Band : The Funeral Pyre
Album title : Vultures At Dawn
Label : Prosthetic
Distributor : Suburban - Bertus
Release date : 06/08/2010
Release : CD

During the last visit at Concrete Wed Headquarters (which for me is always a half day's loss as far as record reviewing goes, as I aid our editor-in-chief with updating our website) my eye fell on this Prosthetic release, the music of which they say belongs to the genre “Heavy Metal”. Now that seemed weird to me, as I'd come across this California based band (they're originally from La Habra – some 25 kms inland from Long Beach) before, and seemed to remember them from practicing the more Extreme type of Metal, the type our Death Metal Specialist Ivan would normally review (in fact, find a review of the band's previous album Wounds, also distributed via Prosthetic, posted 09/06/2008)! My curiosity aroused, I took the album along for review (you never know what changes a band goes through)!

Well, I should've know better, because on their 4th full-length album TFP still play their typical Blackened Death Metal, just as before! Sure, when the pace is turned down somewhat, you get a Doomy impression as well, and there's moments where Thrash influences seem to come creeping in...but hey, those are semantics, because at the end it still stays Black Metal thanks to frontman John Stracham's vocal delivery! Oh, and by the way, if you should be interested, during their career the band also released a couple of EPs, both on their own and as splits (2002's Whispering To The Shadows, 2003's October EP, 2006's The First Book Of The Kings split EP with Leech, and more recently 2009's December EP and a split with Landmine Marathon). More interesting news is that former guitarist Justin Garcia returned to the fold, and even plays on the album, recorded at bassist Adam Campbell's own Awkward Studios. Soundwize, the album doesn't come close to the quality of the likes of Avenged Sevenfold and Bleeding Through, but that actually gives the band a higher street credibility as far as honesty towards their music goes!

If you've known the band from previous releases (or even from having heard 'em on some radio show) and liked what you heard...there can be no hesitating when it comes to purchasing your next Extreme Metal jem. Those not familiar with the band may wanna get acquainted with their music by checking out the songs posted at myspace.com/thefuneralpyre. On a sad note, and during the final days of the North American tour that had started on June 25, the band was involved in a tragic van accident which cost the live of support band Early Graves' singer Makh Daniels, a close friend to the guys in TFP.

90/100

Tony.