Japanese murder rock stalwarts Church of Misery announce they’ll make a new album this summer. The band, who just slid under the lockdown wire in being able to perform their 25th anniversary North American tour in 2020 before lockdowns started, released their most recent outing, And Then There Were None (review here) in 2016, and it was particularly notable for American fans since founding bassist, songwriter and lone consistent member Tatsu Mikami selected a US-based lineup for the band, with guitarist Dave “Depraved” Szulkin (Blood Farmers), drummer Eric Little (Earthride, ex-Internal Void), and Scott Carlson of frickin’ Repulsion on vocals.

For the new incarnation of Church of Misery, Tatsu — who also has a new album coming out Sept. 30 with his even-more-’70s-rock band Sonic Flower on Heavy Psych Sounds — brings in Sonic Flower‘s drummer, Tishiaki Umemura, vocalist Hiroyuki Takano (who did the aforementioned tour in 2020) and Eternal Elysium‘s Yukito Okazaki.

The prospect of Eternal Elysium guitar and Church of Misery bass together is an intriguing one, but Tatsu always has a few surprises up his sleeve. Among the points of intrigue, I’m curious to know how the band’s outright glorification of violence — a signature element no less than their ultra-Sabbathian riffs — will be received in a social climate where the value of life, such as it is, has been reinforced by the near-universal trauma of plague, as well as political violence, and in the case of Europe, outright war. Also entirely possible that, after more than a quarter-century, they’ve run out of serial killers to talk about.

Oh wait. Actually there’s no way that last one is true. So much murder.

From social media:

Church of Misery – New Album

It has been 6 years since the last album “And then there were none” released in 2016. Finally, Church of Misery will start recording for new album in this summer!

TATSU MIKAMI (bass) and HIROYUKI TAKANO (vocals) will do the recording with supporting musicians for this album. TOSHIAKI UMEMURA on drums (Sonic Flower, ex-AUMA) who also plays on the Sonic Flower new album. And on guitar, Japanese Doom Guru YUKITO OKAZAKI (Eternal Elysium). Eternal Elysium is a doom band with a longer career than Church of Misery actually!

Recording will be start at the end of August in Tokyo and Nagoya Japan. The album will be total 7 songs that consist of 6 new songs plus one cover song of a 70’s heavy rock band. The album will continue to be released on Rise Above Records.

More details will be announced as they become available!

http://www.churchofmisery.net/
https://www.facebook.com/churchofmiserydoom/
https://www.instagram.com/churchofmiseryofficial/

Church of Misery, Live at the High Water Mark, Portland, OR, March 1, 2020

Tags: Church of Misery, Japan, Rise Above Records

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