Thy Art is Murder

Thy Art Is Murder
Thy Art Is Murder performing in 2014
Background information
Origin	Blacktown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	Deathcore
Years active	2006 (2006)–present
Labels	Nuclear Blast, Halfcut, Skulls and Bones, UNFD
Website	Thy Art Is Murder on Facebook
Members	Chris McMahon Sean Delander Lee Stanton Andy Marsh Kevin Butler
Past members	Brendan van Ryn Josh King Gary Markowski Mick Lowe Tom Brown

Thy Art Is Murder is an Australian deathcore band from Blacktown (a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales). The band formed in 2006 and have released two EPs and three full-length albums and are currently signed to Distort in Canada and Nuclear Blast worldwide. Their 2008 EP Infinite Death, reached position no. 10 on the AIR Charts upon release, and their second full-length album Hate debuted at no. 35 on the ARIA Charts, making them the first extreme metal band to ever reach the Top 40 of this chart. The album also reached no. 1 on AIR and both no. 2 and no. 4 respectively on the USA and Canadian iTunes metal charts on its week of release.

Formed in 2006, in the Western Sydney locality of Blacktown, the group originally consisted of vocalist Brendan van Ryn, guitarists Gary Markowski and Sean Delander, bassist Josh King and drummer Lee Stanton. Building on a loyal following among fans of deathcore in Western Sydney, they recorded a three track demo This Hole Isn't Deep Enough for the Twelve of You. They returned to the studio in 2008 to record the EP Infinite Death, which gained them further attention for van Ryn's sacrilegious and misogynistic lyrics and song titles. The EP reached number 10 on the AIR Charts.

Following two years of relentless national touring, it was announced in 2008 that van Ryn was about to depart from the group. It was initially claimed that he left the group due to creative differences and an inability to keep up with their evolving death metal sound. However it was later claimed in 2013 that van Ryn was replaced because "he couldn't sing [anymore] and he had a massive attitude problem." Thy Art Is Murder searched for a year for a new vocalist, until finding Chris "CJ" McMahon from Sydney metalcore band Vegas in Ruins. The band were so impressed with his death growl vocals that he was incepted into the band during 2009. Bassist Mick Lowe replaced King shortly before the band began tracking demos for their first full-length album The Adversary. The demos recorded in 2009 included early versions of the songs "Engineering the Antichrist" and "Cowards Throne". In 2010, the group began recording the album's final recording sessions and completed the album during the summer of 2010. The album was released on 16 July 2010.