Band's List Melodic Death The Black Dahlia Murder Ritual

In 2001, the world was introduced to the melodic death metal giants The Black Dahlia Murder. The Black Dahlia Murder has gained their reputation of creating of the best melodic death metal the world has to offer which has appealed to fans all over world. They are one of the only bands out there today who is respected by both “core” and death metal fans all over the world (there has been a lot of fighting between the two). This is probably what made their music so successful because they weren’t just another band, they weren’t trying to make the most brutal and the most technical melodic death metal out there. They just wanted to made good music, which I think they have done in the past albums have done, and have done well at that. But, has Ritual followed in the same suit?

I think that the landmark in The Black Dalia Murder’s career was their album Nocturnal. This was the time when they had a sound which really sucked the audience in, and what I think is responsible for the bands success. I’m just going walk out and say it right away, that if you enjoyed Nocturnal, you are bound to enjoy Ritual. Not that much has changed since then, the vocals and the some of the guitar riffs sound very similar and The Black Dahlia Murder definitely gives off the same “vibe” in Ritual and in Nocturnal. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t just a Nocturnal clone, there are plenty of aspects in Ritual that make this exciting enough to listen to without the music sounding like a blast from the past.

For what it’s worth, I think that Ritual might just be a slightly better album than Nocturnal. Why? because in Ritual, The Black Dahlia have focused more on their song writing and structure than in Nocturnal. I think that the music flows much, much better in Ritual than in their previous albums. I think this is mainly down to the change in guitar work. In previous albums, they have utilized more death metalish guitars which have slowed the music right down, making it less tight and sometimes the momentum of the music isn’t as built up as much as I could have hoped. Yes, there are still some of those brutal death slam style of riffs featured in Ritual but they aren’t used to the same extent (with the exception of the track Malenchantments of the Necrosphere, the guitars sounds very death/slamish). Instead, the guitarists have implemented more melodic death metal and even some progressive death metal style of guitar work and everyone knows that both melodic and progressive death metal flows better than brutal death/slam. The result of this, is that I reckon that the music is 10x as better and have added extra dimensions to the music which we have never seen before, which gives us even more of an excuse to listen to this album.

Just because they have taken a more melodic approach to their music this time round, doesn’t mean that they don’t pack the same punch in their music as they did in the past. Ritual is just as powerful in both the “brutalness” and “uplifting” departments in comparison with The Black Dahlia Murder’s previous works. Like I’ve mentioned before, Ritual still has some elements of brutal death/slam and once again, this is shown by the guitar work. There are sections throughout Ritual where there are some typical death/slam riffs and even some breakdowns. What I like about the way The Black Dahlia Murder have done it here is that just by listening to these sections that they aren’t trying to be the most heavy or the most brutal band eva. There is absolutely, 100% no chugging going on anywhere throughout Ritual which is good news for those anti-chugging elitists out there. Another thing is that even the heavy parts in Ritual don’t slow the momentum of the music. It just keeps on pushing and pushing.

Yeah, the guitar work and musical structure of Ritual or The Black Dahlia Murder’s music in general is nice, but I don’t think that’s was highlights the band’s music. I think that the thing that has impressed me and others like me is definitely the blast beats. Holy shit, the blast beats are awesome. No, they aren’t the fastest, but you don’t need to create the fastest blast beats to make them the best because remember, speed isn’t everything. But that being said, The Black Dahlia Murder’s blast beats do have speed but most importantly they have potency as well. This “potency” of the blast beats is definitely shown off in Ritual and the blast beats and used a lot throughout the album. I don’t know about you, but I just cannot get enough of them, they are just sound so good and they are definitely one of the best I’ve ever heard. I think that the blast beats in Ritual just wrap the music up, is the icing on the cake, the leather on the dashboard, it just makes the experience a whole lot better than if it wasn’t as good or wasn’t present at all.

The finial thing to mention about the music in Ritual and it’s something that has made the album much more worthwhile is the presence of guitar solos. It’s almost impossible to think of any good melodic death metal (or progressive death) band that has an absence of decent guitar solos. I can tell you right now that they haven’t gone slack on them in Ritual. You’d expect a band like The Black Dahlia Murder have guitar solos which lack any real structure and are extremely fast, technical and hard to copy. But nope, the ones in Ritual are extremely uplifting and powerful, like they should be. They tend to utilize fast (well, relatively fast) and slower guitar solos and I think that it emphasises the music farther… which can only be a good thing. Not only does it do this, the uplifting powerful style of the solos make the music sound deeper and adds more character to it.

Overall, I think that Ritual is The Black Dahlia Murder’s best album in their series so far. They have really gone the extra mile this time to ensure that their music is the best it can be. Ritual has much more to offer than its predecessors, there are awesome guitar riffs, kickass guitar solos, uplifting and darker atmosphere and a smooth flowing musical structure. The Black Dahlia Murder is one of the only bands that I know of that do well in both fast paced and slower paced songs. It’s the sheer flexibility of the band that has earned them their success in the music industry. It’s no wonder why so many people like these guys, because they're awesome.

I recommend Ritual to anyone who is even remotely into; The Black Dahlia Murder’s previous albums, melodic and progressive death metal and blast beats in general. For those who are into the melodious wonders that the band has to offer you cannot go past the track Moonlight Equilibrium, the more technically adventurous fans should check out Carbonized in Cruciform. Although Carbonized in Cruciform starts off slightly slow, it’s probably the most technical track in the album. And finally, for those who are looking to break their neck with Ritual’s heaviness, take a look at the track Malenchantments of the Necrosphere. Overall, I think that Ritual is one hell of an album that shouldn’t be overlooked by anyone. I give The Black Dahlia Murder’s Ritual an 18/20.

The Black Dahlia Murder has been pretty dependable with generally the same amount of time between each release. I like it when a band is fairly dependable on that part; although I am understanding if they take an extra year if they experience a brain fart when songwriting. It’s usually not the best idea for a band to make drastic changes each album because it can sometimes be kind of overwhelming for the listener. It’s best to make serious changes to your sound every other album; making two albums (in this case, Nocturnal and Deflorate) have the same general sound, but still displaying progression and maturing. So after releasing Nocturnal and Deflorate; both having generally the same high-pitched, fast, sound, it’s time they came up with something new.

I’m just going to be honest right off the bat; their new sound doesn’t impress me as much. All of you reviewers that are reading this know that one of the most frustrating things about reviewing albums is that your opinion on the album often changes a while after you write the review. Like for example, my review on Design the Skyline’s Neveah, I gave it a 16/20 or something like that. And now that I’ve actually taken the time to listen to it and explore the record in greater depths, the damn thing makes me feel like throwing up! So I have a feeling that sometime in the future, this album is going to either grow on me or turn me away (it’ll most likely grow on me). There is also going to most likely be a horde of people throwing the classic statements that a lot of us reviewers get such as “you need to be less narrow-minded!” and “you can’t expect a band to always stay the same!”. I got a lot of statements like that with my review of Bring me the Horizon’s 2010 album. Before you throw statements at me like that, read my other reviews!

The sound that The Black Dahlia Murder pulled off in Nocturnal and Deflorate was a really high-tuned, tight, fast sound with excruciatingly high-pitched screamed vocals (I mean that in a good way). Ritual’s sound is slower, down-tuned way lower than their previous albums, and there is a lot more growling being done. I think the growling is a cool idea because it balances out Trevor’s screams very well. I haven’t really figured out yet what the general theme of this album is. One would automatically think that since the album is called Ritual that it has satanic elements in it. But I’m not one that would think that this band would write songs about those sorts of things (although I don’t know any of the members’ religions or even if they’re religious/spiRitual at all).

Even though this album obviously has the trademark Black Dahlia sound, the guitars have lost a disappointingly amount of technicality in most of the album. The breakdowns on this album are more pronounced and longer than on their previous records, which makes me think if touring with primarily deathcore bands has begun to have an influence on their music. But even though the guitars and bass have lost technicality, the drums haven’t. There is quite a bit more blast beats that can be heard all throughout the album (which is probably another deathcore influence).

I honestly wouldn’t give this as high of a score as Miniradman did because although this is still an impressive album that I bought soon after I saw them at the 2011 Summer Slaughter Tour, it’s shown somewhat of a lack of focus which is most likely due to constant touring (something that has caused numerous bands to start to lose focus and go downhill). There are several bands that have been affected by constant touring like Carnifex, Suicide Silence, Asking Alexandria, As I Lay Dying, and Children of Bodom. The Black Dahlia Murder has shown an excellent display of having the ability to still write good music while on the road. After two consecutive perfect scores on Nocturnal and Deflorate, Ritual gets 17/20.