The Black Dahlia Murder is getting chillier and slower with their new single "Mammoth's Hand", partly inspired by a scene from Don Coscarelli's 1982 epic The Beastmaster.
"We usually like to give some idea of what kind of diversity is gonna be on the album with the first two tracks we release," said The Black Dahlia Murder vocalist Brian Eschbach. "[Guitarist] Ryan Knight wrote the music for this, and the slow rhythm made me think of these barbaric warriors riding mammoths out in the snow or that scene from The Beastmaster when the Jun horde takes the village."
He continued: "'Mammoth's Hand' is a romp through a fictitious frozen tundra in which a clan of nomadic mammoth riding cannibals conquer villages in a time devoid of technology. The slow groove of this song is a vibe not often implemented by the group but immediately inspired a vision in my mind of a slow moving yet gigantic and powerful beast of antagonistic nature."
The single comes from The Black Dahlia Murder's upcoming album Servitude due out on September 27. Pre-orders for Servitude are available here.
All the new music features Eschbach moving over from guitar to absolutely crushing vocals, and is also the band's first with guitarist Ryan Knight since Abysmal in 2015. As for the single itself, holy shit – The Black Dahlia Murder is doing Trevor's memory justice while simultaneously putting out some fucking killer death metal.
"Everyone that's in the band now is someone that Trevor and I searched for," said Eschbach. "We spent so much time on the road together that everyone understands the mission statement. We don't really need to talk about it. We just need to make great music and try to make people happy playing it."
On moving over from guitar to vocals, and the single "Aftermath", Esbach offered: "I just had to lean into it hard. Honestly, writing the lyrics for this album was easier for me than writing the music for the three songs that I wrote music for. I'd pick a subject, research it, and just kinda dive in. Even though it's not something I'd really ever done before, there was a natural flow to it once I started.
"We wanted ['Aftermath'] to be heard first because it's one of the faster songs on the album, if not the fastest. We wanted that very aggressive Black Dahlia melodic death metal feel coming right at you. Lyrically, it's about a meteor that fucks up the whole planet, but there's still people living. Kind of like The Walking Dead, but with no zombies-so you get right to how people deal with it. And by the end, they're eating each other."
The Black Dahlia Murder and Dying Fetus will also hit the road across North America this October and November for arguable one of the heaviest tours of the year! The co-headlining effort features support form Spite, AngelMaker, and Vomit Forth. You can get your tickets right here.
10/3 Cleveland, OH Agora Ballroom
10/4 Indianapolis, IN Egyptian Room
10/5 Milwaukee, WI The Rave
10/6 Minneapolis, MN Fillmore
10/8 Denver, CO Summit Music Hall
10/10 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot
10/11 Boise, ID Knitting Factory
10/13 Seattle, WA Neptune (no AngelMaker)
10/14 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw (no AngelMaker)
10/15 Portland, OR Roseland Ballroom
10/17 Berkeley, CA UC Theatre
10/18 Santa Cruz, CA The Cataylst
10/19 San Diego, CA Observatory North Park (no Spite)
10/20 Los Angeles, CA The Novo (no Spite)
10/21 Tempe, AZ The Marquee
10/23 Dallas, TX The Factory at Deep Ellum
10/24 San Antonio, TX Vibes Event Center
10/25 Houston, TX Warehouse Live Midtown
10/27 Tampa, FL The Ritz Ybor
10/28 Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
10/30 Charlotte, NC The Fillmore
10/31 Silver Spring, MD Fillmore Silver Spring
11/1 Philadelphia, PA Fillmore
11/2 Worcester, MA Palladium
11/3 New York, NY Irving Plaza
11/5 Montreal, QC M-Telus
11/6 Toronto, ON The Phoenix Concert Theatre
11/8 Cincinnati, OH Bogarts
11/9 Detroit, MI Royal Oak Music Hall
11/10 Chicago, IL Concord Music Hall
