The Funeral Pyre was an American

blackened death metal Blackened death metal (also known as black death metal) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal that fuses elements of black metal and death metal. The genre emerged in early 1990s when black metal bands began incorporating elements of death me ...

band from

La Habra, California La Habra – archaic spelling of – is a city in the northwestern corner of Orange County, California, United States. In the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,239. History Origin of name The name refe ...

. The band released four studio albums and various shorter works before playing their last advertised show in 2012.

History

The band was formed in

, in 2001 by guitarist James Joyce, keyboardist Daniella Jones, vocalist John Strachan, drummer Alex Hernandez, and bassist Adam Campbell, initially adopting the name Envilent. They participated in the underground extreme music scenes across

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and

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counties. They have acclaim amongst metal internet press outlets for their Swedish-style melody, ethereal keyboards, and blackened vocals. The band released several demos and the EP '' Whispering to the Shadows'' before changing its name to The Funeral Pyre prior to the 2003 release of their EP ''

October October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôctō'' meaning "eight") after Januar ...

''. A year later, the band released its first full-length album, '' Immersed by the Flames of Mankind''. In August 2006, the band released their second full-length album ''

The Nature of Betrayal ''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' ...

'', which was recorded at Ulug studios in Costa Mesa, California, through Creator-Destructor Records, an independent California based recording studio. Initial internet-based sales enabled a distribution deal with

Prosthetic Records Prosthetic Records is an American record label specializing in Heavy metal music, heavy metal recordings, founded in Los Angeles, California in 1998 by E.J. Johantgen and Dan Fitzgerald. Prosthetic Records released the first two albums by Lamb o ...

, and ''The Nature of Betrayal'' was re-released in March 2007. The period that followed saw numerous changes in membership: longtime keyboardist Daniella Jones who parted with the band for "musical differences", was briefly replaced by a second guitarist, Justin Garcia, who was in turn replaced by Lanny Perelman, who left the band as well. A third album, ''

Wounds A wound is any disruption of or damage to living tissue, such as skin, mucous membranes, or organs. Wounds can either be the sudden result of direct trauma (mechanical, thermal, chemical), or can develop slowly over time due to underlying diseas ...

'', was recorded in January and February 2008 with producer John Haddad and released in May of that year. The band has more closely embraced

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

entirely with the release of ''Wounds'', as well as later works. An EP, ''December'', was recorded during December 2008, and received a limited distribution by Creator-Destructor in March 2009. A 7-inch split with Landmine Marathon was released shortly after through Forest Moon Special Products. The band's fourth and final studio album, ''Vultures at Dawn'', was released in June 2010 by Prosthetic Records. 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.

Members

;Current members *James Joyce – guitar *Alex Hernandez – drums *John Strachan – vocals *Adam Campbell – bass ;Former members *Jason Dunn – guitar *Daniella Jones – keyboards *Justin Garcia – guitar *Lanny Perelman – guitar *Alex Lopez – guitar

Discography

;Studio albums *2004: '' Immersed by the Flames of Mankind'' *2006: ''

'' *2008: ''

'' *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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Funeral Pyre American melodic death metal musical groups American blackened death metal musical groups Black metal musical groups from California Death metal musical groups from California Musical groups from Orange County, California American musical quintets Musical groups established in 2001 La Habra, California