### Church Of Misery: Thy kingdom scum

#### 29/09/13 || gk

Japan’s Church of Misery returned this year with their fifth full length and it’s business as usual. “Thy kingdom scum” continues with another bunch of songs about serial killers all presented in the band’s patented Sabbath worshiping heavy blues template.

The album opens with “B.T.K. (Dennis Rader)” and it’s a shimmering, psychedelic start as the instrumental slowly goes through a mood change and sets the tone for what is to come. “Lambs to the slaughter (Ian Brady / Myra Hindley)” is heavy blues with some nods to Black Sabbath and a superb solo spot from guitarist Ikuma Kawabe. Brother bishop is pretty much the show piece of the album and relies on a main riff that is somewhat more NOLA than Birmingham and it works especially with the mid song freak out from Kawabe and bassist and main man Tatsu Mikami. “Cranley gardens (Dennis Andrew Nilsen)” first turned up on the band’s 2008 “Dennis Nilsen” EP and is slightly reworked here, with its interplay between heavy, lumbering riffs and gently shimmering psychedelia making it another strong song on the album. “Thy kingdom scum” closes with what is probably the band’s longest song yet in “Düsseldorf monster (Peter Kürten)” stretching to over 12 minutes. The song begins with a blues rock freak out by way of Black Sabbath but slowly settles down into one thunderous groove. The song shifts effortlessly between moods and all four musicians shine here.

If you’ve heard Church of Misery before then you know what to expect. Main man and bass player Tatsu Mikami may write all the songs and groove like a madman on the bass but new guitarist Ikuma Kawabe is more than capable of pulling his own weight and turns in a memorable performance particularly with his soloing. Vocalist Hideki Fukasawa has toned down his style a bit and makes for a better listen overall while drummer Junji Narita is rock solid behind the bass but is also a bit subdued in the mix.

Overall, this is one of the stronger Church of Misery albums to come out. The four dudes actually sound like a band and instead of random moments of genius sprinkled throughout the album, this time around, we get a tight set of songs and an album that is just high quality. I’ll resist the temptation to call this CoM’s best album yet but this is easily better than 2009s “Houses of the unholy” and just as good as 2004s “The second coming”.

Fans will already have this or have at least heard this by now. For the rest of you, if you fancy some blues soaked doom metal that has one foot in the past then you should be checking out “Thy kingdom scum”.

- Information
- Released: 2013
- Label: Rise Above
- Website: Church Of Misery Facebook
- Band
- Hideki Fukasawa : vocals
- Ikuma Kawabe : guitars
- Tatsu Mikami: bass
- Junji Narita: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. B.T.K. (Dennis Rader)
- 02. Lambs to the Slaughter (Ian Brady / Myra Hindley)
- 03. Brother Bishop (Gary Heidnik)
- 04. Cranley Gardens (Dennis Andrew Nilsen)
- 05. One Blind Mice (Quatermass cover)
- 06. All Hallow’s Eve (John Linley Frazier)
- 07. Düsseldorf Monster (Peter Kürten)