Sunday, June 9, 2013

The Black Dahlia Murders : "Everblack"



I have very little experience with metal-core or what gets called scene metal these days, which if you are keeping score is different than hipster metal, because scene kids are throw backs to myspace who live in the suburbs where hipsters are urban and they go for more obscure artists. So Black Dahlia is too commercial for them, and many metal purists shun this sort of thing not even accepting it as metal, which seems weird to me because when this album opens my first thought was these guys are trying to sound like Cradle of Filth.

Why am I even listening to this ... well I wanted something heavy and stupid, it seems I have succeeded , the guitarists are pretty decent. They have a song called "Goat of Departure" on here and that's half the reason I checked this out.  There is a thrashier vibe on the Goat, the breakdowns aren't as in your face as I thought they would be. I'm sure you have seen their t-shirts , as they have been around since 2001, and are from Michigan which seems like an odd choice for this sort of thing.

"Into the Everblack" sounds like typical death metal to me, they claim to be influenced by Carcass , but I don't really hear it, there appears to be more rhythmic punches in this sort of thing than death metal,. but I'm sure where else the core is supposed to be, they must have crossed all the way over. The Keyboards that come in on this one was the one element on the first two songs that kept them from sounding like Cradle of Flith all the way and now it's here as well. The solo that pops in is very heroic, I don't get the feeling there is any foreboding sense of devil simmering underneath any of this , so it feels like they are going through the motions bu don't believe in any of it. It's executed fairly well and the production value might be to clean for this sort of thing if dirtied up around the edges I might be more likely to believe them.

"Raped in Hatred by Vines of Thorn"  sound from the title to be inspired by Evil Dead , a scene which in the remake I found disappointing because it was sexual enough for me. The chorus kinda chants this as the guitar noodles around, other than that pretty typical I'm sure what the fuss is about, either way they don't suck but aren't anything to write home about either. "Phantom Limb Masturbation" is a great song title but sounds like Dethklok to me. The bouncy part about a minute in is a little too happy for what they are trying to convey here. I do like the modulation that occurs during the wanking section.

Songs like "Control" don't exude any personality to me , this could be one of a thousand bands out now. This particular song sounds like Children of Bodom to me.  "Blood Mine" isn't any different the formula is set in stone at this juncture and maybe they are just dialing it in.  It wasn't until "Every Rope a Noose" that notice any sort of groove develop.It pretty much circle pits the same drain. Sure "Their Beloved Absentee" is pretty pummeling when it kicks in there's some doodling guitars that are a little distraction. "Map of Scars" finally shows some melodic smarts as the switch the pace to pick out the chords before ripping back into more of the same so if you are really stuck on one dimensional thrashy death metal this might be for you. I'll give this one a 4, if this is what death core is then it's nothing I haven't heard before.




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