Church of Misery (Japanese Bluesy Doom) Play Saint Vitus Bar on Nov. 12th along with The Gates of Slumber

Church of Misery - who, musically, are sonically comparable to early Black Sabbath - are coming back to the US in support of their fifth full-length disc Thy Kingdom Scum (Metal Blade). This new disc features the return of the band's original vocalist, Hideki Fukasawa, and the disc's seven tracks (50 minutes) were written and recorded by Tatsu Mikami, Junji Narita, Ikume Kawabe, and Hideki Fukasawa.  This new album has been praised as one of the best doom releases of 2013, with Decibel Magazine declaring it has "some of the wickedest doom grooves since Black Sabbath 40 years ago…it's resounding proof that no one right now-not even the reunited Sabbath with a newly wound-up Ozzy-can come close to the gargantuan swing of the mighty Church of Misery."

For the show at Saint Vitus Bar (advance tickets are $15), Church of Misery are playing with Detroit speed-rockers Against the Grain and Indianapolis doom-metal band The Gates of Slumber.  While I don't know much about Against the Grain, The Gates of Slumber released a great new EP, "Stormcrow", earlier this year which is available as a free download from Scion AV.



Church of Misery Fall 2013 US Tour Dates
10/18 - Oakland CA @ The Oakland Opera House
10/19 - San Francisco CA @ Thee Parkside
10/20 - Portland OR @ Rotture
10/21 - Seattle WA @ The Crocodile
10/22 - Bellingham WA @ The Shakedown
10/23 - Vancouver BC @ Rickshaw Theater
10/24 - Edmonton AB @ The Pawn Shop
10/25 - Calgary AB @ The Palomino
10/30 - Fargo ND @ The Aquarium
10/31 - Saint Paul MN @ Turf Club
11/01 - Chicago IL @ Ultra Lounge
11/02 - Rock Island IL @ Rock Island Brewing Co.
11/03 - Grand Rapids MI @ Pyramid Scheme
11/06 - Pittsburgh PA @ 31st St Pub
11/07 - Syracuse NY @ Lost Horizon
11/08 - Toronto ON @ Hard Luck
11/09 - Ottawa QC @ Mavericks
11/10 - Montreal QC @ IL Motore
11/11 - Providence RI @ AS220
11/12 - Brooklyn NY @ Saint Vitus
11/13 - Richmond VA @ Kingdom
11/14 - Baltimore MD @ Otto Bar
11/16 - Atlanta GA @ EARL
11/17 - New Orleans LA @ One Eyed Jacks
11/18 - Austin TX @ Mohawk
11/19 - Dallas TX @ Club Dada
11/22 - Tempe AZ @ Yucca Tap Room
11/23 - Los Angeles CA @ The Satellite
*w/ Saviours (10/18-10/23), Wizard Rifle (10/18-10/31), The Gates of Slumber (11/01-11/19), Against the Grain (11/01-11/23)

Links:
Church of Misery

Church of Misery - "Master of Brutality" Reissue CD Review (Metal Blade/Rise Above)

Church Of Misery "Megalomania (Herbert Mullin)" by Metal Blade Records

While waiting for the Black Sabbath reunion album, Rise Above/Metal Blade’s reissue of Church of Misery’s full-length debut, Master of Brutality, should be a good holdover. Master of Brutality was Church of Misery’s first full-length and the disc originally came out on Southern Lord in 2001. This new reissue adds three bonus tracks which extends the total running time by an additional 33 minutes.

While a lot of bands were inspired by early Black Sabbath, Church of Misery is the first band that I’ve heard that writes songs that sound like they came straight out of the Sabbath catalogue. Guitarist Tomohiro Nishimura lays down chunky, blues-based, doom riffs on top of an ultra-heavy rhythm section and the only noticeable differentiation from Black Sabbath’s sound is that vocalist Yoshiaki Negishi has more of a Lemmy/Roddy Stone (Viking Skull) rasp. A quote that was included as part of the packaging with the disc’s original issue tells you everything that you need to know about Church of Misery: “We hate trend. We hate corporate attitude. We hate the word ‘stoner’. Death to false stoners!! Let there be DOOM!!”



Six of the disc’s nine tracks are about famous serial killers (Peter Sutcliffe, John Wayne Gacy, Albert de Salvo, etc.) and, for anyone who can’t understand the band’s disturbing lyrics; the tracks include voice-over sound bytes from the killers themselves. The remaining three tracks are a Blue Oyster Cult cover “Cities on Fire”, a (brief) instrumental “Green River” (4:30 minutes – which is one of the shortest tracks on this disc), and a 17+ minute live version of “Lucifer Rising” (which I presume is a cover of a portion of the Kenneth Anger film soundtrack). In keeping with the band’s obsession with serial killers, prior to the Masters of Reality tribute cover on this reissue, an earlier cover showed John Wayne Gacy’s face covered with blood spatter.

Church of Misery didn’t play outside of Japan prior to 2005 and this band is finally making their US debut, which will take place at the 2012 edition of Maryland Death Fest.

Links:
Church of Misery