Album Review: The Black Dahlia Murder-Everblack

Love em' or hate em', you can't argue with the impact The Black Dahlia Murder has had on the extreme metal world over the past decade. Their popularity keeps growing by the record and they've managed to gain a strong following in both mainstream and underground metal circles (which is far from an easy feat.) On their sixth studio album, Everblack, The Black Dahlia Murder continues their legacy and releases yet another strong effort.

Everblack is arguably the most evil album The Black Dahlia Murder has ever made. The lyrics and tone of the music crank up their horror-movie influences and they seem to have made it their mission to make the most sinister music possible. Musically, it takes the chugging brutality of Nocturnal and combines with the technical prowess and experimental elements of Ritual and the results are grand. The music is super heavy/groove-based to support the dark, horror-based lyrical themes explored on the album. It was cool to see them get back to the more evil sound of their first few records and there are lot of moments (such as the intro on "In Hell is Where She Waits for Me") that brought me back to the days of when I started listen to them (and metal in general) in 2006.

Enhancing the power of the music, was seeing the more technical-based sound of their past couple records being worked into with the more straightforward heavy stuff. Ryan Knight's solowork and songwriting chops have brought the band so far since he joined in 2009 and seeing his style being worked in with the sound of their earlier stuff is just awesome to listen to. Per usual no matter what style is being played, the musicianship is through the roof. Knight and Brian Eshbach have no shortage of killer riffs ( The oddly catchy "Every Rope a Noose" and epic scale "Map of Scars" being the standouts) New drummer Alan Cassidy can blast with the best of them and Trevor Strnad is still the MVP of extreme metal vocals. Given the astronomical amount of lineup changes over the years ( Long-time drummer Shannon Lucas and bassist Bart Williams are the latest to go, both of them left during the touring cycle for Ritual), it's amazing that band never loses cohesion or talent. Founding members Strnad and Eschbach make sure the band is a well-oiled machine and have an incredible knack for finding the best possible musicians to play in their band. Losing Lucas and Williams was devastating for the band, but Cassidy and new bassist Max Lavelle soften the blow with their outstanding playing and fit in seamlessly with the rest of the band.

Everblack is another successful, face-melting piece of death metal from The Black Dahlia Murder. The band is able to create a potent mix of bruising slam riffs, furious soloing and eerie classical instrumentation to make an absolutely crushing record. The Black Dahlia Murder just keep rolling out consistently excellent records and setting a benchmark for the rest of the extreme metal world to try and live up to. Through out their career, they have released quality album after quality album and have become the undisputed torchbearer for modern extreme metal in my eyes. Everblack is another pummeling and memorable record that lives up to the high quality I've come to expect from The Black Dahlia Murder. Long live the immortals.

4.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Every Rope a Noose
2.Map of Scars
3.In Hell Is Where She Waits for Me