Death Metal
Nuclear Blast
Release Date – September 15th 2023
Line Up:
CJ McMahon – Vocals
Andy Marsh – Guitar
Sean Delander – Guitar
Kevin Butler – Bass
Jesse Beahler – Drums
Tracklist:
1 – Destroyer Of Dreams
2 – Blood Throne
3 – Join Me In Armageddon
4 – Keres
5 – Everything Unwanted
6 – Lesson In Pain
7 – Godlike
8 – Corrosion
9 – Anathema
10 – Bermuda
Australian extreme metal heavyweights Thy Art Is Murder return with a colossal new collection of stripped-back crushing tunes. Gird your loins, hold on to your hats, and tie your mother down because this is immense.
They don’t hang about getting to it on the opener ‘Destroyer Of Dreams’. Crushing guitars, and pounding drums behind the raw guttural vocals of CJ McMahon. It’s an utterly brutal start that sets up the album perfectly. ‘Blood Throne’ has drummer Jesse Beahler battering anything within arm’s reach, so stay out of the way. The riffs are chaotic and hack and slash like a rusty razor before ‘Join Me In Armageddon’ comes down a bit on a groovy chunk of blackened death metal. Latest single ‘Keres’ returns to the brutality with a huge chugging riff and a rattling machine gun rhythm. ‘Everything Unwanted’ is as close to a ballad as Thy Art Is Murder will ever write. It’s a dark melancholic intro that erupts into an absolute banger, ‘Lesson In Pain’ is an apt title as it delivers jabs of vicious riffage and disturbing screams. ‘Godlike’ is another that goes for the throat from the off and will no doubt get a pit going as will ‘Corrosion’. We get some more blackened death on ‘Anathema’ with Beahler laying a huge barrage whilst the guitars of Andy Marsh and Sean Delander grind it out. There’s nothing sunny or tropical about the final cut ‘Bermuda’ – a dark malevolent intro slowly develops into a brutal synth-heavy stomp that is crushingly slow before a gentle fade out.
Photo Credit: Josh Trotter
My exposure to Thy Art Is Murder is limited but from what I have heard I reckon this will be a game changer for the band. They have a huge right amount of groove mixed in with the brutality plus they’re not afraid to slow things down or use technology to keep things interesting. This is death metal from the top of the tree – no low-hanging fruit here – it’s all fresh and lush with huge sounds thanks to a superb production from Will Putney. Another monumental release for 2023 will propel Thy Art Is Murder even further up the ladder.
Written by: Smudge
Ratings: 9/10
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