Prayer for Cleansing is an American metalcore band from Raleigh, North Carolina. The band is noted for their extreme metal (death/black metal) influence that was a little more prominent in their music than other metalcore bands at the time. They are also notable for being an early musical starting point for three members of Between the Buried and Me (Paul Waggoner, Will Goodyear and Tommy Giles Rogers) who played in the band.

This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2012)

Quick Facts Background information, Origin ...

Prayer for Cleansing
Background information
Origin	North Carolina, U.S.
Genres	Metalcore, death metal, black metal
Years active	1996–2000, 2001, 2003–2004, 2022–present
Labels	Tribunal Records
Members	David Anthem Paul Waggoner Will Goodyear Marc Duncan Dennis Lamb
Past members	Tommy Rogers James Chang

Close

The band, consisting of David Anthem (vocals), Paul Waggoner (guitar), Dennis Lamb (guitar), Will Goodyear (drums) and Marc Duncan (bass) formed in 1996, going through numerous member changes up until 1997. In 1999 they signed to Tribunal Records, releasing their first and by far most popular album, Rain in Endless Fall. Shortly before the album was released, Dennis Lamb left the band, being replaced by James Chang of Undying, and later Tommy Rogers. In 2000 the band broke up after an automobile accident which totaled their new touring van. The band performed two reunion shows, the first being on March 13, 2004, at the Tremont Music Hall in Charlotte, North Carolina in front of nearly one thousand fans from as far away as Mexico. The second show was at the 2004 Hellfest music festival, held in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Prayer for Cleansing's music continued to grab attention however. 2003 saw a re-mixed and re-mastered version of The Rain in Endless Fall released on Tribunal Records, including new artwork. In 2004, Prayer for Cleansing's second album, The Tragedy, was released as a joint label CD/7" by Southern Empire Records, Surprise Attack Records and War Torn Records. The Tragedy featured re-recordings of three songs previously unavailable on an official release (though all three had been widely available in mp3 form), including their popular cover of The Cranberries song "Salvation". In 2004, straight edge distributor Seventh Dagger Records released The Rain in Endless Fall on vinyl. The band remains inactive since then. Lead guitarist Paul Waggoner later said in a 2009 interview: "I guess that band had sorta run its course. Some of the guys were in school and we didn't really see it going anywhere. At the same time we also wanted to start something different and try to push ourselves a little more musically. I wouldn't say we were bored with what we were doing, but that was around the time when metalcore was starting to sorta take off and bands were kinda coming out of the woodwork. We no longer felt like we were doing something different or creative."