The Black Dahlia Murder – Servitude (Review)

The Black Dahlia Murder are a death metal band from the US and this is their tenth album.

After suffering the tragic loss of their iconic singer, The Black Dahlia Murder have returned with their co-founder taking on vocal duties instead of the guitar. So, following on from 2020’s Verminous, we now have the 33-minute Servitude to embrace.

The songs are fast and ripping, embodying the classic sound of The Black Dahlia Murder to a great extent. Of course, like always, it’s not a blast-a-thon, and there are plenty of serrated grooves, ferocious riffs, molten solos, and face melting dynamics to go around. Essentially, if you know the band’s past work, then you’ll pretty much know what to expect on Servitude. Even the vocals are delivered in a remarkably similar style to those that everyone is already familiar with, although they do also differ just enough to justify having a personality of their own, (and with far less growling).

Servitude is the sound of a band who are doing exactly what they are good at, and it’s enjoyable because of this. The quality levels are high, and each song packs a punch. There is a pointless interlude, (because of course there is), but even this does little to spoil the record as it’s less than 30 seconds long. I have to wonder though, why bother including it at all?

Regardless, minor misstep aside, Servitude is good fun. The album is packed with The Black Dahlia Murder’s well-honed aggressive melodic death metal, played with the skill that we have become accustomed to. The album boasts a strong sound that allows the band to showcase their various strengths in no uncertain terms. The songwriting is tight and direct, and there’s no filler to be seen, (interlude aside), as the band unleash their aggressively entertaining death metal.

In many ways Servitude is business as usual for The Black Dahlia Murder, but I mean that in a positive way. The band have arisen from tragedy with a collection of songs that live up to the legacy of what that has come before them. This is an album that’s easy to listen to and like, and is naturally going to get a heavy listening rotation by fans of the band.