'Verminous' is the ninth studio album by American melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder. It was released on April 17, 2020, through Metal Blade Records. This is the band's final album to feature original member and lead vocalist Trevor Strnad before his death on May 11, 2022.
When it came to title the record, Strnad looked around at the scene he has helped nourish for two decades and found his inspiration. "We, members of our beloved and hidden world of the heavy metal underground teeming just below the surface, are the verminous. The rats and roaches looming in the cracks and crevices of this fallen world. We are the pariahs that the world of normality finds loathsome and obscene. We are the carriers of a plague of knowledge so vile that it could bring the unsuspecting mankind to its knees. Always the underdogs. Our love for this music and what it means to our lives is foolishly underestimated." This ties into the lyrical themes that permeate the record, though not exclusively, Strnad not struggling to find subject matter that engaged him. "The outside world of religion-warped 'normalcy' is the opposing viewpoint. We are the ultimate antagonist to their archaic ways of thought, the dreamers of the nightmares that shake them to their very core. Although we are but lowly vermin to them, the unseen and underestimated, our numbers are millions strong. We cast aside their ways and prefer to take solace in the hidden realm of the underground where the dark fruits of free thought can be enjoyed. We are our own Gods. The responsibility of our actions is ours alone."
Limited 'evergreen' vinyl pressing
*Please note - image is a mock up only, actual colours may vary on finished product*
Tracklisting
Side A:
1. Verminous
2. Godlessly
3. Removal of the Oaken Stake
4. Child of Night
5. Sunless Empire
Side B:
1. The Leather Apron's Scorn
2. How Very Dead
3. The Wereworm's Feast
4. A Womb in Dark Chrysalis
5. Dawn of Rats
