THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER: BART WILLIAMS OFFICIALLY OUT, MAX LAVELLE OFFICIALLY IN

So back in January, The Black Dahlia Murder did a European tour with former Despised Icon bassist Max Lavelle instead of their own Ryan “Bart” Williams. Fans naturally assumed Williams may have left the group, but guitarist Ryan Knight reassured them during an interview, “He’s still in the band, he’s just not touring with us at the moment.”

Then Vince and I saw BDM last week, and Lavelle was still in the band, leading us to wonder, “Uh, didn’t they say that Williams was, like, coming back and stuff?”

Well, it’s official: Bart Williams is not coming back, and Lavelle is now a full-time member of the band. Vocalist Trevor Strnad made the announcement from the stage during the band’s set at this past weekend’s New England Metal & Hardcore Festival; you can watch video of the announcement here.

And now is the de rigeur section of one of these “Everyone’s Replaceable” articles where I point out the obvious: yes, Williams is a talented bassist and performer, but he’s not a founding member of the band, and only had a few songwriting credits with them. Meanwhile, Vince and I were both really, really impressed with Lavelle’s performance last week. My point being that while I prefer not to diss Williams, I’m not especially worried about the future of The Black Dahlia Murder.

-AR

[via The PRP]