The Black Dahlia Murder - Miasma

Like a lot of other people my age, The Black Dahlia Murder was the first technical death band I ever heard. The album I first heard by them was Nocturnal, which was the only one I had by them for almost a year. I got their first album about a year after I first heard Nocturnal, and I really didn’t like it, I guess you can say I thought it sucked. Miasma was the only other album they had come out with, so I thought that it had to be better. Before getting Miasma, I did something that I rarely ever do (probably to kill time), and that was look up other’s reviews of the album on the internet. The one thing that I noticed was that a lot of them thought that Miasma was The Black Dahlia Murder’s best album. And that’s saying a lot! And when I listened to the album, I didn’t agree that it was their best, but it was a huge step in a positive direction from their debut.

The most recognizable and unique trait that this band hold is the vocalists ultra-high pitched shrieks. Believe it or not, for some of those of you that are more used to the deeper vocal styles, it may take some time for you to get used to Trevor’s screams. Other than that, this is the album that really set The Black Dahlia Murder’s signature sound. After Miasma, their fan base only gotten larger, and look at where they are now! They’ve sold a total of over 1 million albums, their most recent album, Ritual, selling over 15,000 copies in its first week. But we’re here to talk about Miasma right?

Unhallowed has more of a down-tuned metalcore sound; less technical, mid-range vocals, poor songwriting. The overall tempo and energy in Miasma reaches heights never reached before by a band of their magnitude. There came the addition of a new drummer and some new guitarists for the recording of this album (even though the drummer didn’t last until after the recording of the album). The new guitarists also helped with the formation and the originality of the band’s amazing sound.

Most of Trevor’s lyrics are sort of horror murder stories with some fantasy mixed in. In case you didn’t know, the album cover is a photo of downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. This album was also one of the bestselling metal albums of 2005 in the majority of Europe.

So with this album setting the standard and laying down a solid original sound that will stick to this band for the rest of their career, Miasma has pulled off astonishing drumming, majorly improved vocals, great guitar solos, and an obvious display of musicianship and teamwork. This album has never ceased to impress me and The Black Dahlia Murder’s story does nothing but get better after this. I will be reviewing the rest of the band’s discography over the weekend, giving this album 16/20.