Thy Art Is Murder is an Australian deathcore band. Having arrived somewhat late to the game, they floated around for a while before exploding on to the international scene out of nowhere and becoming one of the biggest new names in the genre.
Formed in Blacktown, New South Wales in 2006 by Brendan van Ryn (vocals), Gary Markowski and Sean Delander (guitars), Josh King (bass), and Lee Stanton (drums), the band quickly built a local following that only increased when they released the This Hole Isn't Deep Enough for the Twelve of You demo in 2007; a year later, they released the Infinite Death EP to surprisingly strong sales. Later on that year, van Ryn was thrown out due to personality conflicts with the rest of the band, and Chris McMahon was welcomed in after a lengthy-ish search for a new one. Additionally, King was also thrown out around this time and was replaced by Mick Lowe right as they began recording their full-length debut. The Adversary was released in July of 2010; additionally, Despised Icon picked them as one of two supports for the Australian leg of their farewell tour later that year. Markowski also left at some point this year and was replaced by Andy Marsh, and Low departed around the same time. Rather than search for a new bassist, Delander moved to bass in 2011 and had his former slot filled by Tom Brown. After a European tour, the band flew to the United States to record their second full-length. After a tour supporting Fear Factory, Hate was released in October of 2012 and became the first extreme metal album to ever break the Top 40 on the ARIA Charts, debuting at #35. Additionally, they performed at Big Day Out in January 2013, being the second ever metal band to do so. Lastly, they signed with Nuclear Blast for international distribution purposes. Basically, 2013 was looking to be their breakthrough year.
On April 11, 2013, it was announced that the band had lost the opening slot of the Summer Slaughter Tour to Rings of Saturn by 1%; after massive outcry, the organizers opted to add them on as well, thereby giving them their North American debut. Another American headlining date came around the end of that year; additionally, Brown left at some point that year and has had his spot filled by various live session players since then. In February 2014, the band made headlines when McMahon invited fans onstage during the Soundwave Festival tour circuit and got the band thrown off as a result, with the promoter citing statements that McMahon had allegedly made about encouraging fans to attack security if they tried to stop them. After fan footage was uploaded showing that the promoter had grossly exaggerated the situation, the band was allowed back on. The touring whirlwind continued, including their second consecutive Summer Slaughter appearance, and stopped only when it came time to record their third full-length. That album, Holy War, will drop on June 30, 2015. As of December 21, 2015, CJ McMahon has decided to leave the band, citing his desire to settle down and start a family as his main reason for doing so. Nick Arthur (Molotov Solution), Monte Barnard (ex-Alterbeast), and Lochlan Watt (Colossvs) all served as fill-ins, and after a long period of uncertainty regarding whether they were ever going to find a new vocalist, CJ McMahon rejoined the band in early 2017, citing drug issues and a need to figure his life out as the reasons behind his departure.
On September 22, 2023, CJ was fired from the band just after the release of Godlike, shortly following blatantly transphobic remarks he publicly made, which the other members stated was not the direct reason for his firing, but was the straw that broke the camel's back after several other alleged incidents over the course of his tenure. His vocals on the album were wiped and rerecorded by new vocalist Tyler Miller (Aversions Crown) shortly before the release, though the first run of physical copies contain CJ's tracks.
Discography:
- This Hole Isn't Deep Enough for the Twelve of You (2007) - demo
- Infinite Death (2008) - EP
- The Adversary (2010)
- Reign of Darkness (2012) - single
- Hate (2012)
- Holy War (2015)
- The Depression Sessions (2016) - split release with The Acacia Strain and Fit for an Autopsy
- No Absolution (2017) - single
- Dear Desolation (2017)
- Death Perception (2018) - single
- Human Target (2019)
- Killing Season (2020) - single
- The Aggression Sessions (2023) - split release with Fit for an Autopsy and Malevolence
- Godlike (2023)
TROPES! TROPES BEYOND DEATH!:
- Actually, I Am Him: Hilariously occurred on Reddit when a fan tried to chalk up their change in style from Hate onward to the absence of Gary Markowski, only to be told by Andy Marsh (who posts on Reddit here and there) that Sean Delander wrote most of The Adversary. When the fan tried to correct him (clearly unaware of who he was), another poster told him that the dude he tried to correct was Andy.
- Addled Addict: Why CJ left, as his drug issues were getting out of hand. He got better.
- Ascended Extra: Jesse Beahler went from a onetime live fill-in, to an on-call fill-in, to replacing Lee Stanton altogether once he opted to step down.
- Audience Participation Song: "Reign of Darkness": "I AM HELL!" and "YOU WILL SEE THE TRUE FACE OF PANIC!"
- "The Purest Strain of Hate": "I AM THE PUREST STRAIN OF HATE!"
- "Dead Sun": "I CAN'T WAIT TO DIE!"
- "Holy War": "HOLY WAR!"
- "Puppet Master": "THINK FOR YOUR FUCKING SELF!"
- Berserk Button: Being asked to play any of the van Ryn-era songs. A hapless fan who shouted for "Whore to a Chainsaw" on their fall 2017 US tour accidentally kicked off a tirade from CJ about how much they hated those songs and van Ryn's lyrics before he declared that they were never, ever going to play them again. Also, don't break equipment belonging to them and then try to evade being held accountable, as Volumes learnednote .
- Black Metal: Hate has prominent blackened death metal influences and has been referred to as "Behemothcore" on multiple occasions.
- Country Matters: CJ is, as befitting his status as a proper 'Straya cunt, legendary for his extensive usage of the word onstage.
- Cover Version: They covered "Du Hast" on their portion of The Depression Sessions and "Hammer Smashed Face" on their part of The Aggression Sessions.
- Deathcore: One of the few newer bands in the genre to achieve a level of success on par with the older big names, and, as of the late 2010s, they share duties as the current face of the genre with Carnifex and Oceano. They very slowly started to abandon this in favor of death metal with "They Will Know Another" off of The Depression Sessions and almost fully shed it with Dear Desolation.
- The End of the World as We Know It: McMahon's original favorite lyrical theme, usually with a side of The Legions of Hell.
- Fattening the Victim: The cover of Dear Desolation features a wolf that appears to be nurturing a lamb but upon closer inspection is fattening it up to eat it, which was chosen as a metaphor for short-sighted, destructive greed and wholesale exploitation of the vulnerable.
- Handicapped Badass: Lee Stanton has a deformed little finger on his right hand. It doesn't seem to affect his skill to any degree whatsoever.
- Humans Are Bastards: Their main lyrical theme from Holy War onwards.
- Iconic Item: CJ's North Face jacket. He sold the jacket to a fan after leaving the band.
- Jerkass: Both King and van Ryn were thrown out for being assholes who refused to work with the band and were creating a toxic climate.
- Metal Scream: CJ predominantly uses bellowing Type 1 shouts with some Type 2 death growls on occasion. The Adversary and Hate saw him utilize Type 3 high shrieks alongside those screams that were never heard from again afterwards. van Ryn used types 2 and 3. Tyler Miller leans further into Type 1s with some 2s and 3s.
- Misogyny Song: Their sole lyrical theme to an almost ludicrous degree with van Ryn. McMahon hates his lyrics and currently refuses to sing anything from that era.
- Multinational Team: Sean and Kevin are all from Australia, while Jesse and Tyler are from the United States and Andy holds dual Australian and US citizenship.
- New Sound Album: Both of their full-lengths:
- The Adversary was far more technical and brutal death-tinged (and also less breakdown-laden) than their earlier material, which was essentially a clone of Suicide Silence.
- Hate brought down the technicality to some degree in exchange for a Behemoth/Belphegor-tinged sound, in addition to increasing the breakdowns somewhat (albeit not to Infinite Death levels).
- Dear Desolation is more or less a turn away from deathcore in favor of death metal with some core elements.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Lee Stanton.
- Protest Song: Seems to be the theme of Human Target:
- "Death Squad Anthem" doesn't explicitly mention them, but it's clearly an Anti-Police Song.
- "Make America Hate Again" is a Take That! at the ever-increasing political gulf and rampant growth of political polarization and entrenched partisanship in the United States.
- Religion Rant Song: Most of the songs on Holy War, including and especially the title track.
- Revolving Door Band: Had this bad in their first few years.
According to McMahon, this was largely due to lots and lots of personality conflicts and general internecine. Sean Delander is the only constant member. - Special Guest:
- Nico Webers (War from a Harlots Mouth) and Joel Birch (The Amity Affliction) both contributed guest vocals to Hate and Winston Mccall of Parkway Drive contributed guest vocals to Holy War.
- Roman Koester (ex-Boris the Blade), Wes Hauch, and Mike Mulholland have all served as stand-in guitarists whenever a guitarist has had to sit out a tour. During CJ's depature, Nick Arthur (Molotov Solution), Monte Barnard (ex-Alterbeast), and Lochlan Watt (Colossvs) all served as vocal fill-ins, while Jesse Beahler filled in for Lee Stanton on a 2015 tour while the latter was getting married and also tracked session drums on their contributions to The Depression Sessions, and has been Lee's dedicated live fill-in ever since, and wound up replacing him in full at some point between the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019.
- Sticky Fingers: Gary Markowski was fired for stealing band money.
- Technical Death Metal: The Adversary had a prominent undercurrent of this.
- True Companions: With Fit for an Autopsy, as Will Putney has produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered every album from Hate onward, and the two bands became best friends from the minute that they first toured together and will take every opportunity to share a bill.
- Ur-Example: For the blackened death metal-influenced branch of the blackened deathcore subgenre
