Church of Misery with Saviours and Wizard Rifle 12/3, 2013 at The Crocodile 8:00pm $15 adv.
By Angelica Jannone
Conventional wisdom dictates that It doesn’t get much more American than sludge metal and serial killers, except when it comes from Japan, in which case Church of Misery has beaten us at our own game. I’m already over it though because this band truly rips. Their punishing sound incorporates guitar that is both distorted and metallic that lurches back and forth between frenzied solos and moments of blues exaltation while remaining tethered by oppressive bass lines and gut-punch drums. Current vocalist, Hideki Fukasawa, presides over this swamp-worship orgy with gritty savagery, reiterating the heaviness of their sound by waxing on chaotic spree murderers and exclaiming such aphorisms as “torture never stops” and “within us all evil dwells”. The combination of these elements is like getting hit by something with real terrible gas mileage, like a 1970’s Plymouth or Buick or something. They are a filthy sludgy, doomy homage to everything that should matter: riffs and true crime mythos. It’s a paradoxical celebration of heavy music tradition and nihilistic misanthropy that will knock the wind right out of you. The band had a cult following early on and became one to watch on their first U.S. tour in 2012 which included a stop at Maryland Deathfest and even to our fair city. The Seattle show wasn’t nearly as well-attended as it should have been, so I feel we owe it to them this year upon releasing their fifth full-length album, Thy Kingdom Scum. More importantly, the band had to completely rearrange their tour schedule in order to make it to the States thanks to our fabled Congress. That’s right, the government shutdown completely thwarted the band’s ability to get the appropriate visas in time for their tour that would have brought them here sometime in October. Despite this setback, they’re here just in time for the winter holidays. A true treat, this was one of the most exhilarating and devastating bands I’ve ever seen, so let’s just say, as the ad men put it, Christmas has come early this year.
http://www.thecrocodile.com/event/373641-church-misery-seattle/
