Q and A: Brian Eschbach (The Black Dahlia Murder)

By BRIAN GIFFIN

ON May 11, 2022, the metal world was rocked by the terrible news that Trevor Strnad, vocalist, lyricist and founder of Michigan death metal influencers The Black Dahlia Murder had taken his own life.

Speaking about that now, almost two years later, is still hard for guitarist Brian Eschbach, who had been with Strnad from the very beginning.

“It was probably the most shocking morning of my life,” he says, very slowly, voice shaking with emotion.

In the wake of that tragic moment, Eshbach soon made the decision to carry on with the band as a tribute to the hard work he and Strnad had put in across more than 20 years and nine genre-defining albums. Former member Ryan Knight returned as Eschach moved from rhythm guitar to the frontman role. Since then The Black Dahlia Murder has completed work on their 10th album, and this month they will return to Australia for a tour with Carcass

Hot Metal: Was it a difficult decision to continue the band after Trevor’s death?
Brian Eschbach: “[Long pause] It was, but at the same time it was just like a natural inclination. Me and Trevor have done everything we can to keep this band going since we started in 2001. We just did whatever it took to keep the band going, so I don’t know if it’s bad coping, but all I could think to do was talk to the guys. Ryan Knight coming back, he’s spent seven years in the band as a very creative songwriter. So if we do this, it’s gotta be Black Dahlia Murder members. I’ve never thought about myself as a singer, but I’ve been doing back-ups with Trevor the entire time … it just seemed like the right thing to do, and I know it will rub some people the wrong way. I can understand some people might thing we should not keep the band going because he’s not here, but we’ve spent so much time on this and I believe there’s still more to be done. It honours the name. I’ve been in this band, writing music, putting everything into it and making sacrifices since I got out of high school. For me there’s no way to go on without keeping this band going, because we’re gonna make some more badass music. There’s gonna be people that don’t like my voice, or don’t like my lyrics. That’s fine. They still have the nine albums with Trevor singing that they can love forever. To them I can only say, ‘I’m sorry to offend you by keeping on, but we’re gonna keep on!’”

HM: People are going to get upset no matter what you do.
BE: “It does bum me out to think that us keeping on and making music in the same vein takes away from something they love. That bums me out. That’s a perspective thing, and that’s the way certain people think. There’s nothing I can do about that.”

HM: This tour is going to be very special because you’re going to be out here with the mighty Carcass!
BE: “It’s a double whammy, man. We love playing on your continent. We love playing with Carcass! We’ve only gotten to do a tour with them once before. They’re cool dudes, and I’m excited to see what they do at the airport every morning! I know what my dudes do. I don’t know what Carcass’ dudes do! We’re very excited.”

HM: That’s a band that had an enormous impact on death metal, of course, and were a big influence on The Black Dahlia Murder as well.
BE: “Jeff Walker is one of Trevor’s favourite lyricists and when we started playing together and Trevor made me a mixtape, that was probably the first time I heard Carcass. Between their approach to playing heavy but melodic, catchy metal … At the Gates … the late nineties/early 2000s melodic death metal sound had a huge impact on who we are, and how we approach writing music. So I’m glad I’ve met them before so I don’t have the added jitters of, ‘oh my God!’ Jeff Walker’s gonna take the piss out of me, and I don’t have to be worried he doesn’t like me’. He’s funny like that all the time, and I think he sounds like John Lennon! It’s always fun talking to him.”

HM: Carcass and The Black Dahlia Murder are both pretty fun bands, but your creative expression would give a lot of people reason to doubt that you’d be fun people.
BE: “The key reason we’re all here is having fun!”

HM: Talking about Carcass being a massive influence on you, your style was a massive influence on a lot of the death metal that came after you. The way that Trevor alternated his vocal style really seemed to be something that took off after your band arrived.
BE: “I feel that, after Unhallowed came out in 2004, obviously we looked like children because of our age. Not the traditional metal presentation of dudes. The album is very Swedish melodic inspired, with Florida heavy melodic stuff like harmonies on the low string stuff, and he’s doing that vocal back-and-forth. And, there’s been bands that have done it before, but we got a lot of attention at the time, and it became a thing. It’s been interesting to see how it influences other bands, over time, and God damn it’s been wild to think about how we’ve been around for over 20 years now!”

HM: When you first put a band together you probably never really expect to be still touring and making music in 20 years.
BE: “It’s been 23 years, and a month, now. Almost two months!”

HM: What is the future of The Black Dahlia Murder? Where do you go from here?
BE: “We’re going back and forth right now on alternating weeks mastering the new album, so probably August or September 2024 [it will be out]. We’ll be dropping an announcement about album title and maybe a music video in, probably, June. That’ll be right around the time we go to Europe for the first time since supporting Insomnium in 2019, before the world took a nap.”

HM: So will you be on the festival circuit there? That must always be great.
BE: “At the very least we will see some great smelling cheeses and some unpasteurised beer. It always tastes better. Just like getting excited to come and play for you guys, that’s how we feel about Europe. Finally! We just wanna play!”