Right, just to set things up straight from the outset, the last Church Of Misery album was actually Thy Kingdom Scum in 2013. You may have seen another one called And Then There Were None, but frankly as far as I’m concerned that was a bad covers band despite the presence of founder member Tatsu Mikami and the other talent on it, all US based. It was safe. Controlled. Normal. Church Of Misery have never been any of those. Just completely the wrong line-up for their sound for me.

So roll on a decade from 2013 (sheesh…) and when I heard Mikami had reunited with original vocalist Kazuhiro Aseada and rounded out the studio line-up with Toshiaki Umemura (ex-Eternal Elysium) and Yukito Okazakie (still Eternal Elysium) I thought there was a chance, just a chance the insanity might be back.

The drone, the cock of a shotgun. The blast. The voice over giving us the grim lowdown of ‘Beltway Sniper (John Allen Muhammad)’. And then the dirty fuzzed out Sabbathian stoned out of its gourd riff begins its ponderous bludgeon. And then that voice; raw, strained, ever so slightly nuts and marinated in blood and booze to let the stoner psyche blues rip free. The groove is hit heavy and immediately. The guitar breaks over the top. Just like that we’re thigh deep in the thick, filthy and superb riffing. It prowls and it crushes in equal measure. It is simply Church Of Misery, unhinged. There’s a live in the studio feel when the lead break hits hard, the bass left to back fill superbly with no overdubs and the heavy handed drums beating down.

I breath and grin and nod.

‘Most Evil (Fritz Harmann)’ is a slower, snarling bit of nastiness, less groove more strange meandering guitars. More malevolent. Then the riff asserts itself and just drives on, and on and a ragged razor edge lead break weaves around like a car about to career off the road. It’s glorious noise. It’s Church Of Misery. ‘Freeway Madness Boogie (Randy Kraft)’ is a noodling, gritty mess of guitar and all the better for it. ‘Murder Castle Blues (HH Holmes)’ goes back to a more focussed malevolence, but the guitar tone perfect to make you want to shower.

‘Spoiler’ curiously for the band, has no name attached to it. They have done this infrequently before but rarely. Also the keyboards here add an almost Blue Oyster Cult circa the seventies feel to the boogie groove on display, which is neat. Very ‘Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll’ in places (which the band covered on their debut by the way) just with a fine loose feel to it indeed.

‘Come And Get Me Sucker (David Koresh)’ opens with the logic that clearly nestles in the heart of the NRA and GOP and sinister, ominous riff winds up. The vocals are once more on point here, twisting the sound and expressing perfectly the feel of the lunacy involved as a hook laden riff pulls you this way and that. ‘Butcher Baker (Robert Hansen)’ closes, stalking you across the cold landscape, determined and in their own mind focussed but beneath it all deliriously unhinged and a superb way to leave this horrible world (and as a weird aside using the lyrics ‘nightmare maker’ might draw forth a nod from fans of 80s slasher flicks)

Anything bad? Nope. Maybe it doesn’t quite reach the deranged heights of ‘Dusseldorf Monster (Peter Kurten)’, ‘Born To Raise Hell (Richard Speck)’ or ‘Blood Sucking Freak (Richard Trenton Chase)’ in the utterly deranged vocal department but Hideki Fukasawa was/is/who knows a…ahem…unique proposition so it’s splitting hairs as the vocals here are just fantastic and it’s great to have Kazuhiro Aseada back.

Oh it’s cool to have this unique band back on their proper psyched out blues track. A place where you’re not sure whether the guitar of the vocalist is going to lose it first. It makes your hairs prickle and your skin crawl as they spout, blurt and rant the words. But musically this is just top notch filthy stoned blues worshipping at the roots of Sabbath that staggers, weaves and wanders all to its own beat.

Damn. Good to have you back guys.

(9/10 Gizmo)

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