The Black Dahlia Murder

The Black Dahlia Murder does not exactly seem like a band that's easily ritualized. The face-melting Detroit quintet has made a career out of being unpredictable -- as well as unhinged, unclassifiable and unrepentant, all in the best possible ways. But with RITUAL, its fifth full-length album, the extreme metal troupe found fertile territory in the wide world of those prescribed practices that would seem verboten to a band that's always marched to the double-time beat of its own drummer. And in doing so it's come up with what frontman Trevor Strnad considers "the most focused Black Dahlia Murder strike of all time."

FACEBOOK  ::  TWITTER  ::  MYSPACE  ::  METAL BLADE

Following up 2009's acclaimed DEFLORATE, which brought The Black Dahlia Murder the highest Billboard chart positions of its 10-year career, RITUAL revels in both conceptual ambition and equally striking musical growth from a band that's pushed itself into more extreme and challenging territory on each successive release. Recalling the writing process that led to RITUAL's eventual 12 songs, Strnad says that "every song that got brought forth was exciting and more three-dimensional, more twists and turns, more surprises. There's more ups and downs and taking people on a journey this time." The Black Dahlia Murder's fans have been among the most loyal on the planet, a corps that's grown since the group released its first demo, WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO CURSE in 2001 and built a following with hard touring and key bookings before signing with Metal Blade and bowing with the unholy power of 2003's UNHALLOWED.

The Black Dahlia Murder has been a constant on the road, touring with the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Children of Bodom, Skeletonwitch, The Red Chord, Goatwhore, 3 Inches of Blood and many more. The Black Dahlia Murder has crammed quite a bit into its 10 years together -- five albums, three EPs and a DVD (2009's MAJESTY) -- and the group members themselves seem a bit surprised by what they've wrought. "Yeah, initially we thought we were going to get together on Sundays and try to put a song together every week," Eschbach recalls. "We never dreamed of being able to live off the band." But Strnad says it didn't take long to sense that they could. "We had the vision that we wanted to take the band to more people, that we wanted to have something bigger than just playing at the crappy ass local bar," he explains. "Being a metal band, I think, is being an underdog. To play music you know is not digestible on purpose, to preach to a certain kind of depraved person...It's a lofty goal to have anyone want to hear what we have to say. We've been really, really lucky, but at the same time we're always looking to the future and trying to do what we do better and better.