Nocturbal

Metal Blade Records (2007)

By Sully Payton

The drudgery of a long winter.  Day after day of biting cold, snow, sleet and watching LL Bean clad yuppies talk about going skiing or snowshoeing.  What better way for the rest of us to pass a long, cold winter than with a CD full of tales of bloodletting, serial killing and, of course, Satan.  If that somehow warms the cockles of your metal heart more than a hot toddy by the fire or a vigorous cross country skiing jaunt, then you need The Black Dahlia Murder's venomous new album Nocturnal (Metal Blade). 
 

With each record TBDM have made marked leaps and bounds in sound progression and Nocturnal only continues their maturity.  The addition of former All That Remains drummer Shannon Lucas takes the rhythm section from ham-fisted to downright technical.  Opener "Everything Went Black" assaults the ears with a precision barrage of fills and kick drum blasts that force the rest of the band to up their game to keep up.  Guitarists Brian Eshbach and John Kempainen prove up to the task as they bring a brutal low end wall of chaos throughout the record.  But not content to just bring riffs, solos are thrown in liberally on Nocturnal creating almost a brief respite for the listener on tracks like "What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse", "Darkness Spawned" and especially "Climactic Degradation".  Vocalist Trevor Strnad is the ace in the hole for TBDM.  With the ability to effortlessly glide between sounding like a weasel being electrocuted and roaring as if possessed by Satan himself, Strnad keeps the songs from falling into a rut. The album's best track "Deathmask Divine", an ode to every deathsters favorite subject- necrophilia, blends the styles perfectly to create  quite the chilling picture  Strnad's lyrical content is nothing surprising for the genre; however, the pictures painted by the songs are far more vivid and literate than most could hope to achieve.

While Nocturnal might not be the genre defining record that many fans were hoping for, it's one of the strongest metal releases of 2007.  Brilliant musicianship, frighteningly vivid lyrics and vocals that will send the LL Bean clad crowd fleeing your house into a blizzard without their Polar Fleece and mittens makes it a worthwhile way to pass a cold, cold winter.