There are one million reasons to hear this album, but I will give you the most important one: The Black Dahlia Murder fuckin’ rocks. Period. They might be still in their twenties, but these guys will give a run for your money. Seriously. “Nocturnal” depicts a perfect marriage of progression and aggression. It’s an utter and stubborn refusal to conform to just one palatable style which earns TBDM even more respect. Mixing equal but highly modified and mutilated parts of death, thrash and even black metal with contemporary metal and mathcore has never been so refreshing. It’s hard to say that the band has invented some kind of ultimate formula, but certain progress has been demonstrated throughout the album. “Nocturnal” is by large one of the important albums this year. It has brilliant guitar solos and steep melody in it. It also manifests brutal verses (check out the lyrics of “Virally Yours”, telling the story of a man who applies for a job at some hospital only to be closer to the dead) and modern attitude. However, if you listen to it very carefully, you will be amazed by some very authentic Death/Carcass influences. I’m talking for the guitar solos of the title track. What happens between 1:52 and 2:31 is simply the essence of “Nocturnal”. I mean, instrumentally. What doesn’t work, at least for me, is the vocal pattern again. Screaming has been replaced with… even more annoying screaming. Imagine Cradle of Filth, but a lot worse. Again, that’s what I think. Some people will surely like the way TBDM deliver their vocal parts. Unfortunately, for me it looks like two points less.