The Black Dahlia Murder is a melodic death act that gets its name from an infamous murder of a wannabe actress that occurred in Hollywood during the late 40’s. The murder consisted of the physical investigation and the paperwork; musically this American take on the Gothenburg scene is comparable to one of those elements. The Black Dahlia Murder is comparable to the paperwork: God damn fucking boring.

These guys are certainly decent musicians. Their style and playing is very tight. But sweet Christ this shit is boring as all fuck. Sure, the build-up in the title track is decent and "Funeral Thirst" is catchy, but Jesus the rest of the album is so fucking forgettable. I bought this album nearly 2 years ago and I have to force myself to listen to this for the umpteenth time; your records shouldn’t be like that. It’s just rehashing lesser At The Gates riffs over and over with some Americanization here and there. Outside of "Funeral Thirst", the only song that even remotely has some mentionable worth is "Contagion". That’s it. Listening to Unhallowed is an exercise in patience.

The dual vocals are another major flaw against the band. While the high pitched screams come across well, the deep guttural bellowing falls flat. It’s too forced. It fails to come across as overly brutal and it lacks any real feeling. Add this to the boring-as-masturbating-to-growing-grass music and you’ll be looking for a plastic bag to suffocate yourself in as soon as possible.

Ugh, why am I still listening to this? Jesus, half the atmospheric black metal I listen to is more entertaining than this- that’s fucking sad. Someone shoot me.

Written By: Necro-tron