Interviews: Thy Art is Murder Brings the Hate - Sea of Tranquility - The Web Destination for Progressive Music!

Main Menu

Interviews:

Thy Art is Murder Brings the Hate

Posted on Tuesday, April 02 2013 @ 18:34:19 CDT by Pete Pardo

Sea of Tranquility recently exchanged emails with Tom Brown (Guitars) from Thy Art is Murder, one of the latest metal acts added to the Nuclear Blast roster. With the newest album Hate climbing the charts in Australia and in the US, it's time to find out more about this band.

SoT: Your second full-length album, Hate, came in at #35 on the top 40 Aria chart, breaking a record for an Australian death metal band. What do you think some of the reasons are for your rapid growth and success? What does it mean to you for death metal to sell well in Australia? Is it becoming a mainstream style in Australia or are audiences just changing?

Tom: It hasn't been rapid at all haha, the band have been slogging it out since 2006! We knew Hate was a really good record so we made sure we had the right team working with us on making the record and everything around it really count, which I think we've achieved so far. It's great that the record did what it did and if it means more people listening to extreme Australian music of any kind that's awesome! It's definitely not becoming mainstream, we slip in on the always growing metalcore scene that a lot of our friends bands are involved in that helped Hate out a lot. Our friends Northlane are about to debut in the top 10 with their new record, they're tagged in the metalcore scene too but play progressive / djent kind of stuff so were both lucky!

SoT: How have audiences outside of Australia responded to your music? Your music seems to be making a pretty big splash so far in the USA on Itunes. What exposure have you had in the USA so far? When do you plan to tour the US?

Tom: We recently completed our first Euro headliner and it was chaos, so awesome to see so many people going wild to our songs overseas and coming to see us in the middle of snowy winter. The London and Dessau shows were amazing. We just did New Zealand for the first time too which was mad.

SoT: What's the metal scene like right now in Australia? Are you familiar with the guys in 4Arm? They are currently playing on the Dark Roots of Thrash Tour and seem to be getting a warm response from audiences. What are some of the current trends in the Australian metal scene? What bands (besides you guys, of course!) should we be looking out for?

Tom: It's good but fractured between the "metalcore" and "true metal" scenes which sucks but whatever, that's for the internet to debate. Yeah I checked out 4arm's last record, they used the same guy Brent Elliot White to do their art as us. The trends are the same as ever, loads of kids playing music that sounds like the latest US hype band, some doing their own thing, some whinging, lots of partying. The best thing at the moment is the mainstream success some of the bands are attaining. It's cool to see heavy bands sharing festival billing with the usual indie and pop garbage. Psycroptic, Blood Duster, Make Them Suffer, Northlane, The Amity Affliction, In Hearts Wake, Confession, Parkway Drive… there's loads!

SoT: Your album cover for Hate was designed by Brent Elliot White. How did you come to work with him? What was your experience like? Did he design the concept for the cover or did any of you work with him?

Tom: We researched loads of metal artists and agreed on him. The art is all him and what the record evoked in him. Brutal!

SoT: What is the significance of your band name? Where does it come from?

Tom: The band started when Lee and Sean were 15, same with the name, so that should tell you about that.

SoT: In your short history, you've had quite a few lineup changes. Are things starting to look more settled for the band right now? Are there any founding members left in the band? When did you join?

Tom: Not really, Sean's switched instruments and Brendan left 5 years ago. It's pretty normal I think. Lee and Sean are OG members. I came on board in 2011 to shred Sean's face off.

SoT: Where do you see Death metal going in the next few years? Do you think it is still a relevant musical style?

Tom: Extreme metal is splintering into billions of directions and will continue to forever which is great. Genre tags are pretty whack as most bands aren't trying to repeat themselves every song so mix it up and that confuses things for the purists. Fuck 'em, keep the curve balls coming.

SoT: You guys have received criticism for some of the lyrical content in your songs. How do you respond to that? Does criticism help gain attention for the band?

Tom: The criticism is by the by. The moral high horse any idiot who wants to whine about our songs is standing on is ALWAYS shaky. Oh, you don't like a song about cutting Jesus' throat because you identify him as your savior? Deal with the people giving your faith a bad name by stealing money from the poor and raping children. Freddy Krueger and Marilyn Manson still haven't killed anyone, grow up. The notoriety is cool but worry about your own shit.