You might be forgiven for thinking that deathcore group Thy Art Is Murder is just another local band from Campbelltown. But don’t be fooled – they’re currently ranked in Metal Hammer’s top five ‘must see’ new bands in the world.
The five-piece is about to embark on its biggest tour ever – “four months of chaos” across Australia and Europe. Frontman Chris McMahon is blown away by the hype, but he knew the outfit was onto a “winner” when they wrote their latest opus, Hate.
“We knew when we recorded it that it was going to be good,” he says. “We thought it might get us overseas and do alright. But it has completely smashed all of our expectations ten-fold. We never thought it would do as well as it has done. We’ve gotten on the biggest labels and are now on some of the biggest tours in the world. We’re even up for a Metal Hammer Golden Gods award for best new band. We’re nominated in the top five, so if we don’t win, I’m not going to be worried. I’m just stoked to be nominated.”
Recorded in New York last year, the album saw the band reach feverish heights, signing with label heavyweights Nuclear Blast. A giant leap from their self-recorded debut, The Adversary (2010), their second offering was just about the musicians getting the right ‘mix’ to bring out their best work.
“Over the years, we’ve had a couple of lineup changes,” McMahon says. “People just didn’t work with what we’re about and just weren’t on the right track. But now, for the five of us, it’s the perfect lineup. I think if someone were to leave the group at the moment, we would really struggle to replace them. The boys are not only amazing at their instruments, but they’re also good lyricists, so we write all the lyrics together. You get better ideas. Sometimes, I might write something that’s a little too ‘easy’ or someone else can write something that’s a little to ‘tech’ for kids, but we find a happy medium between us. It just all came together on this album. Everyone had a say on everything, from the riffs to the drum patterns, vocals, lyrics and everything.
“With the first album, we recorded it ourselves and there were two other members in the band who were dead-set on writing. This time, we did things a little bit differently. We basically segregated Tom (Brown), our guitarist who’s been with us for just over a year, and Sean (Delander) our bass player. They wrote the whole album musically. When we got to New York, we’d sit down for a couple of hours each day and write the songs together as a group. It seems to be the winning formula. It was the best way we’ve done it; when we start writing the new album we’ll structure it the same way. Don’t fuck with something that’s not broken I guess.”
Hate was recorded with Will Putney, a talented young producer McMahon says has staked his claim to recording all future releases for the band. “We sat down before we started writing, about two years ago, and we thought ‘…this next album has to be the one’. We wanted to invest a bit of money and actually do it with an amazing producer.
“We looked at two or three producers and Will just seemed to stand out. He’s a young producer and he’s done some of the biggest records in the scene over the last two years. When we approached him, he said he actually also wanted to do our first album because he’d been a fan of the band for a number of years. This guy just ticked all the boxes. Now, we’re best friends for life and we want him to do all of our albums.”
BY JESSICA WILLOUGHBY
Thy Art Is Murder plays The Annandale Hotel (all ages afternoon and 18+ evening) on Saturday June 8 and The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle on Sunday June 9.
