... Harry, you will review this album. It's a band from Japan .... That was more or less the mail that I received and I was ready to take my shovel out of the closet for one more time. But just after one second by the time I pressed the play button and listened to the new album from CHURCH OF MISERY, I realized that I wouldn't need it.

They were formed back in 1995 by Tatsu Mikami, in order to play good old doom Metal. They had numerous 7s and 12 EPs, split vinyls and CD songs in lots of compilations. In these thirteen years, they had some lineup changes and recorded two full length albums that are, unfortunately, not that easy to find. Here we are dealing with CHURCH OF MISERY's third album, Houses Of The Unholy, an album that, to tell you the truth, is so damn good that I still think it's just a dream.

From the first notes of the album the 70's atmosphere and the smell of BLACK SABBATH is in the air. Their music grabs you by the neck and won't let you until the CD is over. Besides the masters of doom and the Metal scene in general (for those who are not from this planet I'm referring to BLACK SABBATH) bands like ELECTRIC WIZARD and IRON MONKEY will come to mind, too. As for the subjects that the lyrics are talking about, well it's obvious by just looking at the titles and the cover of the album with Albert Fish on it that you won't find the usual lyrics 'doom' themes over here. These guys have a master degree as far as the serial killers.

Sometimes words are too small and weak to make something fully understandable. And it's even more difficult when you are talking/writing about music. This album is so damn good that I really don't know what else to write. Houses Of The Unholy is full of groovy rhythms, great riffs and a voice that many 'stoner' Rock bands would die to have. And as they wrote in the notes of the Master Of Brutality album: We hate trend. We hate corporate attitude. We hate the word 'stoner'. Death to false stoners!! Let there be DOOM!!. This is a killer album all the way. Grab it at once!

P.S.: I have to find their previous two full-length albums...