ARTIST BIO

Max Lavelle is a seasoned heavy metal bassist from Massachusetts. He currently plays with Michigan-based metal band The Black Dahlia Murder on Metal Blade Records, although his musical contributions have been far-reaching over the past decade.
Lavelle began playing bass at age 10. This is where he developed and honed his distinct finger-style playing technique, resulting in very fresh and heavy-hitting performances on various records.
His earliest work was with the Boston-based death metal icons Goratory, where he gained extensive recording and touring experience. Goratory recorded two full-length albums and one EP and toured the U.S, Europe and Japan in the early 2000s. During this period he also worked briefly with Prosthetic Records metalcore outfit Burn in Silence, gaining even more tour and recording experience.
In 2008 Lavelle took his talents to Montreal, Quebec, teaming up Canadian deathcore kings Despised Icon. The Century Media recording artists toured extensively over the next two years, hitting many of the world’s biggest and most important metal festivals (New England Metal & Hardcore Fest, Wacken, Summer Breeze, etc.) In 2009 their fourth album, ‘Day of Mourning‘ reached No. 162 on the Billboard 200. The band disbanded amicably in 2010.
Lavelle joined his current band, The Black Dahlia Murder, in 2011. The band formed in 2000 and has been a dominant force in the metal scene over the past decade. In addition to constant national and international touring, each of their four albums have charted on the Billboard 200, with 2009’s Deflorate peaking at No. 43 and their latest, Ritual, reaching No. 31.
Max plays a custom four-string Zon Sonus bass with Labella strings (65-80-100-130). In live settings he likes to run it through his Mesa Boogie Big Block amplifier and Omega Enclosures Custom cabinets, with a Darkglass B3K bass overdrive on top. All of this in combination with his finger-style playing technique contribute to Lavelle’s unique and mighty bass sound.