James Franklin Murphy was born on July 30, 1969 in Portsmoth, Virginia. Murphy is a guitarist and producer, best known for his work in the bands ‘Death’, ‘Testament’ ‘Obituary’ and ‘Disincarnate’.
Murphy is credited as being one of the most sought after Death Metal Guitarists of the 1990’s, he has over 30 Guest appearances under his belt ranging from up and coming bands to experienced metal acts such as ‘Malevolent Creation’.
Murphy played lead guitar in ‘Obituary’s’ 1990 record ‘Cause of Death’. Alongside Bryan Cegon, and Tommy Viator, Murphy went on to form the band ‘Discarnate’. The band were signed to ‘Roadrunner records’ and released ‘Dreams of Carrion Kind’ in 1993, which received a four and a half star rating by ‘Allmusic’ who called the record state of the art.
In 1994 Murphy replaced former lead guitarist Alex Skolnick in the legendary heavy metal band ‘Testament’ and together they released the record ‘Low’. The album reached 122 on the Billboard top 200 and received a 4 out of 5 star rating from ‘Allmusic’. Murphy parted ways with ‘Testament’ in 1996, however he rejoined the band in 1998 to begin the recording of ‘Testament’s’ 1999 release ‘The Gathering’, Murphy left ‘Testament’ for good in 2000.
In between it two stints with ‘Testament’ Murphy released two solo guitar albums, 1996’s ‘Convergence’ and 1999’s ‘Feeding the Machine’.
In 2001 Murphy was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Through various fundraisers, Murphy was able to gather the funds required to afford surgery and has now recovered. Unfortunately, due to the tumor, Murphy cannot remember anything from the time spent recording ‘The Gathering’.