His Wicked Promise

Understanding His Wicked Promise

I ran into this title a while back through a recommendation and ended up digging into it more than I expected. The short version: it's an album by The Black Dahlia Murder, released in 2017. If you're looking for a how-to guide or download, that's a different conversation, since this is a commercial music release and I can't help with unauthorized copies. What I can tell you is what the record actually is, what makes it worth your time, and what to expect if you're new to it. His Wicked Promise came out on May 5, 2017, through Metal Blade Records. It was the band's eighth studio album. The lineup at the time included Trevor Strnad on vocals, Brian Elliott on drums, Jake Biben on guitar, and Brian Cook on bass. The album got a lot of attention in the death metal scene because it was essentially the final record to feature Trevor Strnad before he passed away in late 2021. That context matters, because it frames how people received the album going in. The sound on the record is more streamlined than some of the band's earlier work. The production is cleaner, the song structures are tighter, and there's less reliance on the blast-beat-heavy approach that marked their early material. Strnad's vocal delivery sits somewhere between his usual harsh register and a more mid-range snarl, which gives tracks like "Flicker" and "The Scouring of the Brown" a different rhythm than you'd get on, say, Nocturne or Becoming the Ghost.

Track Listing and Key Songs

The standard edition runs about 44 minutes across ten tracks. Here's the order: 1. Flicker
2. The Scouring of the Brown
3. My Own Grave
4. His Wicked Promise
5. Suture
6. The Lurid Hues of Despair
7. Ashes and Alchemy
8. Vile Apparition
9. The Wretched
10. A New Nightmare If you're deciding where to start, "Flicker" is the most accessible opening cut. It establishes the album's tone immediately: groovy, aggressive, but not overwhelmingly technical. "The Scouring of the Brown" is probably the standout track for longtime fans, with a tempo shift in the middle section that works better than it has any right to. "A New Nightmare" closes things out and feels like a deliberate callback to the band's earlier style, which some people read as a statement and others read as comfort food. Both readings are valid.

Production and Sound Quality

This album was mixed by Josh Wilbur, who has worked with the band on multiple records. The mix here is notably different from his work on A Farewell to Existence or Eternal Storm. The guitar tone is less shrill, the bass is more present, and the drum sounds have a bit more room. For people who've complained that The Black Dahlia Murder's later productions sounded too polished, this one lands somewhere in the middle. It's not raw, but it's not over-saturated either. I noticed something specific when I first listened to this on headphones versus speakers. The bass guitar undertracks, which are usually buried in a mix like this, come through more clearly on A New Nightmare and Suture. If you're evaluating whether to buy the album based on production alone, I'd suggest listening to those two tracks first. They reveal what the mix is actually doing.

Where to Legitimately Listen or Download

The album is available on all major streaming platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music. Physical copies exist on CD and vinyl, typically through Metal Blade's storefront or major retailers like Amazon and Discogs. Digital purchase options exist on iTunes and Bandcamp through official channels. Any site offering a free .zip download or a cracked version is distributing it illegally, and the audio quality from those sources is usually degraded anyway since they rip from compressed streams. If budget is a concern, the streaming route is the only realistic option. A Spotify Premium subscription gives you offline playback, and that's functionally equivalent for most people. Don't bother with third-party "converter" tools. They transcode the audio twice and you end up with worse quality than the stream itself.

Common Pitfalls for New Listeners

There are a couple of things I see people trip over with this album. First, the tempo changes aren't always obvious on a casual listen. Tracks like "My Own Grave" and "The Wretched" shift time signatures in ways that don't announce themselves. If you're trying to play along or learn the songs, count the beats first instead of just following the riff. You'll save yourself a lot of frustration. Second, the album's emotional arc isn't linear. It starts aggressive, dips into slower, more atmospheric territory in the middle, and then pulls back toward intensity at the end. Some listeners interpret that dip as a weakness. It's not. It's intentional pacing. The record was clearly constructed with side A and side B dynamics in mind, even though most people experience it as a single continuous play. If you're making a playlist and skip the middle tracks, you're missing the structural point of the album.

Limitations and What It Doesn't Do

I'll be direct about what this album isn't. It's not the heaviest Black Dahlia Murder release. If you want pure brutality, go to Abysmal or Death. It's not their most experimental record either. Apex Predators or Eternal Storm do more stylistic risk-taking. What His Wicked Promise actually is, is a well-crafted, efficiently paced death metal album that prioritizes songwriting over showmanship. That's a limitation only if you're expecting something else. For what it sets out to do, it does it competently. There's also the unavoidable context of Trevor Strnad's passing. Some tracks feel like they're reaching toward something unresolved, and that's not something the band could control. It doesn't make the album better or worse technically, but it does change how it lands emotionally. If that kind of context bothers you, the album stands on its own merits. If it enhances your listening, that's fair too. Neither reaction is wrong.

Practical Takeaway

His Wicked Promise is worth your time if you're into melodic death metal with a focus on structure and groove over sheer speed. The production is solid, the track selection is tight, and the performances are consistent. Spend about 45 minutes listening to it straight through once, then decide whether it fits your taste. Don't judge it against the band's older work or their newer releases. It occupies its own space and functions best when evaluated on those terms.