CHURCH OF MISERY’S HOUSES OF THE UNHOLY: BLOODSOAKED JAMS FROM THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 10:30am by Satan Rosenbloom
If Church of Misery stick around long enough, there is always the possibility that they will run out of serial killers to write songs about. While that would be good news for humanity, it would be a shame for metal, because the Tokyo band’s lyrical obsession is one of the great trademarks in metaldom, rivaling countrymen Corrupted’s insistence on singing every song in Spanish. It’s also one of two factors that distinguishes them from their many, many stoner/doom peers, the other being the fact that they kick unholy amounts of ass.
That second factor turns out to be pretty important in Houses of the Unholy, Church of Misery’s fourth platter of splatter. Behind all the sampled news bytes of their subjects’ heinous crimes, and shouts of “Blood sucking freeeeeeeak!!!,” Church of Misery fire off heavy, psychedelic rock ‘n roll as explosive as the shotgun blasts of James Oliver Huberty, the mass murderer who inspired “Shotgun Boogie.” The psychopath gimmick never really feels like a gimmick, thanks to the wooly jams that shit sparks all over the album.
The doomy boogies at the center of “El Padrino” and “Born to Raise Hell” are straight Sabbath veneration, all jackboot stomping and bluesy pentatonia. But where our beloved Birmingham boys built their kingdom on immortal riffs, Church of Misery excel at wringing blood from dangerous jams. Bassist Tatsu Mikami and drummer Junji Narita spiral from limber lumbering to hurtling freedom on “The Gray Man” (dedicated to the pedophilic cannibal Albert Fish); guitarist Thomas Sutton, the lone Caucasian in the group, sloshes electric soul around on the Sir Lord Baltimore cover “Master Heartache” and a glorious wah-wah solo on “Badlands.” If anybody in Church of Misery speaks direct from the heart of the serial killer, it’s vocalist/synth player Hideki Fukasawa. His throaty delivery has just the right amounts of insanity and passion for a killing spree.
Something still doesn’t sit quite right: a bell-bottomed psychedelic doom band should write songs about cosmic drug trips, not necrophilic vampires (“Blood Sucking Freak”). Consider the homages to vintage Blue Note sleeves that litter the liner notes (past album covers have referenced Pet Sounds and Vol. 4), witness the continued inclusion of one cover song by a classic doom band per album. In this context, maybe the serial killer thing is just another one of Church of Misery’s nigh-fetishistic traditions. Call them rituals, even – considering the churchly overtones of the band’s name and the title of the album, that ain’t much of a stretch. Not to say that Church of Misery are a religious band, far from it. Just that the band’s reverence for their influences, both of the sludgy and murdery kind, borders on the worshipful. Amen.
(four out of five horns)
-SR
I almost listened to this yesterday. I’ll try to listen to it today. Nice review.
Me loves me some stoner/doom.
This sounds interesting as hell. Will check it out ASAP
This album is veeeery very old. Too old to review now anyway.
That aside, yeah this album fucking ROCKS!
I still remember the split release they did with Iron Monkey put out on Man’s Ruin several years back. There’s something about these guys that really stands out, namely the singer’s voice. Definitely not just aping Sabbath. I’m excited to hear this one!
Pun on Zeppelin=not metal
Church of Misery are unbelievable. I guess the album came out a while back, but it’s so good. They’re just so groovy. It’s not just straight sabbath worship. It’s like a culmination of all of the best music of the 70’s but with a modern, hard edge.
YES! I asked for a review of this album a couple of months back. Great stuff, one of the best of the year.
hell yes! band is pure fucking awesome!
Man, I remember reading about Albert Fish when I was in like 6th grade. Couldn’t fucking sleep for like a month. I’ll to give this album a listen, too.
I have been listening to this band for a while, they are pretty badass.
The album sounds a lot like if an album had been released between Matt Pike’s transition from Sleep to High On Fire. VERY sludgy, VERY stoner, VERY awesome. Great dopesmoker jams (see what I did there? eh?)
I definitely recommend this to ANYBODY that likes High On Fire, new Mastodon, Sleep, or stoner metal in general. Simple, crunchy, tasty.
Forgive me for knowing this. But Albert Fish was a huge fucking freak, and theres some heavy material there. He was fond of sticking long needles into his groin and wang. Sometimes he stuck them in so far he lost them. When he was finally caughty, they did an x-ray and found numerous needles lost in his groin. He had pushed them in so far he couldnt get them out and forgot about them. He was fond of standing on hills and screaming at god. He was a necropheliac. He liked little kids a little too much. They dont really know everything he did though. He was sneaky. I believe thats a picture of him on the cover. Church of misery should do H. H. Holmes next. THAT would be metal. Church of Misery “Murder Mansion”. SO buying this album.
Kind of like if Solace joined Goatsnake, and Clutch showed up for the occasional solo. Good stuff. Heavy stuff. Groovy stuff.