No one wants to be reminded that Trevor Strnad is gone. It’s not a pleasant thing when anyone in the metal world suddenly passes, but I can think of only a handful of other people who have left a similar sized hole in the wake of their absence. What do you do when the unthinkable happens, but you’re also The Black Dahlia Murder and you’re one of the biggest and most recognizable names in death metal? Well, it turns out that carrying on a legacy is not a matter of satisfying corporate suits; it means keeping your friend’s dream alive, and Servitude is the next extension in the dream of Trevor Strnad and Brian Eschbach.
It’s been four long, uncertain years since Verminous, an album which saw The Black Dahlia Murder seemingly at the top of their game. To be frank, I have been a fan of the band since Unhallowed, and even I, a petulantly “I Liked Their Old Stuff Better” type of guy for most bands, was wowed by the focus and intensity on their ninth studio release (so was Angela too, if you want to read her thoughts on Verminous). So when the news broke, two questions immediately sprang to mind: first of all, why (a question that I don’t think we will ever know the answer to, nor would it be my place to speculate) and how, as in, “how will this band go on?” All the momentum in the world was on their side, and it all came crashing to a halt in an instant. But you reading this almost certainly know what happened next: everyone stepped up. Brian Eschbach put aside his guitar and took up the microphone, and former guitarist Ryan Knight was called back into the fold, and the band persevered in the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity. Even watching a YouTube video of the first performance of the new lineup playing at Trevor’s memorial show, I felt myself moved to tears to see them so ignited at the prospect of carrying his spirit forward. Servitude is everything a comeback album should be, and it is an album that is for the fans as much as it is for each individual member.
Servitude is an album that comes right out of the gate swinging. This is a band with something to prove, and the quintet have said outright that this is an album that they poured everything they had into. It shows, in every conceivable way. It sounds like The Black Dahlia Murder, in case you were actually worried about that, but it sounds like everything that makes them so iconic all crunched together and dialed up to eleven. Eschbach’s vocals are impeccable, as you would hope they would be, and there isn’t even a hint of a stumble between the rhythm section and the furious riffing of the guitars. If lead single “Aftermath” didn’t prepare you for what was coming, you clearly weren’t paying attention. Eschbach describes it as the fastest song on the album, but in listening to all of Servitude, the rest of them don’t really get /that/ much slower. Sure, there’s “An Intermission,” which is what it says on the tin, and “Mammoth’s Hand,” which is more mid tempo and groovier, but the rest of the album blazes with the intensity of a band with half the tenure of the Detroit fivesome. Oh, and we have to talk about the guitar solos, because holy shit. Brandon Ellis is a wizard on the fretboard (and the mixing board too, good job all around there, guy), and the duo of Knight and him leaves me awestruck throughout most of this album. It’s a goddamn clinic start to finish, and it speaks to the fire of passion ignited in the band in the wake of something truly horrible. There’s no song on here that is an overt tribute to Strnad, but you immediately understand that Servitude is about honoring the legacy of a friend and carrying the torch he put down. I can think of no better way to speak to the memory of a fallen friend than this album.
The fact that the end of closer “Utopia Black” seamlessly transitions into the beginning of opener “Evening Ephemeral” says all you need to know about Servitude: it’s going to be on repeat for a good long while. It marks a new beginning for The Black Dahlia Murder, and it is clear that they are committed to moving on and making the best of what the future holds for them. And it’s a good thing too, because the future looks incredibly bright if Servitude is any indication of what is on the horizon. Trevor would be proud, and all of us who call ourselves fans of the band should feel the same way.
— Ian
Servitude is out September 27 on Metal Blade Records. For more information on The Black Dahlia Murder, visit their Facebook page.
Leave a Reply