Pyrexia EPK

1987-1989: Originally born under the moniker Mortuary – The First New York Death Metal band based out of Long Island was formed featuring Chris Basile of Pyrexia, alongside original Suffocation members Terrence Hobbs, Doug Ceritto and Mike Smith. Mike Smith literally invented the Blast Beat while in this band.  

Although nearly 30 songs were written by the quartet during this period, the group disbanded shortly before professionally recording their first demos. After the split, Suffocation was formed and Chris Basile met up with Daryl Wagner, and Guy Marchais along with Mike Andrejko and Rob Shimonski. 

1990: Basile meets up with the four other original members Guy Marchais, Rob Shimonski, Daryl Wagner and Mike Andrejko, and Pyrexia is formed. They go on to release their 1992 demo “Liturgy of Impurity” and later the classic 1993 full-length album “Sermon of Mockery”, cementing their place in the anoles of Death Metal history. Pyrexia continued to release one seminal release after another including their 1997 album “System of the Animal”. 

1999: Pyrexia singer Keith Devito was asked to fill in for vocalist John Tardy and front the Legendary band Obituary for an upcoming tour. Upon returning, he and Obituary guitarist Trevor Peres asked the rest of Pyrexia to join them in a new project called Catastrophic. In 2001 they released their debut album “The Cleansing” on Metal Blade Records. Basile then split from Catastrophic and after several tours with Catastrophic, Trevor went back to Obituary. 

2004: Basile reforms the band with a completely new line up featuring Justin DiPinto (Malevolent Creation, Waco Jesus) on drums and released the compilation album “Cruelty Beyond Submission” through Crash Records. 

2006: The band signed with Unique Leader Records and released the now classic album “Age of the Wicked” and began an extensive campaign of touring and performing both in America and overseas in support of the albums release under the UL moniker.

2013: Shaun Kennedy joined the band as Bass player and the album “Feast of Iniquity” was released. Another brutal slab of Death Metal sickness produced by Chris “Zeus” Harris (Suffocation, Rob Zombie, Chevelle). The album is somewhat special as it utilized the power of two incredible drummers — Doug Bohn and Dave Culross, both of Suffocation fame. 

2016: A massive improvement in the vocal/frontman department occurred as Jim Beach took over vocal duties. 

2018: The band released the album “Unholy Requiem” in 2018 but the release has since been pulled from the shelves to be re-recorded and remastered for a proper release I’m 2025 with an additional bonus track. 

Also in 2018 – Pyrexia makes Death Metal history. Pyrexia had committed to The Bloodletting North America Tour XII and The Grand Slam Tour in Europe. The 2 tours overlapped for 5 dates. Never to cancel a show, Basile reached out to the most talented musicians in New York and put together two squads with 11 musicians (pictured below) making Pyrexia the first Death Metal Band to ever play 2 different continents on the same night for 5 nights. (picture of full squad below)

2021: The band really hit its stride with the release of “Gravitas Maximus” also on Unique Leader Records. This album set the bar for modern brutal Death Metal production and really showcases the songwriting of guitarist Chris Basile along with the vocal range of Jim Beach. 

Another big level up happened more recently when Ron Kachnic of Legendary status Malignancy fame joined as second guitarist in 2024. Also joining the ranks and taking clean blast beats to new levels is drummer Matt Johnson. Making the current line up the most ferocious Pyrexia ever- both live and in the studio. 

Currently touring and playing festivals around the world. 

New Release coming early 2025.