Friday, November 3, 2017

Mass Burial: The Black Dahlia Murder, Ritual






Boy, you think you have a band figured.


This is the single Black Dahlia Murder record I’ve never heard of, and it did not take me long to understand why. My general concern from the very first album of this Mass Burial has been running out of ways to say this band is doing good work when they constantly do good work in a subgenre I’m not too enthusiastic about or don’t find a whole lot of variety in. But this time, my concern is that it’s not going to take me very long to give my two cents on this album.

No band ever stays entirely the same. Experimentation and growth are inevitable for all artists. Death metal as a genre is overly criticized for what people see as a lack of growth; and bands that do change things up are often derided as having done so for some commercial purpose. Sometimes, change is good, opening new avenues of fans for a band or allowing the band to explore different aspects of themselves.

And then sometimes, change happens and it isn’t talked about, which is the general sense I get of Ritual, and when a band had been as buzzy as The Black Dahlia Murder, that is probably not good. I suppose that what we have here is that “dreaded” record that the band always maintains is their “best work ever,” which, if you’ve paid enough attention to bands over the course of your life, is generally code for “people don’t like it, but we did something different”. Over the years, the Metal Community has unleashed tons of such albums, many of which have gone on to be utter classics of their style. South of Heaven, for example. Some times, a good album that is different becomes a personal favorite, or an underappreciated gem in a catalog, that album that the band plays one song from in concert and everyone pretends they’ve always loved. Another Perfect Day, or Gateways to Annihilation spring to mind. Such an album perhaps is Ritual, but on its own, it is not a good one.

Ritual draws from the same general songwriting and delivery as Miasma did, but on here, it just does not bear fruit. Generally speaking, this is a slower and more traditional American Death metal album, complete with the most prevalent growling of the bands’ offerings to that point, and while it is not bad – because I cannot honestly say that this is a bad album – it just doesn’t leave much of an imprint on me as a listener. Only one track, the midpoint “Carbonized in Cruciform,” really got my interest, the other eleven tracks coming and going but not leaving anything.

I guess I don’t want to come across as being overly harsh on this album, because while it doesn’t get my motor running, I can’t say it’s bad. The writing possesses most of the same Black Dahlia Murder elements that, by now, would be considered hallmarks of their composition process, but it lacks a lot of the Swedish stuff that made previous records fun.

Each of the track titles are accompanied by a parenthetical ritual name. this is an interesting idea, and it makes me think of Black metal records that may employ the same concept, or those older Nile tracks that are based on some ancient Egyptian practices.

I’m having a hard time coming up with enough to say about this record, and that makes me feel bad. So far this Mass Burial project has been enjoyable, and I don’t want to give the incorrect impression that this installment of it is bad. It’s not bad, it’s kind of just not for me. But that feels like a weak cop out, and I’d prefer to avoid that. The album is fine, but just passes by. There’s really not a lot else to be said, lest we veer unadvisedly into hyperbole and overly large statements. It’s a fine listen, but not a very engaging one.

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