Church of Misery

Japan.
It's a country of great music. There's no doubt about it. So many great bands, of every genre, seem to come out of there. I think of it as Asia's Sweden. Both countries just export such quality music.

One Japanese band I stumbled across this year is Church of Misery. Imagine, if you will, some 1970s Black Sabbath. Now take that, mix it up with some Kyuss and Oliveri-era Queens of the Stone Age (fuck he made that band) and while you're at it, throw in some dirty southern rock (in a Maylene and the Sons of Disaster style) and just a pinch of the Melvins.


Finding all of those videos for those bands mentioned above has made me excited for this. They are just truly awesome doom-metal. So it's not surprising that they're headlining Doomfest this year. October 14 at the Jubilee.

If you like only one or two of those bands I listed above, do yourself a favour, head over to their MySpace and chuck a listen. Don't let the band name or the genre fool you, it's just great rock and roll.

EDIT: According to the festival's Facebook, Church of Misery are out. Stay tuned to see who the replacement is

One sentence album reviews (#9)

Due to the floods this went on the backburner, but I'm slowly bringing it back on my Twitter.

Bad Books - ST (2010): Manchester Orchestra and Kevin Devine crossover for sweet indie-folk. 4/5

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today (2010): experimental lo-fi pop music doesn't really sound that good to me 2/5

1905 - Voice (2002): Female lead noise rock/screamo. It's currently one my favourite genres and I love this album. 4.5/5

Make Do and Mend - End Measured Mile (2010): This album can probably be the new yardstick for the orgcore genre 4/5

Gorillaz - The Fall (2010): Not bad for free and recorded on an iPad, especially love the almost cinematic instrumentals at the end 3.5/5

A Day to Remember - What Separates Me From You (2010): The idea of a pop-punk/metalcore crossover scares me, but I'll admit this album isn't horrible. 3/5

Anchors - Bad JuJu (2010): good, fast, melodic hardcore punk from Melbourne. Sound better on album than their last live show I caught 3/5

Athletics - Why Aren't I Home? (2010): Ambient post-rock that sounds more like midwest emo. 3.5/5.

Bad Sports - ST (2009): Garage rock that sounds like it's from the prime days of the early 70s! 4/5

Church of Misery - Houses of the Unholy (2009): Japanese/southern-rock/stoner/

sludge/metal, which sounds amazing. 4.5/5

Cloud Nothings - Turning On (2009): happy, jangly guitar-pop; refreshing as it sounds nothing like that current surf rock craze 3.5/5

Colors - Palindromes (2010): this is as cliche as screamo gets. It's neither good, nor bad. It just is. 2.5/5

Burning Love - Songs for Burning Lovers (2010): The former Cursed singer goes into hardcore punk, result is like the Bronx covers Cursed. 4/5

James Blake - James Blake (2011): I always thought dubstep was supposed to be more dancy, not this awesome laid back sound 4/5