TBDM evoke the spirit of their much-missed friend
HOW DO YOU replace the irreplaceable? How does a band continue when the focal point, the driving force and the heart of it is suddenly taken way? The follow-up to The Black Dahlia Murder’s 2020 album Verminous arrives in the cruellest of circumstances, being their first since the passing of their universally loved frontman Trevor Strnad. Just the act of stepping back onstage with your friend not being there alongside you must be immensely painful for the band, but to have to regroup and create something that stands alongside their best work? ‘Daunting’ barely covers it.
TBDM had been on one of the longest uninterrupted hot streaks in metal – an opinion hammered home when you factor in how there really is no general consensus about which of their records is their definitive work. Straw-poll fans, and everything from 2017’s awe-inspiring Nightbringers to their raw, unpolished but fantastically savage 2003 debut, Unhallowed, and everything in between would get ample votes. They were consistency personified. To have the rug pulled out from them in the way it was feels unbelievably unfair, and how they deal with getting back on the horse will surely be crucial to their success going forward. So, let’s just get this out of the way early to allay any fears: Servitude is a classic slice of TBDM’s signature, swinging, chaotic death metal majesty, and it is well worthy of sitting alongside the band’s classic material.