My first review here for FME Inc. was on “Aftermath” and “Mammoth’s Hand”, two singles that were released as teasers for The Black Dahlia Murder’s upcoming album “Servitude”. Well, that album is no longer upcoming because it’s finally out! Along with those tracks, we get eight more making a total of ten tasty new songs to digest.
We kick the album off with “Evening Ephemeral”, which has such a beautifully somber opening. The wave sounds really set the tone that is about to get fuckt. The song comes in hard and will make you likely as well. There’s really not much I can say other than if you like Dahlia, especially their Nocturnal era, you’ll like this song.
“Panic Hysteric” is no different. Brian Eschbach, as I said before, does an excellent job on vocals. Fans of Trevor Strnad’s vocals specifically can rest easy because Brian is not a replacement, but rather one of the founding members of The Black Dahlia Murder that did guitar and backup vocals. So, his voice has always been featured alongside Trevor’s. You’ll see what I mean on this track for sure.
I’ll skip “Aftermath” since I’ve already talked about that one, which makes “Cursed Creator” next on our list. This one is definitely a headbanger. It’s a lot of fun and I’d imagine the crowd really moving to it. It’s more fast paced than the first two. I think this one might be my favorite solo, but it’s hard to choose because every song has one considering Ryan Knight, former lead guitarist, came back to fill Brian’s spot as “rhythm”. Overall, I see this one being a popular song and for good reason.
Skipping the intermission (it’s pretty, of course), “Asserting Dominion” hits you in the face immediately. I’d honestly call it less of an intermission and more the intro to the song. I was pleasantly surprised at the quick early solo. I’m always a fan of random moments of shred, and The Black Dahlia Murder delivers on that front. If I could say anything about this that I haven’t said about the others, I love how epic this one sounds.
The title track “Servitude” is just amazing. It hits all the check boxes I want in a Dahlia song. I’m really running out of interesting things to say because nothing has been disappointing and everything just makes sense, if that makes sense. This is certainly a Dahlia album, which is something I know a lot of people feared it wouldn’t be with the loss of Trevor.
“Transcosmic Blueprint” (I’m skipping “Mammoth’s Hand” since I already did a review on that as well) comes next, which is definitely the most interesting song title to me. It might be one of my favorites as well. I love that midway solo. It’s so groovy and shred out of nowhere. It also feels like the most diverse song in terms of sound. It incorporates a lot of neat guitarwork and feels like it knocks you out of place and then back in, in a good way.
We finish the album off with “Utopia Black”. It’s got all of the good things I said about everything else. It’s a fantastic bow on top. Not a lot of people pay attention to the bow because they rip it off in haste to see what’s inside, but The Black Dahlia Murder has always taken the time to tie that fucking bow whether you appreciate it or not. The song outros on the same waves and somber guitar that “Evening Ephemeral” opened on, and all you’re left with is chills. I love it and I love that they didn’t sneak in another verse or something. It ends on that and it’s perfect. As perfect as meatloaf pie.
“Servitude” is a fantastic Dahlia album and I’d argue that this is some of the best work we’ve seen by them. They’ve always been one of my favorite bands and it warms my heart to see that they’ve been able to stay together and continue to make music that fits the realm that they’ve brought us into. I hope that this means we’ll see many, many more albums by The Black Dahlia Murder. If you haven’t listened yet, I strongly suggest you do what I did and just listen all the way through. You won’t regret it!
Catch the full album on Spotify or YouTube now:
The Black Dahlia Murder Spotify Link
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