Church of Misery - Born Under a Mad Sign (Review)

Cornflower Blue Sparkle vinyl diehard: 200 copies + embroidered (blue trim) patch + A2 poster

and Yellow Sherbet: 200 copies Crash Records Store Exclusive pressing.

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.

Foreseen - Grave Danger (Review)

In a break of the tradition of the blog, find below my very first review on the blog.
This will be cross-posted on the eternally essential Metal Archives.

Foreseen’s sound is often described as crossover, but I think this is perhaps ever so slightly overstated. It’s true that the band’s bill sharing has been predominately dominated by hardcore bands as well as putting out releases on specialist hardcore labels (such as the brilliant ‘Quality Control’ from the UK). However on ‘Grave Danger’ it’s easy to observe a stronger influence of NWOBHM coming through. This isn’t to say the album is anything like a NWOBHM record, but rather it explores this melodic framework in a rustic, rudimentary and brutal manner similar to the ways ‘Show No Mercy’ or ‘Schizophrenia’ does. Chunkier riffs permeate this record along with some explorations into vocal hooks.

But make no mistake, the Helsinki savagery present from the first record continues in ruthless form. I absolutely love the drumming on this record. I think its part drum sound, part drumming style, but this guy reminds me of Pete Sandoval’s performance on ‘World Downfall’. There is an intensity and energy behind the kit, I can’t necessarily remember any illustrious drum fills but there are very few moments of respite – it’s sharp, fast and relentless throughout. There is also versatility on display, with some cool symbol work in places and even moments of d-beat, but predominately I hear Pete which… is a huge compliment and testament to the fact this guy is a genuine beast behind the kit.

There are several riffs, tempo changes and breakdowns. The mention of breakdowns, particularly in the context of a crossover band, sometimes causes concern but this shit is done correctly - tastefully deployed and with purpose. The few solos are nice but I never personally mind vulgar displays of virtuosity in heavy metal. But the guitars of course follow the theme already established of the rhythm department in never letting up any pace.

Vocals resemble a slightly off kilter bark, harsh and mostly difficult to distinguish until you have the lyric sheet, wherein you notice a tasteful accent to go with it. Good use of crowd shouts too. The lyrical themes explored are mix of modern social justice concerns along with Thrash’s age old anxieties of corporate and international power. The album is under half an hour, but in the context of its ferocity it’s absolutely perfect. Anything more would make it tiresome and potentially result in a less consistent quality throughout. So if you’re looking for an uncompromised, modern Thrash record that never lets up, you’ve probably already wasted enough time on this review..