THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER

INTERVIEW WITH TRAVIS STRNAD, VOCALIST

BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

Plague, pestilence, pandemIt certainly wasn’t the band’s inic. These are words we are tention to put out a record about hearing, or thinking of, more a plague during a pandemic, but and more in 2020. The Black nevertheless, it happened. Dahlia Murder’s latest album, Verminous, out now on Metal “We had no idea when we were Blade, couldn’t be more timely. writing this, like, a year and a half Not only is the theme on-brand for timely with the outbreak, and that the current end times, the band there would be so much fear of have made a major evolutionary an epidemic, so it’s either reaAlly jump when it comes to their highly good timing or really bad timing. I anticipated new music. can’t decide,” Strnad says.

“I feel like we’ve kind of started a He’s also not blind to the fact new era with this album,” says vocalthat the band’s survival all this ist Travis Strnad. “I feel like it's been time could be another possible kind of an underlying goal for the reference for the Vermin title. last handful of years to write a more diverse album. Overall, we’re a fast “I feel like we've survived the band, but we wanted a lot of dynamcomings and goings of certain ics. It’s really just the end product trends,” Strnad says. “Like, when of so many years working together we were first taking off, metaland creating together. I think it has core was all the rage. We were the most detail of any album we’ve kind of lumped in with that, and done so far. It’s definitely different.” then deathcore came out, and Despite the detail put into the that category. So, I mean, I'm record, Strnad claims that writused to the band being called ing for the album came together so many different things. I quickly after so many years of kind of like being a weird, sore playing together. The band first thumb band. You know, from

“DEATH METAL IS THE PLAGUE, AND WE ARE THE CREATURES THAT ARE SPREADING IT, THE RATS AND THE ROACHES THAT HAVE BEEN HERE ALL ALONG.”

formed in 2001 and, despite a few lags, have been making music together ever since.

“I wouldn’t say this one is a concept record, but it does have a theme that’s touched on in a few of the songs,” he says. “We’re saying that death metal is the plague, and that we are the creatures that are spreading it, the rats and the roaches that have been here all along. I feel that way about the metal scene. I still feel like we’re kind of pariahs of society, and people may not understand our culture. Such macabre music, and themes of blood and guts, and horror, and all that good stuff, that’s pretty standard with death metal. I think that makes us the underdog, the voice to the voiceless.” ago, that it was going to be so some people kind of put us in the beginning, we looked different, and we were real nerdy, you know, and just didn't look like everyone expected. I'm up there with my glasses on, kind of looking like a serial killer, and I think that we just accidentally kind of came out with this original vibe that we didn't mean to have, but we were just being ourselves.”

Like creatures who will last even when man is gone, The Black Dahlia Murder continue to have a firm foothold in the metal world. Though their spring touring plans with Testament and Municipal Waste were scuttled, we can rest assured they’ll reemerge to keep carrying their pestilent message for a long time to come. �� �� ��