The Black Dahlia Murder – Ritual
June 21st, 2011
Melodic Death Metal
Metal Blade Records
Detroit, Michigan, USA
So we have come to the end of The Black Dahlia Murder Week on Discography Deep Dive here at Where Strides the Behemoth, and what better way to end this week off with than one of the best albums ever released by this now legendary death metal organization? Indeed while Nocturnal might be my absolute favourite record dropped by this Detroit melodeath outfit, and Deflorate is an underrated gem, Ritual is arguably the third in a trio of records that round out what could be considered a “classic era” for the band. Featuring the exact same lineup as Deflorate, it’s no surprise that these seasoned musicians grew to put out one of their most unrelenting, brutal and technically complex records with this 2011 release.
It certainly feels that the flirtations with technical death metal that the band established on Deflorate would go on to be a core part of their overall sound with this followup record. The songwriting on here, while still hyper-melodic and catchy and with a focus on memorable riffage, feels like it pushes the boundaries of the sound that the band had built up to this point. Everything from the drumming to the guitar playing feels completely unchained and possesses this ceaseless momentum. The entire record is so fast and breakneck that it feels like it threatens to boil over, especially on some of the earlier tracks like “A Shrine to Madness” and “Moonlight Equilibrium”.
Trevor Strnad is once again on fire on this album. His vocals have attained this violent and wretched quality of a frontman who has truly hones his craft. His high pitched rasps sound better than they ever have and his gutturals are more brutal than ever. I particularly think the performance on “Moonlight Equilibrium” is fantastic, especially the sustained scream that ends the song as well as the way he transitions from a deep growl to a high rasp in the chorus. The deep vocals on “On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood” are also fantastic.
The guitars, once again provided by Ryan Knight and Brian Eschbach, with Ryan Williams on bass, are some of the most intense and brutal that the band has ever written. While some of the early songs on the record, such as, once again, “A Shrine to Madness” and “Moonlight Equilibrium”, engage in some of the older style of melodeath the band presented on Nocturnal, other songs like “On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood” or “Malenchantments of the Necrosphere” could easily pass for something influenced by the more brutal side of OSDM a la Obituary or Morbid Angel. Other songs like “Conspiring with the Damned” seamlessly combine the two styles, perfectly merging the heavy cacophony with the At the Gates-style melody forging. It’s so great and provides so much variety on the tracklist that it makes it supremely hard for me to name a favourite track on this record. There are so many standout moments that I find it hard to pick just one to highlight.
Shannon Lucas is of course as fantastic as he was on Deflorate and Nocturnal. The drumming here is beyond insane. The dude is full of nearly constant blast beats that alternate between the hi-hat and the ride cymbal simultaneously while firing away ridiculously fast double bass drumming. His rolls and fills are just as quick and relentless as his blasts and on top of that he’s got a lot of creativity in store for when it comes to spicing things up on the cymbals. There are so many killer fills that utilize different accents on the splash and ride cymbals that keep you on your toes. At the same time, despite the ferocity and violence of this record there is a lot of catchiness and variety to be had on the percussion front. The track “The Window” is perhaps a prime example of Lucas’ writing ability behind the kit.
The production on this record is also fantastic. I think out of all of the records I’ve covered from this band in the past week this is the one that stands out the most purely from a production standpoint. The drums, despite still being triggered on the bass drum, sound way more organic than they have in the past. The same could be said for the guitars and the bass and even the vocals, though all of them are enhanced by reverb. In my opinion this is exactly how this band should sound. Everything is clear and audible but it still sounds huge and cavernous. It feels like the band truly became a force to be reckoned with in the world of modern death metal with how this record sounds.
While I think the record that followed this, Everblack, was still pretty good, I think Ritual was the final entry in a trilogy of albums where The Black Dahlia Murder was truly at their best. Nocturnal, Deflorate and Ritual are all fantastic records and stand as some of the best melodic death metal to ever come out of the United States in my opinion. It’s a shame that this week has come to a close because I’d love to go on and discuss the other records in the band’s career that I haven’t touched on yet, but I’ll probably get around to those eventually. In any case, I leave you with Ritual, a fantastic record that all involved should be proud of. R.I.P. Trevor Strnad.
Final Verdict: 9/10
Awesome
Favourite Tracks:
“A Shrine to Madness”
“Moonlight Equilibrium”
“On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood”
“Conspiring with the Damned”
“The Window”
“Carbonized in Cruciform”
“Den of the Picquerist”
“Malenchantments of the Necrosphere”
~ Akhenaten
Where Strides The Behemoth? 