The Black Dahlia Murder have announced their tenth studio album, Servitude, is scheduled to arrive on September 27th via Metal Blade Records. Following the tragic passing of frontman Trevor Strnad in 2022, co-founder Brian Eschbach has stepped into the role of lead vocalist, while former member Ryan Knight has rejoined the band on guitar.
Servitude marks Eschbach’s debut as lead vocalist and their first album with Knight since 2015’s Abysmal. The group has unleashed a video for the first single, “Aftermath,” which envisions a post-apocalyptic scenario. The album was recorded at Brandon Ellis ‘ home studio in New Jersey, with drums recorded by Mark Lewis in Nashville and mastered by Ted Jensen.
“Before the tragedy, no one ever thought this band was going to exist without Trevor.”
Eschbach comments:
“Everyone that’s in the band now is someone that Trevor and I searched for. We spent so much time on the road together that everyone understands the mission statement. We don’t really need to talk about it. We just need to make great music and try to make people happy playing it.” I just had to lean into it hard. Honestly, writing the lyrics for this album was easier for me than writing the music for the three songs that I wrote music for. I’d pick a subject, research it, and just kinda dive in. Even though it’s not something I’d really ever done before, there was a natural flow to it once I started. We wanted that one to be heard first because it’s one of the faster songs on the album, if not the fastest. We wanted that very aggressive BLACK DAHLIA melodic death metal feel coming right at you. Lyrically, it’s about a meteor that fucks up the whole planet, but there’s still people living. Kind of like The Walking Dead, but with no zombies — so you get right to how people deal with it. And by the end, they’re eating each other.”
Ellis adds:
“More than pressures or expectations from the fanbase, I feel their trust and support. We’ve always done what we do for them, and they’ve appreciated our consistency over the years. The global outcry following Trevor’s passing has shown us how important the band’s music has been to so many people, and how important it is that we continue in his honor. Under all that weight, I think we all knew what needed to be done.
We put in everything we had, and this is the album that felt right to make. I’m proud of it and proud of the five of us. You can never please everybody, but I know that this music will be a healing and positive force for those who embrace it!”
Watch the clip below and pre-order the album here:
Track List:
01) Evening Ephemeral
02) Panic Hysteric
03) Aftermath
04) Cursed Creator
05) An Intermission
06) Asserting Dominion
07) Servitude
08) Mammoth’s Hand
09) Transcosmic Blueprint
10) Utopia Black
Feature Image Photo Credit: Marshall Wieczorek
