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Noothgrush, Failing Early, Failing Often: Overachieving at Underachievement

Posted in Reviews on September 14th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

In the spirit of their reissue of the out-of-print Early Works Compilation from Church of Misery, the vigilant Michigan label Emetic Records now plays host to a renewed edition of Failing Early, Failing Often, a collection of demo cuts and rarities from Oakland, California, sludge imperialists Noothgrush. It’s one of several releases the Noothgrush have on offer for fall 2011 – as the band also plays their first live shows in a decade, they’re unleashing a host of vinyls and CDs, including this, the Live for Nothing live album on Southern Lord, a reissue of their Erode the Person full-length, a reissue of their first demo, and a collection of unreleased songs and covers. The material on Failing Early, Failing Often, which was first released in 2001, comprises Noothgrush’s second two demo tapes and numerous contributions to splits, compilations and 7”s. Recorded over the course of a little under two years between August 1995 and June 1997, this 17-track, 70-minute CD is equal parts expansive and oppressive. Any way you cut it, it cuts you first.

The reasonable assumption when approaching a disc like Failing Early, Failing Often is that these songs — which are culled from no fewer than 14 disparate sources and put side by side — would have nothing in common, sound-wise, and that the comp would be completely haphazard as a result. Not so. Noothgrush recorded this material over the stated stretch of time, true, and with a varied lineup around drummer Chiyo Nukaga, guitarist Russ Kent and vocalist/periodic-guitarist Gary Niederhoff, but they did it all at the same studio. The entirety of Failing Early, Failing Often’s material was put to tape (over eight sessions, according to the liner notes) at Trainwreck Studios in Mountain View, California, and between that and the consistency of Niederhoff’s ultra-gnarly throat abrasions, it’s enough to lend some measure of consistency. The tracks don’t flow as easily as they might on an album, but the rough production they all receive throughout acts as a base that songs stray in various directions around, either grittier or cleaner. Mostly grittier. Noothgrush – who’ve gone underappreciated in the resurgence of sludge-influenced acts like EyeHateGod and Buzzov*en – clearly knew at the time what works for their genre, and there’s no capitulation anywhere to accessibility. Failing Early, Failing Often is 70 minutes of mud-covered fuckall to which many endurances will no doubt fall.

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Buzzov*en, …At a Loss: Still Swamped After all These Years

Posted in Reviews on May 6th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

The band’s original 1998 swansong, …At a Loss can be taken two ways when put in the context of Buzzov*en’s catalog as a whole. On the one hand, it’s the Wilmington, North Carolina, outfit’s most coherent offering in terms of songcraft, use of structure, and general self-awareness. By 1998, there may not have been nearly as many practitioners of it as there are today, but there was a set of sludge acts from across the USBongzilla and Eyehategod come to mind as contemporaries – and Buzzov*en were always intelligent enough to understand what was happening around them, as they were constantly on tour. So it’s a record with a place and a defined direction. On the other hand, with that, you necessarily lose the chaos of Buzzov*en’s earlier work in albums like To a Frown (1993) and Sore (1994), which had a fuck-all throwaway feel that simply can’t be replicated by anyone who knows what they’re doing without sounding contrived on some level. What’s certain in listening to …At a Loss is that Buzzov*en did pill-popping misanthropy like no one either in the American South or anywhere else. Even as what’s ostensibly their most accessible album, …At a Loss is a litmus test for how much aural hatred a person can withstand before pressing stop.

Given new life with a recent reissue thanks to Michigan imprint Emetic Records, every second of …At a Loss feels saturated with anger. It’s a humid, swampy sound to start with, and Buzzov*en revel in it across songs like the ultra-slow “Loricet,” the blastingly punkish “Flow,” which follows immediately, and the opening title-track, which begins the album with a sample of Robert Di Niro from Taxi Driver giving the “Someday a real rain’s gonna come…” monologue like it’s a mission statement for …At a Loss itself. The samples – an integral part of Buzzov*en’s assault – were handled at last by T-Roy Medlin, who had already by then formed Sourvein, and though that inevitably dates the record in the context of how overused sampling became in sludge, doom and stoner rock, it’s important to remember how pioneering Buzzov*en were in the method and that their doing so involved tapes and not laptops. I don’t know if that makes a difference in how most ears will hear …At a Loss 13 years after the fact, but the context is worth considering one way or the other.

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Church of Misery, Vol. 1: At Last, the Beginning

Posted in Reviews on March 18th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

Originally recorded in 1996 and long bootlegged before its official vinyl release in 2007 on Japan’s now-disappeared Leaf Hound Records, it’s not until some 15 years later that Church of Misery’s first album, Vol. 1, is seeing a legitimate CD release. Michigan imprint Emetic Records – who also reissued Church of Misery’s Early Works Compilation last year (another out of print Leaf Hound title) – has both CD and vinyl versions of the album, both with bonus tracks, and the Sabbath worship may have never been so complete. From the direct take on Black Sabbath’s Vol. 4 artwork, to the title, to the sampled storm that starts the album to the simplistic riff-based glory contained within the subsequent tracks, Church of Misery are missionaries spreading a message, giving praise in one of the most direct and vital ways: With groove.

The only remaining member (the only founding member left) from the Vol. 1 lineup of the band is Tatsu Mikami, whose wah-bass features heavily almost immediately with a solo on “Cloud Bed.” His Geezer Butler fills are to be expected, but like a lot of what Church of Misery has done musically over the course of their career, is no less glorious for hitting its marks. The serial killer obsession that’s come out in the vast majority of their lyrics is nascent on Vol. 1, vocalist Kazuhiro Asaeda handling most of the words with help from guitarist Tomohiro Nishimura, whose riffs – it should go without saying – are pure Iommic bastardization, and I mean that in the best way. The simple truth is that no one has ever quite captured the swing of mid-paced Black Sabbath as well as Church of Misery, and even as they close out Vol. 1 with a cover of Gun’s “Race with the Devil,” their treatment of it sounds like Trouble doing one of the tunes off Masters of Reality. Obviously, that’s a good thing. They’ve always been a “what you see is what you get” kind of band, an ethic they seem to share with British outfit Orange Goblin, who got started around the same time, but their simplicity is a huge part of their appeal. “Kingdom Scum” wouldn’t work if it wanted to do more than rock. The way “Celebrate Pigs” invokes “Snowblind” would fall flat if it was trying to be more than it is. Church of Misery requires prior induction, and as Vol. 1 shows, that’s apparently been the case right from the start.

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Church of Misery to Reissue Volume 1 in March

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 7th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

Good news for anyone who hates paying eBay prices for their doom: Michigan imprint Emetic Records will reissue Church of Misery‘s Volume 1 next month. Emetic released the band’s Early Works Compilation (originally out on the defunct Leaf Hound label) last year as well, and in case you missed it, it’s awesome and you should get it.

Emetic sent word along via the PR wire:

March 8 will see the official rerelease of Church of Misery‘s unreleased debut full-length Volume 1 via Emetic Records. This will be the first time this has been officially released on CD. A vinyl version will be released towards the end of March. This release has been remastered (Souichirou Nakamura at Peace Music) and sounds amazing compared to the original release. Originally recorded in 1996, this is the oldest Church of Misery recordings.

Volume 1 track listing:
1. Cloud Bed
2. Nutz
3. Kingdom Scum
4. Frog’s Funeral
5. Cerebrate Pigs
6. Chilly Grave
7. Race with the Devil
8. Race with the Devil (Single Version)
9. Chilly Grave (Single Version)

Church Of Misery Will be playing the following festival dates with more to added soon.
Hellfest
France June 17
Tuska Open Air
Finland July 22-24

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