THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER // Announce Tenth Album ‘Servitude’

Michigan’s premier death metal band for metalheads The Black Dahlia Murder have announced their tenth album Servitude, their first since the untimely passing of beloved frontman Trevor Strnad in 2022.

The album will drop on the 27th of September via Metal Blade Records. It’s their followup to 2020’s Verminous, which was met with much praise for its old meets new school approach.

To whet fan appetites for the upcoming record, they’ve released the new belter Aftermath. Watch the trailer now and the video from Friday 2pm AEST below.

After the passing of Strnad in 2022 and outpouring of grief from fans, the band decided to continue on instead of walk away from twenty years of riff slinging and delighting audiences worldwide. Co-founder Brian Eschbach moved from guitars to step into giant-sized shoes, with former member Ryan Knight returning to take up the guitar mantle once more. Knight departed the band in 2015 after the release of seventh album Abysmal.

“Before the tragedy, no one ever thought this band was going to exist without Trevor,” Eschbach says. ““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.”

It was a change of role and dynamic for Eschbach, usually focused on developing music rather than lyrics. ““I just had to lean into it hard. 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.”

Having already played to enthusiastic crowds in Australia opening for legendary death metal axe wounds Carcass and festivals abroad, fans have embraced the band’s new direction.

“More than pressures or expectations from the fanbase, I feel their trust and support,” says Brandon Ellis, guitarist and producer. “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!”

The guitars, bass and vocals for the album were recorded at Ellis’ home studio in New Jersey. The drums were recorded by Mark Lewis in Nashville, Tennessee where the album was also mixed. Servitude was mastered by Ted Jensen.

The Black Dahlia Murder is Knight, Eschbach, Ellis, bassist Max Lavelle, and drummer Alan Cassidy.

US and EU/UK based pre-orders are available here.