Review Summary: Doesn't break any new ground, but carries on the torch for a band that refuses to cease, consistently making some of the most proficient and enjoyable death metal to date.
Ideally, a review for an album should strive to be as objective as possible. After all, Sputnikmusic itself has an “objectivity” rating embedded in each user’s profile for a reason. Being able to detach yourself from your personal biases in art can be a monumentally difficult task, depending on how entrenched one has become in its content.
Servitude, The Black Dahlia Murder’s tenth studio album, is laden with reasons to forego objectivity. As a brief bit of history, the record is and will be permanently known as the first time the band completed an album without the vocals and lyricism of Trevor Strnad, who unfortunately passed in May 2022. Strnad’s death echoed throughout the world of metal, as his passing is lamented by family, friends, and fans daily, as well as every time TBDM take the stage. Strnad’s unique, powerful, and undeniably talented musicianship was a cornerstone for every TBDM album. Thus, when the band’s rhythm guitarist and longtime friend of Strnad, Brian Eschbach, took up the microphone to keep the band alive, the general sentiment was one of perhaps lower expectations: no one was going to perform how Strnad did, but if someone had to, who better than the man who watched and provided backup vocals for him for two decades?
Eschbach’s role of rhythm guitar was replaced by Ryan Knight, the band’s former lead guitarist who performed on Deflorate, Ritual, Everblack, and Abysmal. The guitar tandem of Knight and Brandon Ellis is a one of exceptional skill and talent, suggesting to many prior to Servitude’s release that this album would be practically bursting at the seams with absurd riffs and solos to tantalize bedroom guitarists for years to come. With Eschbach, Knight, and Ellis all active simultaneously, the band possessed all three of their principal songwriters from their previous records for Servitude. In addition, Alan Cassidy and Max Lavelle, the percussive backbone of the band, are equally talented at their respective instruments and have consistently improved in their range of style, hallmarked with incredible precision.
The stage was set for TBDM to create something truly outlandish, perhaps even as a mission statement to where the band was heading and what their intentions were moving forward. At the same time, it seemed equally likely that the album would completely fall apart without Strnad, as a lackluster attempt for the band to prove that they have gas in the tank when they are clearly spent or no longer have the heart to carry on. To say that the average TBDM fan was not at least somewhat invested in this album’s release is a complete failure to recognize the confluence of emotional stress that led to Servitude’s release.
And so, the album releases. And it’s pretty good.
Servitude is, almost to a fault, a standard TBDM album. The album is not a transitional piece of media for the band, it is business as usual, albeit a bit short. The general praise and criticism from Nightbringers and Verminous are present: the musicianship continually impresses and begs the question of how much further the band can push themselves on a technical level, but at times the inherent desire to create something more challenging or theoretically ‘new’ is a detractor.
Transcosmic Blueprint, Mammoth’s Hand, and Cursed Creator are good examples of this sort of nature leaking out. As standalone tracks, there is nothing wrong with them, but in the context of the album as a whole, they feel a bit out of place. After writing what many could call ‘formulaic’ death metal since 2003, it only makes sense that an artist is going to want to break from this mold and keep branching out to avoid stagnation. Nonetheless, it’s hard to shake the feeling that these tracks are not something from Revocation or Arsis’ B-sides and attempt to pull tools from TBDM’s repertoire that are, frankly, unsharpened. Contrasted with the level or standard of quality that we have come to except from the band, these tracks fall a bit flat and are ultimately underwhelming. In sum, it is difficult to say they add much to the album besides runtime and a few riffs that melt all the skin off your body.
With that being said, Panic Hysteric and Aftermath are more than worthy entries to the illustrious halls of TBDM’s instant-classic death metal tracks. It is a bit ironic that these two tracks are the most by-the-book for modern day TBDM, but there are ten-thousand adages about not trying to fix what isn’t broken and zero about transitioning from the diminished Phrygian scale into a Neapolitan chord with an augmented sixth (disclaimer: I do not know any music theory). Put simply, when I want to listen to TBDM, I’ll probably end up listening to Everything Went Black for the 500th time and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Adding Panic Hysteric and Aftermath to that same queue is nothing less than an honor.
The last major component of the album to address is the vocals, which are instantly familiar to the seasoned TBDM listener who has been hearing Eschbach echo lyrics for the band since Contagion. It is no surprise or secret that Eschbach lacks the vocal range that Strnad had, but this is to be expected. Rather, what matters most is if Eschbach’s voice actually fits the band, which it seamlessly does. As far as lyrical content goes, there are no real surprises or left turns, though it can be argued that Servitude’s lyrics are not as intentionally gruesome or grotesque as many of the band’s prior songs (The Window, Threat Level Number Three, Map of Scars, Deathmask Divine, etc. come to mind...). Tales of post-apocalyptic cannibalism, satanic worship, creatures of variable sizes and shapes, and straight-up, classic horror are all mainstays for the band. Some may attempt to extrapolate further meaning or subconscious threads that weave themselves between lines, alluding to Eschabch’s loneliness or depression following Strnad’s death, but these assertions seem largely fabricated. Any intent to create lyrics that delve into more personal fragments of life, such as those present on Miasma, are simply not found without a few logical leaps.
As a whole, shutting out all the preceding events leading to Servitude’s release, the album is exactly what we would have expected from the band had nothing changed from Verminous to now. But, life is hardly fair and seldom offers anyone respite from day-to-day demands, regardless of who you are or what you are experiencing. It is easy to submit to turmoil, wallowing in self-pity and depression when misfortune arrives because it takes immense strength to pick up whatever pieces you are left with and move forward. For that reason, it is subjectively incredible to me that The Black Dahlia Murder were capable of, objectively, making a pretty good album. Servitude is a solid album that does not break any new ground, but carries on the torch for a band that refuses to cease, consistently making some of the most proficient and enjoyable death metal to date.
Subjective review: TBDM LIVES ON, METAL NEVER DIES, HORNS UP m/ m/
