CHURCH OF MISERY’S HOUSES OF THE UNHOLY: BLOODSOAKED JAMS FROM THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN
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.
