The Black Dahlia Murder are nearing their 20-year mark as a band, spanning a musical career across nine studio albums and countless touring cycles. The metal world has had the opportunity to watch them rise from their introductory, yet groundbreaking, melo-death offering Unhallowed back in 2003 to becoming one of the leading bands in modern death metal.
With every release since then, The Black Dahlia Murder continue to unleash their ever-growing and invigorating brand of melodic death metal, laced with Scandinavian intricacies, and deeply rooted in heavy metal classicism, out to the world.
However, the year 2020 brings about a new, repugnant chapter to the TBDM empire that takes a turn straight for the festering sewers. So, without further ado, descend deep into the sounds of the infested metal underworld where all the rotten rodents, creepy night-crawlers, and fetid life forms come alive in a kingdom that is Verminous.
Thematically, The Black Dahlia Murder have designated a cavernous domain for the foul beings that operate below the surface of normal society to congregate, plagued by our undying love for extreme and wicked noise.
Musically, members within the band combine an enthusiastic elixir of top-notch dueling guitar riffs and pin-tight percussion with the harrowing screeches of longtime vocalist Trevor Strnad. These crucial components come together on Verminous to create a technically demanding and ferocious atmosphere not uncommon for this band in the least bit.
The deep dive into the fallen world begins in true Black Dahlia fashion as the build-up in title track “Verminous” unfolds layers of venomous guitar licks and intriguing double-bass patterns. Flowing through the slime-ridden cracks and crevices, Verminous goes straight for the throat in “Godlessly” and gallops and grooves through a tornado of tempo changes in “Removal of the Oaken Stake.” By this point, the guitar leads have pierced the skin and fully entered the bloodstream.
Vocal transformations begin to take place as Strnad goes for a more disgusted, John Tardy approach in “Child of Night.” Guitarists Brian Eschbach and Brandon Ellis begin to really vibe off each other and combine their dexterous skills to create a dynamic playground of melancholic riffing in both “Sunless Empire” and “The Wereworm’s Feast.” The latter track, however, pulls from that aforementioned classic metal inspiration, colliding dive-bombs with thrashing rhythms.
The Black Dahlia Murder combine a Carcass-worshiping mentality with their own lacerating tactics in “The Leather Apron’s Scorn,” which sizes you up and goes straight in with the scalpel blade for a surgical procedure. Ripping and tearing, the precision of the string work merges with the bionic drumming of Alan Cassidy and the thundering bass of Max Lavelle to make this one of my favorite songs I’ve heard from the band, period.
Bringing Verminous to a close, “Dawn of Rats” erupts with an onslaught of speed and crashing waves of weeping melodies, capturing the true dynamic essence of who The Black Dahlia Murder are as a band. Over the years, they’ve crafted a formula unique to them, fueled by a fascination for extreme music and a passion for classic metal.
They continue to work tirelessly to bring their horror-infused vision to life through an emotive blend of top-tier, blackened and melodic death metal. As they approach their 20-year mark as a band, I feel strongly that Verminous is an outstanding representation of their hard work and sets a new standard for albums to come.