CJ McMahon Appears to be Rejoining Thy Art is Murder

When vocalist CJ McMahon quit Thy Art is Murder in December of 2015, much was made of McMahon’s gripe that he wasn’t making enough money from the band. A MetalSucks article written by metal band manager Derek Brewer (Veil of Maya, Dying Fetus, Crown the Empire) about what a band’s finances at Thy Art’s level should look like was among our most read posts of the year. The tl;dr version: a band their size should’ve been doing quite alright, so something mischievous or at the very least irresponsible must’ve been afoot.

Over a year later, we finally have a bit of an answer: McMahon was battling a drug addiction.

McMahon fronted the band for their performance at the UNIFY Festival in Australia on Friday night, completely announced, shocking everyone in attendance (Nick Arthur had been occupying the vocal slot since McMahon’s departure). He offered some words from the stage that just stop short of saying he’s back in the band full time (video below):

“I was a drug addict, I was a broke musician, and I had some fucking issues… I got married, I did some fucking soul searching, and now I’m back to take over the world with my fine brothers.

“In the celebration that is me coming back to join my brothers in world domination, I need you guys to have some fun with us.”

It’s not entirely clear from the above whether McMahon will be back full time, but it certainly seems that way.

For the record: we still think Thy Art is Murder play generic, middling deathcore, but we wish the best to McMahon on his journey into sobriety.