The Black Dahlia Murder took their name from a classic Los Angeles crime story. In January of 1947, Elizabeth Short, a 22-year-old aspiring actress, was found in a vacant lot just outside Hollywood. Her body was bruised, abused, and literally cut in half. Journalists took to calling her the Black Dahlia-- possibly because of her supposed penchant for wearing all black to garner attention from men-- and her killer was never found. It's one of the more gruesome crimes in the long sordid history of Hollywood.
The band didn't originate in that city, though. But it only seems fitting that they instead exploded onto the U.S. metal scene from Detroit, Mich. It may be over 2,000 miles from where Short's murder occurred, but Detroit-- with its vacant buildings, high crime rate, and low incomesy-- is a perfect fit for the barrage of anger and desperation of Miasma, the band's sophomore release.
The Black Dahlia Murder combine elements of melodic Scandinavian death and black metal bands with the more straightforward style apparent in classic Florida death metal. All of the superfluous elements have been excised-- there are no brooding, operatic keyboards, no triumphant, clean-vocal choruses. Instead, the band shifts from one furious riff to the next, and vocalist Trevor Strnad mixes things up by switching from deep death-influenced growls to a high-pitched rasp. The guitars seem to feed each other, and the dual harmonies between the two are one of the bands strongest assets.
The pummeling, mid-tempo instrumental "Built for Sin" leads into the galloping "I'm Charming", and the band doesn't really let up again until the disc's end. New drummer Zach Gibson keeps the band rolling at an uncompromising pace, and yet things never get boring. While so many death metal bands are content to ride the blast beat 24/7, Gibson mixes things up quite a bit. In "Statutory Ape", for example, he switches from one rapid-fire-beat to another throughout, rarely easing up on the snare, yet he still finds plenty of time to abuse the bass drum every now and then for good measure.
Overall, the band should be commended for taking a form that is becoming increasingly derivative and making it seem fresh. There are plenty of comparisons that can be made (as many reviews of the band's work will prove), but there isn't a single moment of Miasma that feels borrowed, forced, or copied. From the lyrical tone-- which spends plenty of time in the dark and violent, but never has to rely on the Satan-laden macabre-- to the fast-and-insanely-furious riffage, the record stands as a testament to powerful modern metal, with a nod towards the past and an eye towards the future.
