Nocturnal is the third album by heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band The Black Dahlia Murder. Nocturnal was released by Metal Blade on September 18 2007. Nocturnal is the first album to feature new bassist Bart Williams, who replaced Dave Lock, and drummer Shannon Lucas

Shannon Lucas

Shannon Lucas is an American musician. He is currently drummer for The Black Dahlia Murder and former drummer for metalcore band All That Remains. Lucas started out at the age of 14 covering Slayer songs on guitar but later joined percussion classes in High school due to the ease of getting an "A"...

, who replaced previous touring drummer Pierre Langlois.

Background

The name of the second track "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse

What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse

What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse is the first release by American heavy metal band, The Black Dahlia Murder. It is the only album to feature bassist Sean Gauvreau who was replaced by David Lock...

", is taken from the name of the band's first initial release of the same name, which in turn is a quote from the 1988 video game Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, known in Japan as , is an action-adventure role-playing platform game produced by Konami. It was originally released for the Family Computer Disk System in Japan 1987 and for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in 1988. It is the second Castlevania...

, the song is featured on the soundtrack for the video game Saints Row 2

Saints Row 2

Saints Row 2 is an open world action-adventure video game developed by Volition, Inc. and published by THQ for the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 systems. It is the second title in the Saints Row series, after the release of Saints Row in 2006. It is succeeded by Saints Row: The...

and as downloadable content for Rock Band

Rock Band

Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

. The song "Virally Yours" is about a man who gets a job at a hospital just to be around the dead. Kristian Wåhlin

Kristian Wåhlin

Kristian Wåhlin is a Swedish musician, graphic designer, and album cover artist for many bands in the extreme metal scene worldwide. He is often credited under his pseudonym, Necrolord....

 did the cover art for the album. The end of the song "Nocturnal" features an audio clip from the movie The Monster Squad

The Monster Squad

The Monster Squad is a comedy/horror film written by Shane Black and Fred Dekker and directed by Fred Dekker . It was released by Tri-Star Pictures on August 14, 1987. The film features the classic monsters , led by Count Dracula...

. The song "Deathmask Divine" appears to be inspired by the story of Carl von Cosel.

Track listing

Personnel

The Black Dahlia Murder

• Trevor Strnad - vocals
• Brian Eschbach - rhythm guitar
• John Kempainen - lead guitar
• Ryan "Bart" Williams - bass guitar
• Shannon Lucas
  Shannon Lucas
  Shannon Lucas is an American musician. He is currently drummer for The Black Dahlia Murder and former drummer for metalcore band All That Remains. Lucas started out at the age of 14 covering Slayer songs on guitar but later joined percussion classes in High school due to the ease of getting an "A"...
  
   - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  

Production

• Executive Producer
  Executive producer
  An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
  
  : Brian Slagel
  Metal Blade Records
  Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...
  
  
• Produced & Mixed by Jason Suecof
  Jason Suecof
  -Career:Jason is best known for his production and song-writing with the band Trivium. He produces most of his albums at his own Orlando, Florida based studio, Audio Hammer...
  
  
• Engineered By Mark Lewis & Eric Rachel, with assistance by Eric Kvortek
• Vocals Engineered By Kyle Neeley (also assistant engineer)