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Friday Full-Length: Church of Misery, Master of Brutality

Church of Misery, Master of Brutality (2001)

The first-released Church of Misery album, Master of Brutality, turns 15 this year. It arrived in 2001 via a then-nascent, riff-obsessed Southern Lord Recordings, kin to work by Electric Wizard, Warhorse, Sourvein and Earthride, but somehow more purely indebted to Black Sabbath than any of them. The album’s six component tracks would establish that and several other tenets that the Tokyo-based outfit would adhere to right up until their latest outing, this year’s And Then There Were None (review here), including the centering of bassist Tatsu Mikami‘s lyrics around serial killers — here it’s Ed Kemper, Peter Sutcliffe, Herbert Mullin, Gary Ridgeway and John Wayne Gacy, whose visage graces the original version of the cover — as well as the generally unhinged feel of the swing conjured by drummer Junji Narita, which would also be a factor for the band across multiple records, the inclusion of an instrumental and the inclusion of a cover. On Master of Brutality, it’s “Cities on Flame” by Blue Öyster Cult, and Church of Misery give it the treatment that, in years to follow, they’d also give songs by Cactus, Sir Lord Baltimore, Saint Vitus, Gun and Quatermass, roughing up the approach as few acts could or would dare to do while staying loyal to the ’70s style of the original.

Of course, one has to start out by mentioning Master of Brutality as the first-released Church of Misery album because of the prior-recorded Vol. 1, which wouldn’t surface until 2007, on Leaf Hound Records. Those songs were more formative than Master of Brutality, so in a way the band had the benefit of making their second offering their debut, and one doesn’t need to get much further into the record than the noisy, sample-laden start of “Killafornia (Ed Kemper)” and the rolling groove that ensues to hear that benefit playing out. Church of Misery would go on to refine that central nod to perfection in the next decade-plus across records like 2003’s blown-out The Second Coming, 2009’s Houses of the Unholy (review here), 2013’s Thy Kingdom Scum (review here) and the aforementioned And Then There Were None, as well as an insurmountable slew of short releases, splits, live outings, compilations and so on, but Master of Brutality remains a big part of the foundation for everything that’s come after it. Even the new record, though cover-less, tucks an instrumental onto side B in the spirit of “Green River (Gary Ridgeway)” here, and the boogie of “Megalomania (Herbert Mullin)” and the lurching span of 11-minute finale “Master of Brutality (John Wayne Gacy),” which only gets noisier as it goes, have stood as a blueprint for far more than Church of Misery‘s own post-Sabbath riffing. Their influence continues to be felt in a wide variety of acts the world over.

One can debate the merits of promoting serial killers endlessly. I’m not a huge fan of murder, as concepts go — nor do I feel that’s a particularly risky thing to say — but while Church of Misery‘s thematic may be questionable, the quality of their output never has been. With Mikami as the lone remaining founder of the band, their spirit continues to move forward into the depths of psychosis, bringing us all along for a ride that’s meant to be uncomfortable even as it grooves so irresistibly.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

I don’t know if it was outright the best decision I’ve ever made, but I took a personal day from work today, and it has to be pretty high on the list. Yesterday morning, in like the ninth consecutive day of rain, I looked around myself and said, “Golly, it sure would be nice not to do this tomorrow,” and so, being fortunate enough to have the kind of position that comes with allotted time for such things, I took the day off. When I was in school, my mother and I used to call them mental health days. Today has definitely fallen in that category.

Woke up leisurely, packed up leisurely, split out of the house in time to go to the post office and pick up a package, then grabbed coffee and headed south to Connecticut. Got a haircut, met up with Steve Murphy of Kings Destroy for lunch (he drove up) — up, up, up, all day. And that’s way better than what the alternative would’ve been, which would be down, down, down the course of a grueling Friday afternoon watching the clock.

Starting Monday I’m out of town. I’m not sure that really means anything in terms of what or how much will be posted on the site, but it’s worth mentioning. I’m going to New Jersey… for work. I’ll still have posts up. Someone reached out to me this week and asked if I still did reviews, said he heard The Obelisk was going on break. I’d like to know where he heard that. Granted, I’ve been way behind on emails and such — there are a lot of people the last couple weeks who’ve gotten in touch and not heard back — so maybe that’s the root. Interesting though. I certainly don’t feel like I’m taking a break.

Next week: Reviews of Naxatras and maybe Gozu or Goatess, as well as a video premiere on Monday from Messa and a track premiere on Thursday from Limestone Whale. Gonna get to work on my Greenleaf interview as well. Hopefully that’ll be up by Friday. We’ll see. Need to do a new podcast as well. Much to do, much to do.

But yeah, I sure as shit am glad I didn’t go to work today. In CT for the weekend, then to NJ on Monday, but for now, going to chill proper for a couple days, listen to music and hang around in my pajamas, because that’s where it’s at.

Have a great and safe weekend, and please check out the forum and radio stream.

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