The Funeral Pyre’s album third full length album, Wounds, provides listeners with a wonderful black metal symphony. They give what metal fans desire: thunderous double bass, heavy guitar and blasting lyrics. They hit you in the face with an immeasurable amount of force powerful enough to stop your heart and confuse your mind.
“Thieves” kicks things off and immediately displays The Funeral Pyre\'s heavy double bass blasting: a staple for Wounds. They surge forward with the rest of the album and it doesn’t get any less heavy from start to finish. The songs that really got my head banging were “These Ties that Bind” and “Arches of Existence.” Both tracks have killer beats, heavy guitars and loud vocals.
On the downside, a few songs become repetitive and a bit excessive as the album rolls along. The title track “Wounds” and “Devourer” go on for several minutes when they should end a minute or two earlier than they do. "Wounds" specifically is a valiant attempt for an epic sound, but there just isn\'t enough variety to sustain the listener\'s attention.
Overall, Wounds impresses more than it disappoints. The Funeral Pyre\'s sound is solid and these La Habra, California natives are a refined metal band perfect for introducing the genre to newcomers. While not as compelling as 3 Inches of Blood or Skeletonwitch, The Funeral Pyre are on their way to becoming suitable for mainstream metal listeners to enjoy. With hostile beats, ferocious melody, and frontman John Strachan’s high octane lyrics, The Funeral Pyre are marking their territory within Prosthetic’s catalog of heavy metal bands.
"Wounds" is on sale May 27, 2008 from Prosthetic.
