The Black Dahlia Murder return with a slow and chilly track called “Mammoth’s Hand,” which is inspired by a scene from the 1982 epic The Beastmaster made by Don Coscarelli. The single is from their upcoming new album Servitude which will be released on September 27 through Metal Blade Records.
Listen to the song on YouTube:
Vocalist Brian Eschbach says:
“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. “[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 adds:
“‘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.”
All the songs feature Eschbach on vocals. This is also the band’s first recording with guitarist Ryan Knight since Abysmal in 2015. The new song honors Trevor’s memory with some gritty high-octane death metal.
Eschbach says:
“Everyone that’s in the band now is someone that Trevor and I searched for. 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.”
He also talks about moving over from guitar to vocals, and the single “Aftermath”:
“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 embark on a co-headlining tour in North America this October and November. Spite, AngelMaker, and Vomit Forth will play as supporting acts.
Tour Dates:
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
Preorder Servitude here.
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Photo courtesy of The Black Dahlia Murder
