The experienced Black Dahlia Murder embark upon their tenth album following the tragic premature passing of lead singer Trevor Strnad in 2022. The line-up change sees rhythm guitarist Brian Eschbach stepping across to vocals. The previous one album “Verminous” was as solid as it gets, combining vibrant song structures with tight playing and cementing their long-standing good reputation as a heavy metal band so the foundations are laid.
Attitude is the first thing I think of when listened to “Evening Ephemeral”. It’s full of metalcore energy, aggression, flamboyance and mayhemic melody. It’s like the prelude to a grisly scene. So duly warmed up, “Panic Hysteria” sees to it that there’s no relaxation in the sophisticated guitar work and brutal energy. Oh what fun. Of course it’s as scandi-sounding and more importantly tight as you’d expect from this non-scandi band. It’s one furious blast after another. “Aftermath” sticks to the formula – fast, hard and breathless. What we’re getting here is a collection of finely structured metal songs. “Cursed Creator” is yet another march-like creation which has the listener swaying and punching along to the relentless melody.
One thing that struck me while listening to these balls of melodic metal energy was that there is no outstanding song. There are great solos, brief changes of tempo, the odd break and oodles of aggression as we hear on “Asserting Dominion”, the title song and everything, actually, but the formula has little variation. That’s perhaps a prosaic view as all the songs are full of life in their heavy metal way. “Mammoth’s Hand” does have the distinction of being slower and darker than the others, relatively speaking, and features a stellar solo, of which there are many great ones on this album. It’s the hooky guitar lines that kept me going even more. You won’t hear finer technical work than this. “Transcosmic Blueprint” continues the good work. The chorus is eerily reminiscent of older In Flames. The album ends with the driving force of “Utopia Black”. It’s representative of the album but while not ending on a whimper – The Black Dahlia Murder are not capable of this – I didn’t think it was a memorable finale.
The Black Dahlia Murder stick to the remit of bringing us fast and furious metal of a melodic persuasion. Technically, it’s better than sold as some of the riffs are luxurious and the band control the pace and energy with great precision, but I found there was a formula about “Servitude” and it doesn’t get away from that a great deal.
(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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