Having sharpened his guitar prowess by playing technically demanding songs on numerous tours as a member of Nevermore and Annihilator, Curran Murphy is now stepping out of the shadows of these acclaimed acts to form his own band, Shatter Messiah. Shatter Messiah's sound is a viciously intense mixture combining Curran's Metal roots with classic Thrash and Power Goth, resulting in compositions of over the top aggression and melodic skill. We caught up with Curran to get his reaction on the new album and how well the band have been received by not only the fans, but the press in general as well.

Metal Mayhem: Thanks for answering a few of our questions. How are things going?
Curran Murphy: Things are fucking great man, we just had a slew of very successful shows here in my home of Ohio, and had a great time with some new friends from beyond fear at one of their warm up shows for Europe, so good things all around.

MM: Can you please introduce yourself and the rest of the band?
CM: Well we are Shatter Messiah as you can tell from the header in this interview! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I'm Curran the guitarist, and producer for the band, I also had to engineer all of the record as well (fucking head ache NOT!!!!HAHAHAHAHA) and then there is BOBS the drummer (little mini Hoglan), we have Wags on Vocals, Dusty on guitars and harmonies with me and bringing in the low end is Ron on the Bass.

MM: A few of you guys knew each other before Shatter Messiah, can you tell us how you all came together to form the band? CM: well actually BOBS and Ron are school buddies and that is actually how Ron got the gig through BOBS recommendation. I met Wags first after I gave the early Shatter Demo stuff to drummer friend of mine to see if he might want to play for me on the album. He turned me down BUT said that he had this cat who was just what I wanted on the vocals. So I got his number, called the guy and he comes over to my house. so this fucking guy rolls into my basement where I had all of my studio shit

setup tells me he can sing like Halford and Dickinson (I immediately think he is full of shit since everyone I have every met has sucked when they say that) but what hooked me was he said he wants to try and get heavier and sound like Chuck Billy!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA this is the first guy that every came to me like that. and in five minutes we where tracking "Inflicted" and the vocals on the record are what you hear from that day. I met BOBS when I played guitar for Annihilator on the Judas Priest re-united tour we did a few years ago. He was the hand picked by Mike Mangini to play for Jeff. We where just hanging out at a breakfast or something and I mention Shatter Messiah and the demo's AND if he would like to hear it for his opinion on the song writing and he came back in like 15-20 minutes with BUG eyes and asked if I would like to work with him on this. Of Course I said yes and it has been golden ever since!!!!! Dusty came to us by a friend of mine Lou St. Paul of Wintersbane, Dusty was his guitar student and Lou said the guy could play like mad and he does. he is a great player and has already gotten some riffs in on the new material for the next record

MM: Coming onto your debut "Never to Play the Servant", it's been a few weeks now since it was released. For those that haven't heard it yet, what can they expect to hear?
CM: BIG FUCKING METAL!!!!!!!!!!! We just do what we know and that is it. guitar riffs, Harmony Solo's, HUGE vocals, brutal drums, it is hard to tell people what to expect because I don't want to come off like an asshole or anything. All I know is that there isn't one thing I am disappointed in on this record and that is the only thing I can say

MM: What has the reaction been like to the album so far? It got Album of the Month here, but have you seen many of the reviews?
CM: Dude!!!! the reviews have all been positive and strong. even some of the less glowing reviews have still had good things to say about the band and that they haven't written us off as bullshit just a new band that needs to get better. Every show we play more and more people walk away knowing what Shatter Messiah is so it is nothing but good things as far as I am concerned. OH and THANKS FOR THE ALBUM OF THE MONTH! WAY fucking Cool man!!!!!!!!!!!

MM: You’re signed to the up and coming Dockyard 1 label, how did the deal with them come about?
CM: Through D.C.A. management. Eric is our manager there and he worked his ass off to make this happen, also Dockyard 1 was very straight forward with us and showed us a HUGE amount of respect out of the gate. And from that I can only say that every step for this band has been positive and strong. Chris and Dirk at the label have been so supportive and upfront with everything in this deal. So as Shatter Messiah starts to build and grow so does Dockyard 1 and back again

MM: It’s clear that you guys are a highly skilled and technical when it comes to the music, where would you say you draw your main influences?
CM: Thanks for the compliment. I always feel like I need to get better on the guitar. BUT the influence thing would come from heavy riff bands like Metallica, Prong, Testament, you know the classic monsters of riff, as far as the shredding thing I would say Steve Via, Satriani, Hendrix, once again the true masters of the instrument and then the song writing thing would have to be Sting, Tori Amos, a lot of the Jazz Players and stuff I learned about in School that kind of thing.

MM: What subjects do you deal with lyrically? CM: Love, Friendship, Religion, Life/Death, things that eat at me and drive me fucking nuts that kind of thing, nothing too preachy I think MM: Have you managed to play any live shows yet in support of the album? I hear that there was a regional tour, how did that go? CM: we are still in the midst of the tour and it has been a rousing success, we are actually at the break even point a few shows ago and we still have four gigs left. The response from the people at these shows has been great, people are getting the record buy shirts and hitting the forums. we can only say thanks and that we can't wait to see them again out on the road

MM: Are there any major tours or festivals you’ll be appearing on this year that we should know about?
CM: Nothing yet, BUT we are packed and ready!!!! so if something comes across the table we are on the fucking plane!!!!! HAHA!

MM: What do you think are your chances of touring Europe, or maybe playing a few festivals over here? How about visiting us here in the UK?
CM: DUDE ANYTIME ANY PLACE we will fucking play. Believe me it has been way to fucking long for me since I have been in Europe. SO we are all chomping at the bit to get over to your neck of the woods and I would love to hit the UK. I have only been to your country once for shows but I always fall asleep waiting for my planes in Heathrow HAHAHAHA!

MM: So what’s next for Shatter Messiah? Where would you like to go from here?
CM: I will see this band put out better and better records and tour like fucking madmen. I just want to have people come out and dig what we are doing!!!

MM: Thanks again, any last words/comments?
CM: Yeah! Thanks again for album of the month and we look forward to getting over to play for all of the UK metal heads and remember...METAL FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Visit Shatter Messiah at http://www.shattermessiah.com