M**********r. This is Church of Misery.
Quickly summarized – this release is for sure their most mature and outright consistent so far. This makes ‘Born Under’ stand out as a Church career highlight and therefore consequently a bit of a classic for any true Doom Metal enthusiast immediately.
Generally, the novelty of being from Japan tends to work for the benefit of most bands in the West. However, Tatsu Mikami’s tunnel vision dedication to serial killers and the heavy sounds of rock 'n' roll has meant that for some reason or another, Church of Misery have remained in the underground realm for decades. This guy is a LIFER. In the year I turned 17 (17 years ago, by coincidence), I bore witness to a Church of Misery show on Halloween Night. Tatsu had his bass low enough it a necessity to reflect the vital, thick low-end groove it produced. On vocals was Hideki Fukasawa, CoM’s longest serving vocalist who came out barefoot and dressed like John Lennon during his bed-in for peace era. Yes, strangers of the internet, I was a pig in shit.
There is a reason why Tatsu indulged himself with a Motorhead homage project with the Exumer frontman, Mem. Like Lemmy he gets it – when you imbue your sound with rock ’n’ roll, it’s just comes harder, groovier, with riff and an urgency only hardcore and thrash comes close to matching. You think this is bullshit? go listen to Elvis’s version of Milkcow Blues Boogie, an acoustic song that has all the urgency of the aforementioned. But despite all this talk of rock’n’roll, don’t misunderstand me, Tatsu continues to stand by his infamous proclamation from the Master of Brutality record. This is Doom, make no qualms about it. You will have plenty of opportunities to headbang.
After the most recent Sonic Flower album, I was hoping, wishin’ the new guitarist who absolutely kills it on that record (Fumiya Hattori) would be the axe-man on this release. Instead, we get something even more special and echoing another great additional to the Doom Metal canon, Place of Skulls ‘With Vision’ album, when Wino joined original Pentagram guitarist Victor Griffin’s project. Tatsu here teams up with fellow Japanese Doom Metal lifer Yukito Okazaki of Eternal Elysium.
The sound continues in the traditional vein of Church of Misery. Sludgey, doomy, rock ’n’ roll boogie centred around serial killers. But the execution this time around is just more confident and self-assured. The band are on top form and somehow, it’s manifested even its presentation. We get a Blue Note inspired cover and an album title that clearly plays on Albert King’s legendary ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ record. The songs are maybe the best overall since Second Coming. Across the album you’ll find Sabbathian plods, bluesy licks and absurdly heavy grooves. My biggest complaint is the album ends somewhat abruptly.
For the purposes of this review, I’ve gone back and spent time with all studio album releases to more realistically determine where this sits for me in their catalogue. I believe that some particular songs off ‘Houses of the Unholy’ (Born to Raise Hell/Badlands) and Thy Kingdom Scum (Brother Bishop) undeniably trump any single song on this album. However, this album is so consistently strong, it really doesn’t matter and whilst ‘Master of Brutality’ and ‘The Second Coming’ remain canon this record can stand up as arguably their best since 2004.
Arigato for the all the grooves, riffs and whiplash Mr Tatsu.
