Thy Art Is Murder will release its new album Dear Desolation on August 18, and if the lead single is any indication, the album should be incredibly heavy. Frontman C.J. McMahon agrees that the album will definitely be heavy as balls in an interview with Decibel, but says it certainly isn't a deathcore album.
McMahon tells Decibel that the new album's music isn't quite as complex as the band's old stuff, but instead concentrates on a few killer riffs per track.
"I think you can expect it to be slightly different to a lot of our releases. It’s a record that I feel is like a breakthrough record for us where we’ve really found our sound. It’s something that we feel will be able to push us further in our musical careers in the future rather than just having to stem out of being in this genre of deathcore. I really don’t care what people pigeonhole us as but for some reason, the name ‘deathcore’ kind of leaves a sour taste in my mouth after saying it. We’re showing our strengths and variety.
We can kind of move into a more modern metal phase of our lives now where we’re not going to be — not that we ever were — this generic deathcore-sounding band. This record will be more appealing to people that are into more of a modern metal, modern death metal sort of element and style of music. I think we’ve broken down the actual content of the music and instead of having ten or twelve riffs in a song, having the listener try to pick up on a few different riffs, we’ve broken the structures down so there’s less riffs but the riffs are better."
McMahon also says that Thy Art Is Murder never came off as a deathcore band to him, and comedically apologizes for not dressing the part of "being metal."
“I just don’t think it’s what we are. I never thought it is what we were. There’s a lot of bands out there that are allegedly in the same category as us and we’re very, very different and I guess that is the reason that it’s kind of pissed me off a little bit, because I know we’re very different from these bands and yet we’re categorized as the same as these bands.
I think for sure there will be people that will see us playing, “Oh, fuck this band. They’ve got fresh Nikes on, skinny jeans, they’ve got fucking breakdowns.” I get it, we don’t all have long hair and beards and black metal shirts on from the 80’s. I get it.
I 100% agree that the new stuff isn't very deathcore at all, but the old, old stuff was pretty AAA breakdown-loaded… and that's fine! It's an artist's progression into what they are now. So call it what you will, who cares? The new shit is awesome.
