“Before the tragedy, no one ever thought this band was going to exist without Trevor.”

TThat’s The Black Dahlia Murder’s co-founder Brian Eschbach telling it like it is. With the tragic passing of TBDM’s
frontman and co-founder Trevor Strnad in 2022, Eschbach, bassist Max Lavelle, drummer Alan Cassidy and
producer/guitarist Brandon Ellis were faced with a decision: Close the door on one of the most beloved death metal
bands of the last 20 years, or carry on in their fallen brother’s charismatic spirit?
“Everyone that’s in the band now is someone that Trevor and I searched for,” Eschbach says. “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.”
Fast forward to right about now: Servitude, the band’s tenth full-length, marks Eschbach’s recorded debut as
TBDM’s lead vocalist and lyricist—and their first with Knight on guitar since 2015’s Abysmal. “I just had to lean into
it hard,” Eschbach says of approaching Servitude in a completely new role. “Honestly, writing the lyrics for this
album was easier for me than writing the music for the three songs that I wrote music for.”
You can hear the thrilling results on “Aftermath,” the ripping lead single, which envisions a post-apocalyptic
cannibal scenario. “We wanted that one to be heard first because it’s one of the faster songs on the album, if not the
fastest,” Eschbach says. “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.”
Second single “Mammoth’s Hand” is a slower, groove-driven song partly inspired by a scene from Don Coscarelli’s
1982 swords n’ sorcery 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,” Eschbach offers. “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.”
The album’s third single, “Panic Hysteria,” is a very modern, classic TBDM waltz in the time- honored Swedish
style. “It’s actually about rock n’ roll,” Eschbach explains. “I was reading quotes from Frank Sinatra, who really
didn’t like rock n’ roll, and was pretty eloquent about it. I quoted him a couple of times in the song. That was a fun
Sunday writing those lyrics. I’m not gonna lie—vodkas and Shirley Temples were involved.”
The members of The Black Dahlia Murder know that some will be skeptical of an album without Trevor’s inimitable
presence. But many fans have already embraced the band’s decision to move forward. “More than pressures or
expectations from the fanbase, I feel their trust and support,” Ellis says. “We've always done what we do for them,
and they've appreciated our consistency over the years. The global outcry following Trevor's passing has shown us
how important the band's music has been to so many people, and how important it is that we continue in his honor.
Under all that weight, I think we all knew what needed to be done.” “We put in everything we had, and this is the
album that felt right to make,” he adds. “I'm proud of it and proud of the five of us. You can never please
everybody, but I know that this music will be a healing and positive force for those who embrace it!
“Following Trevor’s legacy, Servitude of course marks the beginning of a new era of The Black Dahlia Murder,” Ellis
says. “With Brian now taking up the torch, his personality as an inspired lyricist and vocalist shines bright—he
knows well what the music needs. Ryan Knight's return to the band adds a third but familiar guitarist to the writing
team, as well as allowing for a twin lead guitar element that the band never previously had. This all opens new
terrain creatively. Where some doors have closed, new doors have opened.”
"Mammoth’s Hand" is a barbaric 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 Eschbach’s mind of a slow moving yet gigantic and
powerful beast of antagonistic nature.