Die Detroit-Deather von The Black Dahlia Murder (TBDM) freuen sich, erste Details zu ihrem fünften Album, Ritual (VÖ-Datum:17./20. Juni 2011) bekanntgeben zu dürfen. Die zwölf neuen Songs zeigen eine Band, die sich selbst treu geblieben ist und sich in punkto Songwriting und musikalische Fähigkeiten weiter entwickelt hat. Gitarrist Ryan Knight versorgt die Fans mit teuflisch heißen Leads, die sowohl loyale TBDM-Diehards, als auch neu hinzugewonnene Fans einen Kopf kürzer machen werden. Ritual wurde Anfang 2011 in Detroit, MI zusammen mit Mark Lewis (Deicide, Unearth) und der Band (hinter und vor dem Mischpult) aufgenommen, während der Mix in Orlando, Florida im dortigen Audio Hammer Studio unter der Ägide von Jason Suecof (BDM, Beneath the Massacre, Job for a Cowboy, All That Remains) erledigt wurde. Die erste Single von Ritual, Moonlight Equilibrium, steht nun, neben diversen Pre-Order-Päckchen unter folgendem Link bereit:MetalBlade.com/BDM .

Gitarrist und Gründungsmitglied Brian Eschbach über die erste Single Moonlight Equilibrium: "We've been working on this album for a good while and we are very excited to finally share a preview with our fans! Moonlight Equilibrium is full of maximum overdrive melody and crushing beats that'll hopefully leave you maniacs thirsting for more. We'll be jamming this and other tasty treats for the next several months on the road. See you soon!"

Sänger Trevor Strnad erklärt das außergewöhnliche Artwork: "The visual aspects of Ritual have been brilliantly brought to life by the amazingly talented Valnoir Mortsonge (Watain/Morbid Angel/Ulver) for Metastazis in Paris, France. Valnoir was the perfect man for the job; he exceeded our expectations on all fronts and delivered a beautiful package that enriches the macabre ceremonial vibe of our musical creations. The goal was to make the artwork look like a Necronomicon or an evil spell book. The imagery on the front depicts the dualistic nature of the satanic ritual, the two halves that make it possible. On the bottom, inverted, are the senders of the ritual here on earth, in prayer. On top is Satan and his council, receiving the communicative ritual."

Zur textlichen Ausrichtung von Ritual weiß Trevor Strnad folgendes zu berichten: "This is the first time we have fully realized a concept for an album. We wanted to choose something that would exemplify the very essence of the band, something that would be 'more TBDM' than anything we have released to this point. All of the lyrics to Ritual are bound by a common thread of black magick and the occult, the worship of darkness, and the preservation of inner strength and will."

"When we play a show, it's like a ritual, a group catharsis. We are unified with our fans through the platform of live performance. There is a real magic there. Like the album cover represents, there are two halves required; us and you. Yes, we are an evil band. Yes we sing about Satan. But really, how I see it, our evil is for your own good! The character Satan in our music represents the freedom to think for yourself, the strength to see through the facades of the norm that is presented to us at birth, and the courage to live your own way, free of the burden of guilt and shame. That's how it's always been for us and this record is no different."

Strnad fährt fort: "I think Ritual is us fully realizing our responsibility to our fans to be the best (and most horrific) The Black Dahlia Murder we can while we're here. In a way, you could say we have come to terms, more now so than ever, with how religious the fans are about this band, hence the album's name. This is absolutely our best record and the new benchmark that we are soon to be measured by… I have no problem saying that. There has been no prouder moment for me in this band than the Ritual we offer before you. We worked harder on this and for longer than we ever have on any release until this point. Our blood is in the ink of this album, our souls in every note. That being said, if you were to steal this record, it would literally break my fat fucking heart. I know that times are tough, hell, it's legitimately getting harder and harder to physically get these albums into your hands. I fully realize that. Every metal band (and fan) has fallen victim to these hard times. We are here to help get the music to you, no matter where you are or how scarce extreme metal may be there. It's time to stand up and circumvent the obstacles that threaten to befall metal, just because these assholes have made it harder to find doesn't mean we should just pull the plug, puss out and stop supporting it. Just because we can't walk down the street to SuperMegastore anymore and buy a Cannibal Corpse CD we've turned to stealing it all from the internet. Weak! One of the awesome powers of the internet is that it can allow these kick ass preorder packages to be available to the fans. That's why we went to such extreme lengths to bring such a lush packaging to the masses, one last attempt at trying to lure you to go against the grain and actually invest your hard earned money in the CD. If you really want to have an impact on the fate of this band, that is the truest and clearest way that I can tell you how to do so. We need your support. It's not for our pocketbooks, it's so we can exist in this cut-throat music business. I'm not encouraging you to just buy this album, either. This is bigger than that. I am encouraging you to support all metal bands that you like and buy their albums, we need you now more than ever."

Ritual erscheint in Europa am 17./20. Juni, das Album wird als reguläre CD sowie als limitiertes, sehr aufwändiges Boxset erhältlich sein. Schon ab Mitte Mai bis in den Juli hinein befindet sich die Band auf europäischem Boden und zerstört die hiesigen Bühnen.