Detroit's Black Dahlia Murder, named for the infamous 1947 slaying of Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia, specializes in blackened Scandinavian-style death metal replete with blastbeats, guttural vocals, and blindingly fast guitar chops. Emerging in 2002, the band issued their debut LP, Unhallowed, to acclaim in the metal press one year later. 2007's Deflorate placed high on the U.S. album chart, and over the next 18 months, Black Dahlia Murder became a mainstay on festival stages across the United States and Europe. 2010's Ritual proved a crucible that precipitated lineup changes and became their highest-charting effort to date, while 2013's equally celebrated Everblack debuted at number 32 on the Billboard 200. 2015's dynamic Abysmal and 2017's taut and economical Nightbringers showcased a band in complete control of its artistic vision, delivering non-stop onslaughts of aggression, hooks, and melodic leads, while 2020's Verminous found the sweet spot between the group's old-school and progressive tendencies. On May 11, 2022, the band announced the untimely death of lead vocalist and co-founder Trevor Strnad.

The Black Dahlia Murder formed in Waterford, Michigan, a suburb of Pontiac and Detroit. Its original members included vocalist Trevor Strnad, guitarists Brian Eschbach and Jon Kemppainen, bassist David Lock, and drummer Cory Grady. By the time they issued their initial demo, What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse later that year, they were already making concert appearances (e.g., the Milwaukee Metal Fest). After another pair of demos and the four-track A Cold-Blooded Epitaph, they signed with Metal Blade in 2003 and were soon recording their debut album, Unhallowed. The 2005 release Miasma and 2007's Nocturnal kept death metal as their core inspiration, though the band began exhibiting an increasingly melodic streak that came to fruition on 2009's brutal and majestic Deflorate. Their fifth studio album, Ritual, arrived in the summer of 2011. By 2012, only founding members Strnad and Eschbach remained in the lineup. The pair, along with lead guitarist Ryan Knight, who'd joined in 2008, enlisted bassist Max Lavelle and drummer Alan Cassidy. 2013's Everblack was greeted with almost universal acclaim.

After a year touring, the Black Dahlia Murder went back into the studio. They re-enlisted producer Mark Lewis (who worked on 2011's Ritual) and former bass player Ryan Williams, who helped engineer Everblack. The band emerged with Abysmal, released in the fall of 2015, and followed it with a grueling schedule of touring for more than a year, playing headline and festival support gigs across the United States and Europe. It took its toll. Later in the year, guitarist Knight amicably left the group and was replaced by Brandon Ellis (Arsis, ex-Cannibal Corpse).

In 2017, TBDM commenced work on a new album with bandmembers working separately in different Metro Detroit-area studios with various engineers, including former bassist Williams and Joe Cincotta. In the end, Ellis emerged as an important new songwriter as well as a guitarist. The finished album, Nightbringers, was issued in October 2017 through Metal Blade. Three years later, the band returned with their ninth full-length effort, the punishing Verminous. First recorded at Plymouth, Michigan's Pipeyard Studio by ex-bassist and studio guru Ryan Bart Williams, the bulk of the album was recorded in New Jersey at Ellis' home studio, the Shred Light District. It was mixed by Tue Madsen and mastered by Alan Douches. Produced by TBDM, Verminous offered the band a greater level of control over every facet of recording than ever before, enabling them to tweak and fine-tune small details right up until the point they sent it to Madsen in Denmark. The set was issued on April of 2020. The group was mapping out details for a concert tour when lead singer and lyricist Trevor Strnad died on May 11, 2022, only six days after he celebrated his 41st birthday. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi