Thy Art Is Murder Crack US Top 100 Chart For First Time Ever

Worry not, Australian heavy music fans, there might be some hope for humanity yet. One of Australia’s most beloved and incendiary extreme music exports, Thy Art Is Murder, have managed to sell just under 7,500 copies of their latest album, Holy War, in the first week of sales in the US.

These sales have propelled the controversial album to a #82 spot in the Billboard Top 200, #43 in the Current Albums chart, #6 on the Independent Albums chart, and it also makes it the #3 Top Hard Music Album. It also marks the first time Thy Art Is Murder has made the coveted Top 200 chart.

The band have been seeing similar success back home, with Holy War making it to #7 on the ARIA Charts, which just so happens to be the highest position ever for an Australian extreme metal act.

This is obviously big news for a homegrown heavy act, who often find it hard to succeed in an industry where there are few resources for extreme music bands. The band took to Facebook to share the success with their fans.

“Thank you to everyone who picked up a copy first week, from the bottom of our cold, dead hearts, we ❤ you,” the band wrote. The album has in fact achieved respectable chart positions around the world, hitting the Top 100 in Germany, #22 on the UK Indie Chart, and #137 on the UK National Album Chart.

The band are currently on tour with Slayer, King Diamond, and Whitechapel as part of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. They recently unveiled their music video for the title track from the album, which featured numerous controversial images, including references to radical Islam.

[include_post id=”452767″]

As Tone Deaf previously reported, the uncensored version of the Holy War album art stirred controversy as it depicts a small child dressed in a hooded cloak, splattered with blood, with an explosive device strapped to their torso.

The controversial artwork triggered a dispute between the band and “distributors and retailers”, who requested it be changed. “Not wanting to alter our desired cover in any way shape or form, we opted to contain it within the album packaging and roll with one of the other images from the layout,” said guitarist Andy Marsh.

“We wanted Holy War to be our most confronting release to date,” he explained. “From the moment the album title was conceived and the lyrics were born we had a distinct vision that the album cover artwork must be equally as confronting, as scary, and as real as what we are about as a band.”