By BRIAN GIFFIN
UPDATED 1200 AEST
IN a bombshell announcement, Thy Art is Murder has broken their silence and revealed the reason latest album Godlike was pushed back a week.
Following incendiary transphobic comments posted online by vocalist CJ McMahon in August, the band went to ground, making no statements other than some apologies from the singer and social media posts opposing his views from the band itself. Due on September 16, Godlike‘s release was pushed back to September 22 with no further reason given.
This morning Australia time, tying in with the world wide release of Godlike, the band made a formal announcement that the digital version does not feature McMahon’s vocals.
“Chris McMahon is no longer a part of Thy Art is Murder and does not appear on the record,” the statement reads. Further, the band writes: “The decision was made to preserve the band’s integrity and direction.” Describing it as the “straw that broke the camel’s back if you will,” the statement claims it was not McMahon’s recent action that caused the split, but “another symptom of the drawn out breakdown of his character”.
The statement also claims that there were attempts to destroy the band from within if they did not “capitulate to various ideologies”.
A new vocalist, who has not yet been revealed, re-recorded the vocals for Godlike in time for the digital release. CD and vinyl versions, of course, still feature McMahon’s vocals – HM will not be changing our review of the album in light of this, as the original version was the one we were given to review.
UPDATE: Loudwire has reported that CJ McMahon has since replied by saying he only knew about the firing this morning, when he read the band’s announcement: “I just woke up and saw the news. Yes this is how I found out. And yes it’s not the whole story. I’ll be going live tomorrow at 5PM Sydney, Australia time.” Ronnie Radke of Falling in Reverse – a magnet for plenty of criticism himself – has since suggested fans boycott Thy Art is Murder, calling them “super satanic murderous and evil [sic]” and offered to send McMahon $20000
The full statement can be seen here:
Posted by Thy Art Is Murder on Friday, September 22, 2023
McMahon’s reply is here:
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