The Black Dahlia Murder “Ritual” review
The Black Dahlia Murder
The Black Dahlia Murder
Trevor Strnad
Brian Eschbach
Ryan Knight
Ryan Williams
Shannon Lucas
Metal Blade Records is know for… well… METAL.  They’ve done their job well with The Black Dahlia Murder’s new record, Ritual. Headlining the annual Summer Slaughter Tour with Whitechapel, Darkest Hour, Oceano, As Blood Runs Black, and more of your death metal favorites; I’d say TBDM has a busy summer ahead!
Available 6.21.2011
Track List:
01. A Shrine To Madness
02. Moonlight Equilibrium
03. On Stirring Seas Of Salted Blood
04. Conspiring With The Damned
05. The Window
06. Carbonized In Cruciform
07. Den Of The Picquerist
08. Malenchanments Of The Necrosphere
09. The Grave Robber’s Work
10. The Raven
11. Great Burning Nullifier
12. Blood In The Ink
It’s difficult for me to compare this album to their previous recordings because I don’t KNOW their older stuff. Â This is a band I had heard of many times… I mean, the name was definitely circulating in the industry very often, but to be honest I always thought they were another “mall metal” or scene band, just going by the name alone. Â OH SHIT. Â I feel bad for judging, but it happens! Once I actually got to give these dudes a good listen, they are actual metal and I should be reprimanded for my actions. Tisk tisk.
For a band that has built a metal career on being unpredictable, I have to say that I wasn’t expecting this album to suck and I wasn’t disappointed that I was right! Â This album starts off slow to build up your anticipation. You’ve got almost 51 seconds of silence to start the track off, making you want the madness to begins. Trevor’s growls hit your speakers, and you can breath again. Le sigh.
Reading up on their past releases and comparing it to what I hear in this one, it seems they’re pretty consistent with their sound, but are venturing out just enough to satisfy your tolerance for the same ol’ same ol’ metal.
I hear some old school metal in their tracks, and it makes me wonder if The Black Dahlia Murder will continue in metal history in the ranks of Cannibal Corpse, Slayer and other bands that just jeep churning out records that the metal world loves, on top of killing it live (which I’ve heard they do, and shall find out for myself at the end of July). Â Hmm… only time will tell!
Back to the album at hand. Â With tracks like On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood, you can’t deny tis band’s talent. Â Whether they’re your bag or not, these guys seemed to have conquered their craft. Â Playing fast and actually sounding like you’re a good musician isn’t always easy (as some bands actually play fast to COVER UP their lack of talent), and TBDM have this shit down.
The tracks vary in sound, which I really like. Â If you listen to Conspiring With the Damned and then the following track, The Window, Â you can see the variation
Carbonized in Cruciform does it to you again with the almost 38 seconds of silence to start the track off… making you glance at your stereo/computer like “what the fuck?” It’s not broken! PHEW! Â This has actually been the track to grow on me the most. It’s sort of haunting and has a classic, metal feel to it. Â You just can’t go wrong with that shit. I think Blood in the Ink may be my favorite track on this
Ritual producer Jason Suecof (who’s also produced killer albums from August Burns Red, Job For a Cowboy, Devildriver, Trivium and so on)Â said, “If someone asked me what band I would have to be naked for the whole time and be okay with it… I think it might be TBDM- yeah- def TBDM.” Now THAT is romantic.
Fans… don’t fret.  Your boys in TBDM haven’t let you down with Ritual.  I suspect that no one was reallyexpecting to be disappointed, but with music now a days, you just never know.  Ritual comes out tomorrow on Metal Blade, so jump on that shiiiiz.
Check out TBDM on the Summer Slaughter Tour:
7/22-Los Angeles, CA @ House of Blues
7/23-Anaheim, CA @ The Grove
7/25-Portland, OR @ Roseland Theatre
7/26-Seattle, WA @ King Cat Theatre
7/27-Boise, ID @ The Knitting Factory
7/28-Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
7/29-San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
7/30-San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
7/31-Scottsdale, AZ @ Venue of Scottsdale
8/01-Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
8/02-Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall
8/04-Louisville, KY @ Expo Five
8/05-Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews
8/06-Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
8/07-Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
8/08-Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
8/09-Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
8/10-Montreal, QC @ Olympia
8/11-New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
8/12-Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
8/13-Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
8/14-Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
8/16-Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
8/17-Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
8/19-Houston, TX @ House of Blues
8/20-San Antonio, TX @ Backstage Live
Metal Blade Records
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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