The Black Dahlia Murder is an American
heavy metal band from
Waterford, Michigan, formed in 2001. Their name is derived from the 1947 unsolved murder of
Elizabeth Short, often referred to as
Black Dahlia. The band comprises vocalist Trevor Strnad, guitarists Brian Eschbach and Ryan Knight, bassist Ryan "Bart" Williams and drummer
Shannon Lucas. Out of their five studio albums, the latest four of them charted on the US
Billboard 200, with 2009's
Deflorate peaking at #43 and their latest album
Ritual reaching #31.
History
Formation, Unhallowed and Miasma (2001–2006)
The Black Dahlia Murder began its inception during late 2000 and gained the final band line-up in January 2001. The group released their
demo entitled
What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse, and a four-track EP,
A Cold-Blooded Epitaph, the latter of which the group released on Lovelost Records. After appearing in concerts such as the Milwaukee Metal Fest, The Black Dahlia Murder signed to
Metal Blade Records in 2003.
[1]
Current bassist Ryan "Bart" Williams left his former band, Detroit's Today I Wait, to tour with the Black Dahlia Murder. After touring with the band on their co-headlining gig with
Throwdown and their European dates with Liar, he joined the group full-time, replacing former bassist David Lock. Frontman Trevor Strnad said that Lock was fired for incompetency.
[2] Williams was one of two engineers (the other being
Walls of Jericho's Mike Hasty) on the band's first full-length album,
Unhallowed.
The band's second album
Miasma was released on July 12, 2005 and peaked at #118 on the
Billboard 200.
[3] After touring for
Miasma, drummer Zach Gibson left the band along with Pierre Langlois. While Gibson went on to join
Abigail Williams, Langlois left the band for a more secure lifestyle, and the band finished their search for a replacement drummer when they found former
All That Remains drummer,
Shannon Lucas. The group played at
Ozzfest 2005.
Nocturnal and Deflorate (2006–2010)
Their third album, entitled
Nocturnal, was released on September 18, 2007. The album debuted at #72 on the Billboard 200.
[4] The Black Dahlia Murder announced via their
MySpace profile that they were going on a U.S. tour with
Cannibal Corpse to promote their new album
Nocturnal and celebrate the 25 years that Metal Blade Records had been in business. They were joined by label-mates
The Red Chord,
Aeon,
The Absence, and
Goatwhore.
In January/February 2008, the band embarked on a U.S. headlining tour with
3 Inches of Blood,
Hate Eternal, and Decrepit Birth, followed by another alongside
Brain Drill and
Animosity. They were on Hot Topic's "Summer Slaughter Tour"
[5] with
Kataklysm,
Cryptopsy,
Vader,
Whitechapel, and
Despised Icon.
Their long-time guitarist, John K has left the band and was replaced by Ryan Knight during the beginning of 2009. In May 2009, The Black Dahlia Murder released their first DVD, "Majesty". The DVD contains a documentary and live footage from the Summer Slaughter tour and their tour supporting Children of Bodom in late 2008. The DVD also contains all of their music videos and behind the scenes footage.
[6]
The Black Dahlia Murder released
Deflorate on September 15, 2009 via Metal Blade Records. The album sold 12,000 copies in the United States in the first week of the release, debuted at position #43 Billboard's Top 200 charts, #5 on Billboard's
Independent Albums chart, #4 on Billboard's Top Hard Music Albums chart, and #50 on HITS Top 50 Albums chart.
[7] They toured with
Children of Bodom and
Skeletonwitch in support of the album. After their 2010 headlining tour with
Goatwhore and Arkaik, the band began writing and recording their next full-length album.
[8]
Ritual (2011–present)
In February 2011, The Black Dahlia Murder completed the songwriting process for the their fifth studio album,
[9] entitled
Ritual.
[10] It was released on June 21, 2011 in North America.
[10] The band is confirmed to support
Amon Amarth on their May 2011 European tour
[11] as well as to headline the 2011 Summer Slaughter tour.
[12] The track "Moonlight Equilibrium" was posted to the Metal Blade Records website on April 29, 2011 to critical and fan acclaim.
[10]
Tours
The Black Dahlia Murder headlined the 2008
Summer Slaughter Tour with
Kataklysm,
Vader,
Cryptopsy,
The Faceless,
Despised Icon,
Aborted,
Born of Osiris,
Psycroptic, and
Whitechapel.
[13] In late 2008, they joined a US tour with Finland's
Children of Bodom and Raleigh, NC's
Between the Buried and Me. They were initially announced as "...with special guests" at the start of the tour, though it has since been confirmed by
Revolver Magazine that they are on tour. They appeared on the Hot Topic Stage in the 2009 Rockstar Energy
Mayhem Festival. In late 2009, they embarked on a US tour with Finland's
Children of Bodom and
Skeletonwitch. The band headlined the Bonecrusher Fest tour of Europe in Spring 2010 alongside
3 Inches of Blood,
Necrophobic,
Obscura,
The Faceless,
Carnifex and
Ingested. In August 2010 they played at the
Hevy Music Festival near
Folkestone, UK.
Musical style and influences
The Black Dahlia Murder have been stated to play within the genres of
metalcore,
[14] melodic death metal[15] and
deathcore.
[16] The band's music makes use of the
death metal sound, containing elements such as
blast beats and fast death metal style. The influences of the band include groups such as
Carcass,
At the Gates,
Darkane,
Dissection,
Darkthrone,
Morbid Angel,
The Haunted,
In Flames,
Dimension Zero,
Iron Maiden,
Judas Priest,
Metallica,
Pantera and
Megadeth. Vocalist Trevor Strnad alternates between deep, throaty "
death metal growls," and high pitched shrieking. When asked to describe what kind of music the band plays, vocalist Trevor Strnad commented: "I've always said that we're melodic death metal. We are mostly influenced by Swedish bands and Carcass. The heavy end of our sound is the American style creeping in, with some Floridian influences like
Morbid Angel,
Malevolent Creation and that kind of stuff. We've been labeled more often because of our look than our sound, which is dumb, and speaks volumes about what kind of geniuses are out there!"
[17]
However, in an interview with
Uranium Magazine, Strnad also stated, "Some bands that get labeled as
metalcore are actually good, like
Between the Buried and Me or
The Red Chord.
Metal is what I grew up with, and then I learned about
punk and
hardcore. But a lot of our ethics, the way we carry ourselves, is more punk...I like that hardcore has a sense of community without the competition you see in metal."
[18]
Members
- Current members
|
- Former members
- John Deering – guitar (2001–2002)
- John Kempainen – guitar (2002–2008)
- Mike Schepman – bass guitar (2001)
- Sean Gauvreau – bass guitar (2001–2002)
- David Lock – bass guitar (2002–2005)
- Cory Grady – drums (2001–2004)
- Zach Gibson – drums (2005)
- Pierre Langlois – drums (2006)
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions |
| U.S.[19] |
| 200[20] | Hard Rock | Ind | Heat |
| 2003 | Unhallowed - Released: June 17, 2003
- Label: Metal Blade
- Format: CD, digital download, vinyl
| — | — | — | — |
| 2005 | Miasma - Released: July 12, 2005
- Label: Metal Blade
- Format: CD, digital download, vinyl
| 118 | — | 5 | 1 |
| 2007 | Nocturnal - Released: September 18, 2007
- Label: Metal Blade
- Format: CD, digital download
| 72 | 7 | 5 | — |
| 2009 | Deflorate - Released: September 15, 2009
- Label: Metal Blade
- Format: CD, digital download, vinyl
| 43[7] | 4 | 5 | — |
| 2011 | Ritual - Released: June 17, 2011
- Label: Metal Blade
- Format: CD, digital download, vinyl
| 31[21] | 4 | 6 | — |
- Demos and EPs
- DVDs
wikipedia |
