ALBUM REVIEW: Human Target – Thy Art Is Murder

THY ART IS MURDER have been delivering nothing but an unrelenting force of death metal chaos since their inception in 2006. This has granted them their place as one of the best death metal acts that has come out of the 2000’s. After their explosive 2017 release Dear Desolation which saw the band move up another notch in the post, the Australians are back with Human Target.

Kicking off the album, title track Human Target builds gradually into a fury-filled punch. Each element of the opener layers over each other in an effortless fashion and sets the tone that THY ART IS MURDER are upping their game to what could be their peak if the rest of the album continues to follow suit.

As the album continues with New Gods, Death Squad Anthem and Make America Hate Again there is a consistent level of intense brutality. Despite this, Eternal Suffering is the one that truly sets the tone for how deep the raw emotion for what is going on in the world really is for THY ART IS MURDER. As the track itself begins, it is tinged with slight black metal influences in not only the music, but also in the way vocalist CJ McMahon delivers utter anguish. This influence doesn’t last entirely through the track and goes back to the death metal vibes but at no point does this track lose that pain, making it one of THY ART IS MURDER‘s strongest pieces of work to date.

One thing that makes this band stand out in a crowd of many others trying to achieve the same thing, is the level of how well each member has honed their craft. Examples of this shine through in tracks such as Atonement, Eye For An Eye, and again Eternal Suffering. To be able to put such emotion into speaking out about things like politics and articulate everything so eloquently is a rarity, but this has hit the nail on every head without coming across at any point of being misinformed.

For an Australian band to delve into the topic of American politics is a bold move, but also proof that if it’s affecting people from other countries then it needs to be addressed and THY ART IS MURDER set a prime example of how to take a stand. They’ve never been a band to shy away from what goes on in the world anyway and a lot of the music they write about comes tinged with anger and passion but Human Target comes tinged with so much more aggression possibly because of the subject matters that it has just bolstered their sound to a whole new level.

Despite the successes that this album’s predecessors have, Human Target is by far the band’s biggest triumph. Each moment on the album has been pieced together with precision and talent. Perhaps this is down to the band being in the game now for over a decade and have fully refined their sound and style, or how the technicality of what they’re putting out has been strengthened by a tremendous amount. Each layer binds itself with one another in a faultless way, and whilst THY ART IS MURDER have never faltered doing this before, this time it feels fully complete.

Human Target isn’t necessarily a perfect album, there’s still moments that pass you by without noticing, but those are far and few in between. What truly matters with the band’s fifth studio release is how much devastation each riff, each beat, each moment CJ McMahon spits venom actually gives. They’ve worked with the negatives in the world and been able to bring out an album that displays the feelings of most people down to the ground.

This album is one that will see THY ART IS MURDER push their career even further than what they have seen before. Despite already being loved by many and seen as death metal titans to this generation, a game must always be upped and Human Target certainly does just that. If this is how the band continue to climb the ladder then they are certainly going to be considered one of the most influential bands that death metal has seen in the modern era.

Rating: 9/10

Human Target is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.

For more information on THY ART IS MURDER like their official page on Facebook.