Talk about a band with a sound as tough as nails. The Black Dahlia Murder are among some of the most extremes bands out there. Fusing different influences such as Carcass and In Flames, this band has a great ability to switch things up in a way that not many bands can do. Very seldom can a band move from black metal type vocals, to death metal riffs and later on to hardcore attitude, all in the same song. That is what The Black Dahlia Murder have done in their new album “Nocturnal”.

Following the release of the critically acclaimed “Miasmi”, the band returns with an album that is a throwback and a tribute to all their influences (is not full of cover songs or anything like that). It’s a tribute because the band manages to combine black metal, death metal, hardcore and lots of melody in a release that couldn’t be more original and unique. It has a great old school feeling to it that really cements the band as a front runner in everything regarding extreme metal. The album isn’t perfect by any means, Trevor’s Strnad’s vocals can be a little annoying at times, and some songs may seem a bit repetitive, but nonetheless this is still a raw and take-no-prisoners album that one it has you in its choke hold there’s no way to get loose.

Some of the best cuts from this album are “Everything Went Black” with its great opening riff, the title track which is a death metal masterpiece, and later on “Deathmask Divine” with some of the bands best melodic moments. Also, as a pleasant surprise, this album enjoys a perfect and flawless production, that is hard to find in death and black metal.

“Nocturnal” is a album both very heavy and somewhat crazy (even by Black Dahlia standards), but it’s also one the most polished extreme albums of the year, as the band creates an almost perfect balance of every little influence that helped develop their sound and the payoff of such devotion to heavy metal is a great album and a simple statement that there’s lots more to come from these Detroit metallers.