The Black Dahlia Murder - Deflorate
Metal Blade
Melodic Death Metal
10 songs (33:58)
Release year: 2009
Metal Blade
Reviewed by Boris

Listening to a Black Dahlia Murder album is like getting a high-quality dominatrix to kick you in the nuts for about 40 minutes. Their new album Deflorate, their fourth, explodes into a fury the second the first track Black Valor starts up, and doesn’t let up until album closer I Will Return fades out leaving your head bruised and bloody from all the banging against the wall. Or, if we keep with the dominatrix comparison, leaving your nuts bruised and swollen from all the kicking you just received.

Like that high-quality dominatrix, this Michigan based band know what they’re doing. Deflorate is the tightest and most focused they have ever sounded. Black Valor, Necropolis, A Selection Unnatural and Denounced, Disgraced showcase the band at their best, guitarists Brian Eschbach and Ryan Knight ripping it up with crazy solos and less-than-beautiful harmonies throughout each song’s short duration while drummer Shannon Lucas blasts his beats like a madman. These songs flow well into each other, yet each retains a unique element that prevents them from blending in. Consider these songs the first 20 or so kicks to your nads. Each hurts just as bad or worse than the previous one. After these initial 20 kicks/4 songs (are you following me still, is this getting confusing) however, your nads/ears get used to being assaulted and the effect becomes less impressive. Christ Deformed has vocalist Trevor Strnad at his evil best, sounding like a cross between Tomas Lindberg and Whoracle-era Anders Friden, and Death Panorama is catchy as hell, but by this point its very predictable. The band take no risks with their song structures, and I personally can’t hear any progression from their previous records sound-wise. At this point you’re just headbanging (or screaming from the ball-pummeling) out of habit more than anything.

Now, you may ask what my obsession with this dominatrix simile is, and the truth is, I don’t have one. It’s just that everything that can be said about The Black Dahlia Murder has already been said, and the only thing left to do with each review lest they evolve their sound is to say the same thing in a different way. I’ll give them credit for sounding more authentically Swedish than any other American band that plays or claims to play Melodic Death Metal, and I’ll also commend their ability to be surprisingly consistent for 4 albums. I’ll also go ahead and recommend listening to Deflorate over actually going to a dominatrix, but only because Deflorate costs less.

Killing Songs :
Black Valor, Necropolis, A Selection Unnatural, Christ Deformed
Boris quoted 82 / 100
Other albums by The Black Dahlia Murder that we have reviewed:
The Black Dahlia Murder - Nocturnal reviewed by Dylan and quoted 90 / 100
The Black Dahlia Murder - Miasma reviewed by Nathanael and quoted 90 / 100
The Black Dahlia Murder - Unhallowed reviewed by Crims and quoted 80 / 100
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