In 2022, the passing of Trevor Strnad, singer of generational death metal band The Black Dahlia Murder, hit the metal community like a ton of bricks. Their return to the stage in October that year – with founding guitarist Brian Eschbach taking on the role of frontman, and former guitarist Ryan Knight rejoining to fill his spot – met with an outpouring of support and emotion.
Poised to release Servitude, their first album in the wake of their loss, Brian tells Hammer how they’re honouring Trevor.
Nobody would have blamed you if you’d taken longer to make a new album. What got the ball rolling?
“We didn’t expect the level of support and love from the fans we got as we went out on the road again. It solidified in our minds that this is what we do, and we should be doing it. We really started going at it probably in December of 2022.
We spent most of the past year hashing the album all out, and as far as a break before recording it goes, it was important to us to use the energy and time we have. I don’t wanna call it therapeutic, but there was some sort of catharsis in making this album.”
Did you want to lean into the idea of trying something new, or keep it as true to past material as possible?
“Probably the latter. The mission has always been to write songs that are what we feel The Black Dahlia Murder is. The biggest difference you’re going to hear is obviously the absence of Trevor, which right off the bat some people aren’t going to wanna hear. That’s fine, but we’re proud of these songs and can’t wait for people to hear the album. It’s down to the listener’s experience, but maybe that catharsis is something that will come across to them.”
How difficult was it for you to step into the vocalist role after nine albums playing solely as the guitarist?
“The funny thing about that, is I had a harder time getting going writing the music for this record than I did the lyrics. We broke it up into thirds where Ryan wrote three songs, Brandon [Ellis, guitars] wrote three, and I wrote three. Then I wrote all the lyrics for the album, but they were done with their music before I was. I was struggling trying to pick up the guitar and have ideas that I actually liked come out.”
Trevor was one of metal’s best lyricists. How did it feel taking on that mantle?
“He set the bar very high. That pressure is there, but I think I really respected the style that Trevor set a precedent for. There are some scary stories, man! That horror storytelling is always going to be a Black Dahlia Murder staple. We always thought about our songs like those horror comics, like Tales From The Crypt and Vault Of Horror. As long as we’re going, that’s always going to be our thing, and as far as taking up the mantle with the writing, all I can do is try to respect that the best I can.”
Brandon replaced Ryan in 2016, but now they’re both in the band. Having them in the studio together for the first time, there must be some serious shred going on?
“There absolutely is! There are a lot of harmonised solo parts and back-and-forth solo sections, and I think guitar folk are gonna be really wowed.”
Will you be playing any new songs this summer?
“Yeah, we will definitely be playing at least one new song by the time we get to summer.”
Servitude is out September 27 via Metal Blade. The Black Dahlia Murder are on tour in the US from October 3. For the full list of tour dates, visit their official website.
