The Black Dahlia Murder first unleashed their crushing take on melodic death in 2000, and the Michigan-based quintet hasn’t let up since.

A six-song demo, What A Horrible Night to Have a Curse [The Black Dahlia Murder, 2001], and the four-song EP A Cold-Blooded Epitaph [Lovelost Records, 2002] introduced metal fans to the unforgiving brutality of a truly original sound. That sound, and a relentless passion for playing live, brought about a new relationship with Metal Blade Records, one that still exists today with the late-September release of the band’s highly anticipated third full-length album, Deflorate [Metal Blade, 2009].

“It feels like we’ve been waiting forever for it to come out. We recorded it in May and that seems like an eternity ago now,” sighs vocalist Trevor Strnad, clearly relieved the 10-track masterpiece is finally on store shelves – and on the Billboard charts. Deflorate debuted at #43 and sold more than 12,000 copies in the first week of release, the band’s strongest yet. Not bad for a band named after a notorious Hollywood murder with a sound that isn’t exactly what you’d call “radio-friendly.”

“It seems like there’s been a lot of anticipation for the album, and we’re glad about that. I think people are eager to see what the leads are like by our new guy, (guitarist) Ryan Knight, and hear his contributions to the album,” Strnad says.

“I think he did a great job,” he adds. “When we were looking for a new guy, we went to Jason Suecof, the producer of the album. We figured we could trust him, that he would know some good guitar players and wouldn’t let the news out, and he suggested Ryan.”

Strnad, along with Black Dahlia guitarist Brian Eschbach, bassist Ryan Williams and drummer Shannon Lucas, had already gone down the road with Knight when they toured with Knight’s former band, Arsis, in the spring of ‘08, “and he seemed like a really down to earth guy, which is a really important thing,” Strnad continues.

“And he’s a really technical player. The leads that he put down on the album are incredible and we knew he was one that was capable of writing songs, so as soon as we started talking to him we were like, ‘We want you to come in and help us to write material!’ And he wasn’t shy about it at all. He stepped up with the bulk of two really good songs that are great tracks on the album. We’re very happy to have taken the gamble.”

According to Strnad, Knight co-wrote “Throne of Lunacy” and “I Will Return,” the final track on the album.

But just because the band added a new pair of riffing hands, don’t expect a whole new sound.

“Everything we’re doing is still within the parameters that we set out on the early records. There’s no drastic moves that’s going to scare our fans and I think they’ve kind of come to depend on us in that.”

At the same time, don’t expect these guys to stay stagnant. Developing their metal chops and constantly growing as musicians is always at the top of the list.

“I think a lot of it stems from touring and having played together for so long. And just becoming more physically adept at your guitar, your drums, it just allows for more room for experimentation. And Brian is always pushing everyone to grow. He’s pretty much the leader of the band, and was formerly the sole writer in the band. He’s especially grateful to have some more contributions from other parties,” Strnad chuckles. “With Ryan writing, and also our bass player, we kind of realized that we have this canon of writing talent, and that’s pretty cool. I think from this point on we’ll be working this way.”

The new songwriting approach has helped inspire Strnad.

“It’s enabled me to do a lot of really cool things and the sky is the limit now. We had a lot of cool stuff come up too, when we’d sit around and jam, but it was kind of a really slow process, so now this has expedited things.

Now the band is just looking forward to getting back on the road with Deflorate. Which, for those of you without a dictionary, is the proper term for, um, “deflowering.” Maybe it symbolizes the band’s new take on writing, maybe it’s a throw at their new guitarist – hell, maybe it means something completely different, considering the English language. We didn’t ask. These are five busy dudes.

“Right now we’re at home, but just for a second. We’re about to head out on tour with Children of Bodom and Skeletonwitch,” he says, adding the bands are making two pit stops in Alberta: one in Calgary and one in Edmonton.

“We’ll be playing three songs from the new album, and a little bit of everything else, like we usually do. I hope fans that came to see us on that last tour will come see us again with our full line-up. Come check out the new guy, Ryan Knight – the electrifying Ryan Knight – and just come out and have a good time. I think it’s going to be a killer tour.

“I just want to see people smiling, having a good time. Hopefully people will physically react and move around, do some crowd surfing and stage diving. The ideal kind of crazy scenario,” he enthuses.

“And people forgetting about their normal kind of life and kind of forgetting about the high school hierarchy that can creep into the music scene,” he quickly adds. “Sometimes it’s a social event as much as it is a show, so hopefully people can forget about who’s cool and who’s trying to be cool and just have fun together and put all that other crap aside.”

The Black Dahlia Murder perform Oct. 2 in Calgary, Alta. at MacEwan Hall before heading north for an Oct. 3 show at the Edmonton Events Centre.