Thy Art is Murder - Hate

Thy Art is Murder is not an unknown name in the community of diehard deathcore fans. So those of you that aren’t way into the deathcore scene that probably haven’t heard of these guys, don’t think that these guys are super brand new and are just now popping up out of nowhere. Although I’ve known the name for about a year or so, I never bothered to look them up until I learned that they had signed a deal with the almighty Nuclear Blast Records and immediately re-released their most recent album through the label. Nuclear Blast has the reputation for signing the bands that are either one of the best in their genre or have the most potential. So with the consistency that the label has shown me, I had to listen to this record if it was enough to get a deal with Nuclear Blast. And because of that, I set my expectations pretty high for my first listen. Both community and critical feedback has been mixed views, but definitely the majority considering Hate to most likely be the first of several amazing releases to come.

Coming from the vein of bands such as Whitechapel and Through the Eyes of the Dead, Thy Art is Murder play a much more brutal style of deathcore that relies less on the typical deathcore stuff. Instead, the much heavier deathcore tune their guitars lower, contain primarily growled vocals instead of screaming, use breakdowns that are slightly more unique in complexity and can deliver indescribable amounts of brutality. The overall sound of these bands have intense rage and take more time to build up tension for breakdowns. but then again, there are some of these bands that are able to drop some of the single most brutal breakdowns ever heard without any buildup of tension at all. Thy Art is Murder give us a reminder of how this can be done with the opening track of this monster of a release. The one thing that I have a HUGE soft spot for in deathcore bands is if they have an amazing drummer. I wasn’t even halfway through the first song to hear how much skill their drummer has.

Before the first track comes down on you, the band gives you the scare of your life by creating a background of eerie guitars similar to what Whitechapel does along with a quick flash of their extremely fast drummer that is EXACTLY lined up with the guitarists and bassist, and those nightmare-inducing demonic growls. Um, excuse me, I thought this was the mediocre deathcore band that my friend told me about. No, this is how skilled and mature Whitechapel sounds now, except this is only the band’s second release. As if the first 40 seconds of the song weren’t enough to blow you off your feet, right after that, the band then drops what could easily be the heaviest breakdown ever recorded since we heard the breakdown on The Legend of the Rent is Way Hardcore by Here Comes the Kraken in 2009 or even Suicide Silence’s breakdown in Bludgeoned to Death from 2007. Back to the topic at hand, after the initial breakdown at the beginning of the first song, all hell breaks loose when the drummer breaks into an extremely fast blast beat. And as if that wasn’t enough time for buildup, without you expecting, the band drops another breakdown on you that’s even more intense than the first one was. My question is, how the fuck are they able to do that?? Other bands that try to do it fail miserably and, in effect, create something extremely boring. After a while, at the end of the song, the band falls into the final breakdown, which has some fancy drum fills. And, unlike the usual drum fills that you would expect to hear, which would be really fast or complex, the drummer plays the fills with a fairly minimalistic attitude. They’re fast, yes, but there isn’t a lot to them, which surprises me. Now that I’ve spent time describing the song that caught the world off-guard, lets take an overall look at the rest of the album and what else it has to surprise us.

Something that I would like to add real quick is that this album has next to no melodic sections at all. And if it does have any, they’re so slight that it isn’t even worth mentioning. Anyways, keep in mind that, unlike the first track, which has three breakdowns, the rest of the songs don’t have as many. This is good because it shows that the band is at least making an honest attempt at writing something more interesting than just a bunch of breakdowns. That’s what makes deathcore bands memorable; if they have a nice variety of sounds to offer.

Going back to the drummer, he should be one of the biggest centers of attention in this act because this kind of music is very drum-oriented. Because of the contrasting tempos and complex patterns deathcore has, it’s CRUCIAL to have a good drummer. Not only does Thy Art is Murder have an amazing drummer, they have one of the best deathcore drummers I’ve ever heard in my life. I’ve listened to him in recording, I’ve looked up countless live and in-studio videos of this guy, and now I only have one thing left to do in order to confirm how truly great he is, and that is to see him perform with my own eyes in ears, which is something that I will be able to do this August at this year’s Summer Slaughter Tour.

The vocalist is also one of the best in the genre that I can think of. His growls are similar to those heard from Whitechapel, The Faceless, and Fit for an Autopsy. Just as a side note, these are my absolute favorite type of growls. This is one of the deathcore guys that has completely mastered the very deep, guttural, powerful, and angry exhaled growls to the fullest. Usually, when it comes to deathcore, regardless of how good the growls are, I like to hear variety in the vocals. But this time, it never bothers me that he does those growls roughly 80% of the time.

Thy Art is Murder is one of the tightest, most talented, skilled, and confident deathcore bands that have come up since that huge explosion of bands in 2007. Oh yeah, some of you might not have remembered that time during 2007 where 70% or more of today’s biggest deathcore bands released their first albums. For example, Born of Osiris, Suicide Silence, Attila, Carnifex, Emmure, Impending Doom, Whitechapel, Rose Funeral, I Declare War, and After the Burial ALL released their first albums during that same year. But since then, Hate by Thy Art is Murder is one of the best ones released since then. If you’re critical towards deathcore, listen to this. If you love deathcore, listen to this. Thy Art is Murder are earning my score of 19/20 and I’m looking forward to seeing them this summer on the Summer Slaughter Tour.