” has a bruising bass line that the high-octane riffs go crazy over and the melodies on the hook are incredibly catchy. For a melodic death metal band, TBDM is definitely on the aggressive side, but their uncanny ability to weave strong melodic riffs into their songs will have you nodding your head like you would listening to Helloween. The title track sees the band let all of the guardrails down and let loose, with a heavy dose of blast beats and chugging riffs.

I don’t know if Servitude is a better album than Verminous, the band’s most recent album prior to this one. What I do know is that they weathered the storm of their singer dying about as well as you could, and the melodeath community is all the better for it. This is a strong album with plenty of refreshinf spins on the formula that has never failed the band. Whether they’re mid-tempo or all-out, the motto has always been to kick ass, and they do a damn good job on this new record.