Birds of Prey is a Southern-influenced

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

supergroup hailing from

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

. They released their third full-length, ''

The Hellpreacher ''The Hellpreacher'' is the third full-length album from death metal supergroup Birds of Prey. It was released April 28, 2009 through Relapse Records. Overview ''The Hellpreacher'' is a concept album that gives the listener a first person pers ...

'', through

Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The ...

History

Birds of Prey was formed in 2005 as the side project to five very busy musicians who were all looking for additional creative outlets besides their own pre-existing projects. Composed of Ben Hogg from

Beaten Back to Pure Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault, which is the act of creating reasonable fear or apprehension of such contact. Battery is a specific common law offense, although the term is used more gen ...

on vocals, Erik Larson from

Alabama Thunderpussy Alabama Thunderpussy, originally spelled Alabama Thunder Pussy, is an American heavy metal band from Richmond, Virginia. It was founded by Bryan Cox, Erik Larson and Asechiah Bogdan in 1996. History Bryan Cox, Erik Larson and Asechiah Bogdan f ...

and Bo Leslie from

The Last Van Zant ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

on guitars, Summer Welch from

Baroness Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight ...

handling bass duties and Dave Witte, from numerous bands including

Municipal Waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, a ...

Burnt by the Sun ''Burnt by the Sun'' (, Transliteration, translit. ''Utomlyonnye solntsem'', literally "wearied by the sun") is a 1994 Russian drama film starring, directed, written, and produced by Nikita Mikhalkov and co-written by Azerbaijani screenwrite ...

and

Discordance Axis Discordance Axis was an American grindcore band formed in 1991 in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Their songs employed themes of inner struggles, science fiction, comic books, anime, and literature. History Discordance Axis was originally formed ...

on drums. Focusing on old-school

, the band has made a name for themselves in the metal community ever since forming in 2005. The band entered the studio in December of that year before even signing to a record label and started work on their debut album entitled '' Weight of the Wound'' with Cory Smoot at Karma Productions Studio in

. Shortly after the new year started

, which is home to many of the band members other projects including

and

signed Birds of Prey and set out to release their debut album internationally. '' Weight of the Wound'' was officially released on July 25, 2006, and it introduced the world to the newly formed super group, who before this point had never released a single song or ever played a live show. Reception for the album was positive with

about.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

and allthatisheavy.com giving the album excellent reviews. Despite the band member's other commitments, Birds of Prey soon returned to the studio to record their second full-length album entitled '' Sulfur and Semen''. This time the album was recorded at Sniper Studio's in North Carolina with Vince Burke producing the project. After wrapping up recording in late 2007, the album was officially released on January 29, 2008 through Releapse Records. The band, now with a dedicated following, released the tracks, "Turning Big Rocks into Little Rocks" and "Lice Halo" onto their Myspace before the official release date as promotional teaser tracks to hype the upcoming release of '' Sulfur and Semen''. Still with all the continued success '' Sulfur and Semen'' brought the band, Birds of Prey were unable to play a live show because of each member's commitment to their other projects. Even with this impediment, Birds of Prey have never allowed that to stifle their artistic creativity and in 2009, the musicians returned to Sniper Studio's to record their third full-length album through

entitled ''

''. The album was released on April 28 in the U.S. and May 4 internationally.Lambgoat.com ''

'' expands on the band's creativity and continues to broaden Birds of Prey's musical showcase. ''

'' is a concept album telling the story of a prison inmate turned priest. The album is the band's most successful release yet being carried in national stores including

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

, FYE and

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

super stores. The band released "Momma" and "Juvie" to their Myspace before allowing the album to be streamed in its entirety the week of its release at www.thehellpreacher.info. With the release of their third album the band finally set their sights on playing live and scheduled their first live show to be at Maryland Deathfest VII, May 28–30 alongside renowned metal acts such as

Eyehategod Eyehategod (also abbreviated and referred to as EHG) is an American sludge metal band from New Orleans, Louisiana, who formed in 1988. They have become one of the better known bands to emerge from the NOLA metal scene. Their core lineup has r ...

Converge Converge may refer to: * Converge (band), American hardcore punk band * Converge (Baptist denomination), American national evangelical Baptist body * Limit (mathematics) In mathematics, a limit is the value that a function (or sequence) app ...

Incantation An incantation, spell, charm, enchantment, or bewitchery is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung, or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremonial ri ...

and 16.

Personnel

Current members

* Ben Hogg (

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

) * Erik Larson (

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

) * Bo Leslie (

) * Summer Welch (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

) *

Dave Witte Dave Witte (born August 11, 1971) is an American drummer. He is known for his work in numerous extreme metal or hardcore punk bands including Municipal Waste, Melt-Banana, Discordance Axis, Black Army Jacket, Birds of Prey, Burnt by the Sun, a ...

(

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

)

Discography

Albums

* '' Weight of the Wound'' (

, 2006) * '' Sulfur and Semen'' (

, 2008) * ''

'' (

, 2009)

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Birds of Prey
at Myspace Musical groups established in 2005 Heavy metal musical groups from Virginia