So the day comes that I review a -Core band. To be honest, I don't lump in The Black Dahlia Murder with the rest of the shitty Deathcore scene; in fact, I lump them in with the Melodic Death crowd more then anything. They've been around pretty long for a -core band, starting out in 2000, and changing their sound after Unhallowed to the sound we hear today.
Deflorate seems to be more satanic then the other releases, especially with "Christ Deformed" on the setlist. Not that I really have a problem with satanic music, in fact I like many orthodox satanic bands (Avichi, Ondskapt...), but it was weird to see them take a turn from Zombies, Gore, Humor and random things to something a little more "religious", I guess you could say. This entire album, I took more seriously then Miasma or Unhallowed because of that very reason.
The music is generally better then their early years too, and finding a new lead guitarist really improved their music for the most part as well. Most of the solos are more oriented on fitting with the music whilst staying technical, unlike the other albums; which were purely about tech. I also like the sound of Bart's bass more then their previous bassist, who was rarely heard in the mix. The front end part of the vocals (high pitches) are generally better and fun to hear, but sometimes they get on my nerves. The lower end (growls) are often shitty on the album, though. This is when he starts sounding -Core-ish.
The drums are amazing, actually. I really love their new drum sounds. It's focused on progression a lot, staying away from breakdowns most of the time, and the blasts are just fast enough to go "wow", but not fast enough to sound like gravity blasting, which requires no fucking talent whatsoever. Many of the rolls are really fast, double strike rolls, but many have the slow end rolls that can be found in Nocturnal, so it's good that they stuck to that sound.
The album was actually short, just over 30 minutes, and if it was any longer, I'd probably kill myself. It's a good album, sure, but it's nothing you want dragged out like Nostradamus (2 hours long...). The shortness of the album doesn't add to any shittiness and it doesn't add to any epicness, but it does feel like an EP at some times, especially with only one song being longer then 3 minutes, 45 seconds.
Honestly, I'd give the album a try if you like Melodic Death, because it's one of the better releases of the year, and it's not that bad, especially coming from a band with -Core influences.
