Servitude

After the tragic death of Trevor Strnad in 2022, nobody was sure if this band would continue. But a few months later, they performed a memorial concert for the former frontman, with rhythm guitarist and last-remaining founding member Brian Eschbach performing vocals, and bringing back Ryan Knight to take Eschbach’s place on guitar.

The band started writing new material, and, two years later, we are presented with the first new-era TBDM album, Servitude. Even with Strnad gone, the core sound of the band remains intact. Now featuring two Arsis guitarists, you can hear the drift towards that type of American melotech they featured on Deflorate, with a more deliberate and mature take on it.

This was one of the only albums I was able to find songwriting credits for, so I’m going to split these up by writer.

Eschbach’s songs are the most quintessentially TBDM songs. Evening Ephemeral and lead single Aftermath are both fast, heavy, herky-jerky tracks that sound ripped straight off Deflorate. I will say that I find Evening Ephemeral to be one of their weaker openers, never reaching the heights of ones like Widowmaker, Black Valor, Receipt, or the unbeatable Everything Went Black. Aftermath has a lot of riffs that don’t quite catch on, but a nice pre-chorus and solo section. Utopia Black, the closing track, is reminiscent of their last few closers, but more approaching the ‘epic’ feel I look for in those, with a slower tempo and deliberate riffs. The dissonant chords over the verse riffs towards the beginning is a nice touch that keeps it from sounding too samey. Out of the three written by Eschbach, Utopia Black is by far the most cohesive.

Ryan Knight’s songs are immediately recognizable as his work, due to the melodic leads overtop or the neoclassical feeling throughout. Mammoth’s Hand and Cursed Creator both lean into the groove element, something not often seen from this band, with the former pulling it off much better. Sometimes, when this band tries to incorporate new aspects into their sound, it fails miserably (see: Den of the Picquerist and Every Rope a Noose), but Mammoth’s Hand does it flawlessly. If any song here gets stuck in your head, it will be this one, especially the ending variation of the riff. Asserting Dominion, like a mixture between Goat of Departure and Blood Mine, is full of melodic riffing and a bouncy chorus with sporadic solos throughout. This one feels like a straight up Arsis track.

In my personal opinion, Ellis has the strongest trio of songs. Panic Hysteric is the newborn child of Necropolis, in that same death metal 3/4 waltz tradition, even with similar-sounding (and -looking, when I watch him play it) riffs. This song might have the simplest solo in the band’s entire discography, but I’ll give it a break because the rest of the song is killer. Title track Servitude is as close as this band ever gets to technical death metal, filled with hard-to-follow riffs with the only reprieve being the chorus. Like some songs on Deflorate, it comes off a little disjointed, but succeeds by its pure energy. Transcosmic Blueprint, on the other hand, leans a little into prog, something this band has never touched. I’m not sure anything here is repeated except for the chorus, as it swings back and forth between technical and old-school melodeath riffs separated by time signature changes. This song would fit perfectly on Inferi’s 2018 album Revenant, further demonstrating their drift towards tech death, but with their American melodic stamp on it.

Now, to the overall sound. The production on this album feels a bit too compressed. When the guitars are riffing over blast beats, it’s sometimes difficult to distinguish what the guitars are doing beneath the drums, and the leads don’t always pop out like they should. The drums aren’t as overpowering as on Abysmal, but it’s in that same area. And while I’m sure plenty of people appreciate their attempt these last two albums to give the bass space to work, it’s at the expense of the guitars. The band has two amazing guitarists, and sometimes I can’t tell what they’re doing–especially noticeable on the title track.

The thing most people will be focusing on is Eschbach’s performance in Trevor Strnad’s stead. Nobody expected him to fill shoes that large, but he is absolutely serviceable, at least an average to above average vocalist in a genre where vocals aren’t the main focus. His lyrics were never going to match the pure poetry Strnad was able to push out, but they are, once again, serviceable. He’s not trying to copy or emulate Strnad here–he’s doing his own thing, and it’s working. The band will be fine going forward with him as a complement to Ellis and Knight as the driving forces, especially considering the fact that they have three songwriters now.

My best description of this album is a mix between Deflorate and Abysmal, which is fitting considering the re-addition of Ryan Knight. But it reaches neither the highs of Deflorate nor the lows of Abysmal. Like Verminous, it is strictly solid the whole way through, with a few tracks I will continue to revisit but will probably never break their top 10 songs in my opinion. At the same time, the weaker tracks, like Cursed Creator and Evening Ephemeral, are better than your standard forgettable B-sides. The loss of Trevor Strnad is felt and heard, but this band will still be strong if they continue moving forward.


Highlights:
- Panic Hysteric
- Mammoth’s Hand
- Transcosmic Blueprint

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.