Verminous

For the first time ever, The Black Dahlia Murder takes three whole years to put out a new album! As one of the most consistent bands in death metal, this gap is still smaller than most bands’ average waiting period. This is also the second time, along with 2015’s Abysmal, that the band has retained all their members from the previous album, but Verminous is not such a drastic departure from the previous album as that last time was. This is still very much in the vein of TBDM’s now-classic sound, with a couple differences that give it its own place in their discography.

The title track opens the album on a catchy, drum-focused intro which leads into a bouncy, lively main riff. This was a safe and correct choice for the album’s lead single, as it is the most classic TBDM-sounding song—heavy, upbeat, snappy American melodeath. There isn’t anything new or especially exciting here, and reminds one a bit of some songs on Miasma, when they were discovering their fun side.

This changes with Removal of the Oaken Stake. A slowed-down, rhythm-focused song, it still has plenty of melody at all ranges to keep you interested. One consistent aspect of this band’s music has been the high tempo, and they haven’t attempted this type of track very often since Warborn. They pull it off victoriously here, keeping your head nodding and making the track feel more energetic than the tempo lets on.

Child of Night opens along the same lines, spurred along by a well-crafted time signature that no longer sounds jerky the way those did on Deflorate. The band removed a lot of that from their music after that album, so it’s nice to hear them reintroduce it and sound confident about it. Unfortunately, the song soon devolves into a blast beat frenzy without much melody to back it up, hailing back to Abysmal. With a really nice bridge and solo section, this may have been one of the stronger songs if it had a better verse riff.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sunless Empire is a collection of the best riffs they wrote for this album, with some nice guitar interplay between Ellis and Eschbach, culminating in the best solo on the album. The melodic, uplifting theme of the chorus really lets Alan Cassidy spread his wings on the kit as well. I would have appreciated a bit more melody in the verses to go along with the chugging, which would make them fit better with the rest of the song, but that’s not a strong complaint. Like Kings of the Nightworld from the previous album, I’m pretty positive Ellis wrote this one (same goes for How Very Dead, but in a less complimentary manner).

Album closer Dawn of Rats is a quality song, but, like the last few finales, misses the heights of the Miasma-Everblack era epicness. This one has a very similar feel to Nightbringers’ The Lonely Deceased, though with more melody and energy to close things out on.

One noticeable shift for Verminous is that the overall tempo of the album is down compared to their previous work. This comes across as a double edged sword. On songs like Oaken Stake and Child of Night, it really gives some space for the rhythm, incorporating more groove than usual, but it also causes some of the riffs to come off with less energy than they would at a high pace, like on The Leather Apron’s Scorn or How Very Dead. They do speed things back up at intervals, but that occasionally bleeds into the Abysmal-esque blast beat/tremolo frenzy that has never worked well for this band.

The album also seems to have less repetition overall, opting for fewer standard verse/chorus/bridge structures and more developing verses that return to a familiar chorus. I usually appreciate this, but it causes some misses on songs like Godlessly, where it’s not really developing towards anything, just changing throughout.

The production on Verminous is a step away from the band’s other albums. There was definitely a conscious choice to make the bass more audible here, which has not been the case on any of their other albums. Unfortunately, that comes with sacrificing some of the mid range of the guitars. I’m sure some people will love this, as there is a very vocal minority in the metal community always complaining that they can’t hear the bass on every album, but there is a reason most bands have opted for that dating back to at least the 80s. Again, a double-edged sword, and the result isn’t super positive or negative, it’s just different.

There is also a shift in the drums. I’ve never played drums so I can’t describe exactly what’s going on, but it’s almost like they downtuned them. This is especially noticeable during fills heavy with the snare. It can sound a little awkward at times, and might have fit better if they'd tuned the guitars down to B or A# to go along with it.

I generally disdain the way so many people exaggerate a person’s achievements when they pass away. Every decent musician and actor is suddenly dubbed one of the ‘best of all time’ the moment they die (case in point: Cliff Burton). Let’s just be honest and not lie about the dead. So when I say I have always considered Trevor Strnad one of the most talented metal vocalists of the twenty-first century, it has nothing to do with that. From his range to his tone to his delivery to his poetic flair, I think he really set the bar for the younger death metal bands who came after, and I would be saying the same thing if he was still with us today.

So with that being said, I regret to say that on Strnad’s final album, his vocals aren’t as strong as usual. His range seems restricted compared to Nightbringers, especially at the high end, and they’re regaining that rasp that was present on the first two albums. I don’t know if it was purposeful, or if his voice was changing with age. His lyrics follow a theme throughout the album, generally dealing with a specific type of mythical creature on each song or just general ‘Verminous’ themes like on the title track and Sunless Empire. The exceptions (somewhat) are The Leather Apron's Scorn, about Jack the Ripper, and Dawn of Rats, which appears to be referencing pedophilia in the Catholic church, albeit from the perspective of rats in the walls like omnipresent eyes and ears. Although definitely better than most lyricists, his lyrical style on this album is more direct and less flamboyant, similar to Abysmal’s (probably the strongest part of that weak album), while dealing with the themes of Unhallowed. He’s not a weak link here by any means, it’s just not as strong of a performance as what I've seen him be capable of.

While Verminous is not at all a bad album, the high points are lower than I’ve come to expect from this band, but the low points are simultaneously higher. This is a very consistent band late into their career putting out a pretty safe album. The risks they take (lowered tempo and bass-heavy production) are pretty small risks, and don’t pay massive dividends in either direction. I don’t think anyone will ever complain about this album, but I don’t think it’s anyone’s favorite either. It’s in the bottom-half of their discography, and has more filler than average, but is still worth the time to listen to it, and you’ll come away with a few strong tracks worth keeping around.


Highlights:
- Removal of the Oaken Stake
- Sunless Empire