The Black Dahlia Murder -Miasma

Fri 15th Jul, 2005 in Music Reviews

Woo! I must admit, I do have quite the penchant for reviewing metal records, whether it be death metal, thrash, or metalcore, so when I saw the new one from The Black Dahlia Murder on the list, I quickly put my hand up. The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, the Detroit-based band is one of the top 5 selling artists on the Metal Blade label. Secondly, their debut album Unhallowed was a force to be reckoned with, and I wanted to see if new release Miasma lived up to expectations.

And it does. Oh yes. The nine tracks on this (albeit short) offering indicate exactly why TBDM is definitely a cut above most US metal bands. Not quite black metal, not quite metalcore and not quite thrash, this band mixes up these three elements instead of adhering to any one genre, and the result is a hard-hitting, chaotic heavyweight of an album.

Far and away one of the best features of this album is the dual guitar work of Brian Eschbach and John Kempainen. The riffs are staggering, exhausting, melodic and very, very innovative. They buzz, they chug, they soar over and above the songs in a brutal display of flexibility and dexterity.

Trevor Strnad’s vocals alternate between a higher-pitched, strangled yelling and a beastly death growl. This is not as grating as it seems. He mixes it up nicely and is adept at both styles, succeeding where a lot of metal bands fail miserably.

It is hard to pick the best track off this album, as there is something fantastic about each song that could easily give it this title. So I shall instead dwell upon a handful of songs that really kicked my arse.

Opener Built For Sin rips straight into it with chugging guitars and double-kicks aplenty. A fantastic doomsday sound is the order of the day, broken up nicely by a bit of 80s riffing.

A Vulgar Picture is all about the brutal drumming of Zach Gibson. The death growl aspect of the vocals gets a bit more of a look-in here, which is nice. The song chops and changes from a more straightforward thrash sound to scorching, squealing guitar breaks. Very, very good.

Miscarriage’s intro of buzzing, yet disarmingly melodic guitars drive home TBDM’s ability to be so much more innovative than other bands of this ilk. But don’t get too comfortable with the melody – penultimate song Spite Suicide is in direct contrast to this melodic bent and is uncompromising in its brutality.

Closer Miasma kicks off with a big, showy guitar intro, before breaking into positively ominous-sounding riffing. A great way to end the album, it is foreboding and intimidating and indicative of a band who know exactly what they are doing all of the time.

A confident, powerful release, Miasma is hands down one of the best metal releases I have heard so far this year.