CHURCH OF MISERY - Born Under a Mad Sign
Rise Above Records
I got into Japan's CHURCH OF MISERY mid-way through their career. Houses of the Unholy from 2009 was the second album I picked up from em. And to this day I'll still say it's not only their best album but it's their one release which placed them on the mountain of Stoner Doom. After that I picked up their early recordings as well as newer releases. That Live at Roadburn 2009 release, which actually came out in 2010, is the shit. Since I've never seen the band perform live then that release is the closest I'll evewr get to the band's heyday. And then after all of that everything got not so good.
So the band's next couple of albums, aka: 2013's Thy Kingdom Scum and 2016's And Then There Were None, were not winners in my book. I chalk it all up to line-up changes which doesn't change too much for a band like this. But toss in uninspiring song writing and that leads to boredom. I mean any clown can check out a stoner doom release and be blown away by it. But if you've heard all of the SABBATH-ian bands from the past you kinda want more than smoking some pot and worshipping the riff dude.
Which brings me to this latest one from Japan's leaders in the slow SABBATH touch. Honestly it took me five fucking listens to this CD in order to appreciate it. But for openers it's another line-up change thing. Bassist Tatsu Mikami, the band's spengali, is still leading this thing. He brought back Kazuhiro Asaeda, the band's original vocalist (?). As far as guitar and drums go we see the newcomers Fumiya Hattori and Toshiaki Umemura.
Once again the excitement of what CHURCH OF MISERY once was takes a few songs to kick in. Both "Beltway Sniper" and "Most Evil" are boring and way too long. It's when the third cut "Freeway Madness Boogie" kicks in that the real CHURCH OF MISERY comes to life in 2023. In fact it's this point where the album becomes a winner.
It's the fuckin boogie jams, the added keyboards and the upbeat excitement. Toss in Fumiya Hattori's blues rock soloing as well as riff frency and Toshiaki Umemura cutting loose on the drums. I mean hell fuckin yeah! I'll never be sold on Kazuhiro Asaeda as a vocalist. In fact I like it better when he's not singing. But in the end (aka: five out of seven songs) this pretty damm good.
LISTEN HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjINA7jSZFs
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