Since their inception in 2006, metal core outfit Thy Art Is Murder have left a trail of bloody mayhem.
When asked how he would describe their sound to a metal-newbie, lead vocalist CJ McMahon says “brutally evil”. “I think that pretty much sums up what we're about,” he says. “Our lyrical content touches on a lot of subjects that people are afraid to talk about. They’re our opinions, but at the end of the day there’re a lot of facts behind our lyrics.
“Sonically, it's crushing, it's heavy. There's a little bit of comedy in between songs. I tell jokes and say stupid shit. That's what I'm good at in general. Sometimes I say the wrong thing but it's too late to take them back so I just kick myself after we play.”
The band have crafted an uncompromising hard-edged sound across the last half-decade, and it’s a style they won’t change for anyone. “I think any band that wants to sell out or change it up sonically to cleanse the palette is free to do that,” CJ says. “But we will never change. Previous record labels back in the day would tell us what to do and where to play, and we've heard horror stories from other bands where their record label tried to change or manipulate them to do things they didn't want to. Fuck that man, we will never ever, ever do that.”
With a healthy appetite for touring, the band enjoy a large fan base that has continued to grow, catering to young goths and older metal heads alike. “We played 149 shows in 2013 and 149 of those shows were fucking epic,” he says. “To say what the best show was would be unfair. I could say selling out London in two weeks was fucking psycho, but even the most shittiest show counts for something.
“The smallest, most terrible show we played was sometime in June of last year in Austria to a commune of seven people. Walking on stage was daunting but halfway through the first song I thought 'fuck it, I'm gonna have a great time' ... It was the biggest waste of time as far as a show, but after we played we were all laughing, drinking and it was a good moment.”
Thy Art is Murder play Soundwave Festival 2014
Sat Feb 22 - RNA showgrounds (Brisbane)Sun Feb 23 - Olympic park (Sydney)
Fri Feb 28 - Flemington racecourse (Melbourne)
Sat Mar 1 - Bonythin park (Adelaide)
Mon Mar 3 - Claremont showgrounds (Perth)
