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The Black Dahlia Murder: Miasma
03/09/07 || The Duff
I was introduced to TBDM via their debut ‘’Unhallowed’’, which got some seriously high praise for a band playing a sub-genre bursting at the seams with mediocre, rehashed garbage. True, many of the ideas here follow a tried and true formula, yet TBDM don’t sound too recycled a band – sure not the most unique outfit out there, but definitely more original than most. The sound is best described as fierce death metal combined with milder melodic death elements much in the vein of early At the Gates, and hints of black metal.
The musicianship is flawless, with a balanced mix of groove and heaviness: intelligently crafted music that uses every successful trick in the book with well thought out soloing (much improved from their debut album), a versatile drummer who doesn’t overdo anything yet plays as one of the most talented I’ve heard, and a dual-vocal attack that adds some spice.
As an album that stands by itself, this is bordering perfection; TBDM have the perfect guitar tone, excellent riffs that range between speedy, brutal, groovy and downright catchy, and the much required ability to write great songs. With their debut, as much as the album was good, I could only ever find a handful of tracks that really grabbed me, whereas on ‘’Miasma’’, everything is a winner (fuck knows how many triplet riffs these guys can come up with, but each and every one of them works to beat me into submission).
With ‘’Nocturnal’’ being released in the next month or so, I don’t know where else these guys can go without repeating themselves, but on the other hand this album shows that The Black Dahlia Murder are a confident bunch who are aware of what good metal should sound like.
This deserves anywhere between a nine and a ten, but it has all been done before, so I’m going to give it an eight because I’m a real piece of shit. Needless to say that, despite my personality flaws, this should be picked up and cherished as a straightforward onslaught in any metalhead’s collection.
Whilst writing this review, I asked around the GD forums what people thought of TBDM, and it turns out that I’m in the vast minority when appreciating what the band has to offer – according to most, TBDM should never be included in any metalhead’s collection. Oh well, one point added for the fact that the intro track actually has a purpose, and also that it may piss off a couple of GD forumers who are just plain wrong to insult this great, great band.
9 knife-wielding nut jobs out of 10.
- Information
- Released: 2005
- Label: Metal Blade
- Website: The Black Dahlia Murder MySpace
- Band
- Trevor Strnad: vocals
- Brian Eschbach: guitars
- John Kempainen: guitars
- David Lock: bass
- Zach Gibson: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Built for Sin
- 02. I’m Charming
- 03. Flies
- 04. Statutory Rape
- 05. Vulgar Picture
- 06. Novelty Cross
- 07. Vice Campaign
- 08. Miscarriage
- 09. Spite Suicide
- 10. Miasma
