If I am to be perfectly honest with CHURCH OF MISERY and their album "Thy Kingdom Scum", I'm sure to piss off a few people. However, don't take my comparisons to any other bands as an insult. When I say that CHURCH OF MISERY very closely resembles MASTODON but far more specifically THE MELVINS - I say that with respect. It's no small feat to emulate the greatness of either band, I mean RED FANG and INDIAN HANDCRAFTS and countless others have done it, and honestly were pretty successfully able to reach success. What matters here is content and CHURCH OF MISERY is somewhat unique in that, following the aspects of THE MELVINS I really liked - quirky fuzz Metal / Rock Punkish mayhem and murderous attitude. As you can see, I don't know how to describe this teetering type of music but CHURCH OF MISERY pretty much kills it (in the good way).

Strangely, as I've heard many bands use this style for more political, beer guzzling or comedic topics - CHURCH OF MISERY just flat out talks about murder and serial killers. You won't go too long without noticing some quip or clip of how many people someone killed. CHURCH OF MISERY even tells you right in the titles the name of the killer to make it extra easy for you to look them up and get what they are saying.

Back in the day, I used to be entirely fascinated with 'true story' songs and CHURCH OF MISERY gives a whole album of them. Along with such a strong harking back to THE MELVINS, I can't say that there really is anything bad here - not even in the mixing - A high quality and very interesting album.