UMUR
"Everblack" is the 6th full-length studio album by US death metal act The Black Dahlia Murder. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in June 2013.
The music on "Everblack" pretty much continues where "Ritual (2011)" left off. High energy horror themed melodic death metal played with great technical skill and vocals that vary between high pitched screaming and deeper growling. The tracks are well composed and features many compositional details that ensure longivity. Top that off with a professional, clear and powerful sound production and "Everblack" comes off as a high quality release.
As mentioned the band are very skilled musicians and the playing is both tight and energetic. Drummer Alan Cassidy drive the music forward with his fast and busy playing while powerful guitar riffing and melodic solos (some even neo-classical in nature), a nice metallic sounding bass and the above mentioned vocals complete the sonic attack. The Black Dahlia Murder really are exceptionally well playing. Even though their music is fairly melodic, it´s actually both raw and rather brutal too and the fast pace of the music often results in it being a frantic listen. Examples could be tracks like "Goat of Departure", "Map of Scars" or "Into the Everblack", which are absolutely scorching, but as with all tracks on the album, they feature intriguing compositional details and a rare sophistication that reek class.
And that´s actually the overall feeling I get after listening to "Everblack". A feeling that this is a high quality melodic death metal release. It doesn´t sound vastly different from the last couple of releases by the band, and that´s probably one of the few minor issues about the album (along with the high pitched screaming vocals which can be a bit hard to appreciate for the duration of the album), but The Black Dahlia Murder are just the kind of band, that can get away with that, because they produce such high quality music. The fact that they should probably begin thinking about incorporating something new to their sound or branch out a bit, are of lesser importance, when the music works as well as it does here ("Every Rope a Noose" features a slight experimental element, but otherwise the tracks are pretty much "by the book" The Black Dahlia Murder). A 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating is deserved.