''Nocturnal'' is the third studio album by American

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

band The Black Dahlia Murder. It was released through

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distrib ...

on September 18, 2007 and is the band's first album to feature bassist Bart Williams, who replaced Dave Lock, and drummer

Shannon Lucas Shannon Lucas (born September 27, 1983) is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal drummer from Staunton, Virginia. He is best known as the former drummer for death metal band The Black Dahlia Murder (band), The Black Dahlia Murder and metal ...

. It is also the last album to feature longtime guitarist John Kempainen.

Background

The name of the second track "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse", is taken from the name of the band's first demo release of the same name, which in turn is a quote from the 1988 video game '' Castlevania II: Simon's Quest''; the song is featured on the soundtrack for the video game '' Saints Row 2'' and as downloadable content for ''

Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

''.

Kristian Wåhlin Kristian Wåhlin (born 4 December 1971) is a Swedish musician, singer, graphic designer and album cover artist for many bands in the extreme metal scene worldwide. He is often credited under his pseudonym Necrolord. Biography Wåhlin's interes ...

did the cover art for the album. The end of the song "Nocturnal" features an audio clip from the movie ''

The Monster Squad ''The Monster Squad'' is a 1987 American black comedy horror film directed by Fred Dekker, and written by Dekker and Shane Black, who met as classmates at UCLA. Peter Hyams and Rob Cohen served as executive producers. It was released by TriSta ...

''. The song "Deathmask Divine" appears to be inspired by both the story of

Carl von Cosel Georg Carl Tänzler (also known as Count Carl von Cosel (February 8, 1877 – July 3, 1952), was a German-born radiology technologist at the Marine-Hospital Service in Key West, Florida. He developed an obsession for a young Cuban-American ...

and the 1979 Italian horror film '' Beyond the Darkness''.

Track listing

Personnel

;The Black Dahlia Murder * Trevor Strnad – lead vocals * Brian Eschbach – rhythm guitar, backing vocals * John Kempainen – lead guitar * Ryan "Bart" Williams – bass *

– drums ;Production *

Executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

Brian Slagel Brian Slagel (born February 14, 1961) is an American music executive. He is the founder and CEO of the independent record label Metal Blade Records. Slagel is known for having initiated the ''Metal Massacre'' series of compilation albums in 1982 ...

* Produced by

Jason Suecof Jason Suecof (born April 3, 1980) is an American record producer, audio engineer and guitarist best known for his work with heavy metal bands such as Trivium, Battlecross, Death Angel, All That Remains, Bury Your Dead, The Black Dahlia Murder, ...

and The Black Dahlia Murder * Engineered by Mark Lewis and Eric Rachel, with assistance by Eric Kvortek * Mixed by Jason Suecof * Vocals engineered by Kyle Neeley (also assistant engineer)

Chart positions

References

{{Authority control 2007 albums The Black Dahlia Murder (band) albums Metal Blade Records albums Albums produced by Jason Suecof