Michigan’s own The Black Dahlia Murder are one of the most consistent, hard-working, respected and characterized melodic death metal bands to have ever step foot in the sixteen year career they’ve established themselves into the metal realm. Eight albums later, the band is back with some minor changes including a new guitarist named who joined the band in 2016 after the departure of Ryan Knight who shortly left prior that year. With the latest album Nightbringers, they’ve incorporated their influences from Swedish death metal bands but still retaining that traditional melodic death metal approach we all know and love throughout the band’s discography.
Musically, lyrically and atmospherically they have once again proved themselves, combining the black metal- esque shrieks to guttural sounding deep growls from vocalist and songwriter Trevor Strnad, amazingly written lyrical themes cross the empathizes onto boundaries that past albums couldn’t touch and offering 9 tracks symbolizes the band’s aggressive, emotional and well driven material they’ve ever put out since 2007’s Nocturnal which is among many fan’s favorite in the catalog. What’s special about Nightbringers is the amounts of horror-influenced death metal and relentless signature sound of a potent blend of black metal and even some grind, these results came together to form a giant leap of brutal atmosphere.
Music wise, they have grown into a maturing state associating harmony guitar lines, galloping beatdowns, hellhound like drumming techniques from Alan Cassidy who’s contributions for the band unleashes his double bass signatures and organic melodies are so perfectly balanced alongside Brian Eschbach and Brandon Ellis’s mid-paced riffs, Max Lavelle’s progressively crafted bass tones and Trevor Strnad’s harmonic vocal deliveries is what makes Nightbringers incredibly memorable start to finish. In their own respective musicality, the members from The Black Dahlia Murder described Nightbringers as not only as their own organic landmark with more European reminiscences of Dissection as what this album strictly went forward to but from a technical and musical standpoint this album is beautifully crafted, stronger, progressive, destructive and flawlessly monstrous release that opens new representations into a onslaught of Melodic Death Metal while borrowing Swedish Death Metal. As a longtime fan since Nocturnal Nightbringers to me terms of musical progressions, directions and lyrical themes combining heaviness, complex, structured, intelligent and designed chemistry this created has been very well received as a band showing Melodic Death Metal is more presentable and forevermore a field of pure passionate desirability. It’s another massive continuation to 2015’s Abysmal and Nightbringers marks new boundaries and naturalistic musical compositions to showcase a cataclysmic, occultist, horrific and terrifying extreme metal masterpiece.
Overall Score: 9.5/10
Review by Jake Butler
