The Funeral Pyre

The Funeral Pyre is an American blackened death metal band from La Habra, California, United States. The band has released three studio albums, two EPs, and two split 7" albums, and consists of guitarists James Joyce and Justin Garcia, vocalist John Strachan, drummer Alex Hernandez, and bassist Adam Campbell.

History

Formed under the name Envilent in 2001,^[1][2] The Funeral Pyre was formed in La Habra, California and entered the underground extreme music scenes in both LA and Orange counties. The Funeral Pyre has gained acclaim amongst metal internet press outlets for its Swedish-style melody, ethereal keyboards, and blackened vocals.

Several demos^[3] and an early EP were released under the band's former moniker, Envilent, until the independent release of the 2003 EP, October, when the band changed their name to The Funeral Pyre.^[4] Soon, the band released its first full-length album, Immersed by the Flames of Mankind in 2004, and a merger between Oregon's Leech and The Funeral Pyre was released in 2006, with limited quantities as a split 7" called The First Book Of The Kings, released through Forest Moon Special Products.^[5]

The band released their second full-length album The Nature of Betrayal on August 22, 2006, recorded at Ulug studios in Costa Mesa, California through Creator-Destructor Records, an independent California based recording studio. In a distribution deal with Prosthetic Records, The Nature of Betrayal was re-released on March 20, 2007, due to decent success on the internet.^[6]

Recorded in January and February with producer John Haddad, Wounds was mixed by Erik Rutan and mastered by Alan Douches and was released on May 27, 2008. This was the first album to not feature long time keyboardist, Daniella Jones, who was released by the band for "musical differences", and was in turn replaced by a second guitarist, Justin Garcia.^[7] However, the band suffered another loss when Garcia left the band, but soon was replaced by Lanny Perelman, formally of Cerberus, who, left the band as well. The band has more closely embraced black metal entirely with the release of Wounds, as well as later works.^[8][9]

The band released December, mixed and mastered by Ryan Butler at Arcane Digital Recording during December 2008, a limited EP distributed by Creator-Destructor on March 10, 2009. A 7" split with Landmine Marathon was released shortly after through Forest Moon Special Products, showcasing a cover of short lived German act, ACME's song "Attempt", as well as another original song.^[10]

The band's fourth studio album, Vultures at Dawn was released June 8, 2010. It was generally well received, much of the praise coming from the more experimental songs "Monolith" and "To Watch the Earth Rot", both being further from their normal genre of songwriting.^[11][12]

Members

Discography

Studio albums

• 2004: Immersed by the Flames of Mankind
• 2006: The Nature of Betrayal
• 2008: Wounds
• 2010: Vultures at Dawn

EPs

• 2002: Whispering to the Shadows EP
• 2003: October EP
• 2006: The First Book of the Kings (Split EP)
• 2009: December EP
• 2009: The Funeral Pyre/Landmine Marathon (Split EP)

References

External links

• Official website