Biography

Tokyo's Church of Misery is one of the first doom metal bands to come from Japan. The group emerged in the late '90s with a sound rooted in doomy psychedelic rock and stoner metal and a lyrical obsession with mass murderers and serial killers. Since releasing Master of Brutality in 2001, the band has endured myriad lineup changes, with bassist Tatsu Mikami the sole constant member. Under his leadership, the band has released a string of efforts in their signature murder-doom style, including House of the Unholy (2009), And Then There Were None… (2014), and Born Under a Mad Sign (2023). Founded by Tatsu Mikami in 1995 after the dissolution of his thrash metal outfit Salem, Church of Misery originally comprised members Yoshiaki Negishi (vocals), Tomohiro Nishimura (guitar), Mikami (bass), and Hideki Shimizu (drums). This lineup issued a pair of independent EPs -- 1998's Taste the Pain and 1999's Murder Company -- before Negishi was replaced with Nobukazu Chow. The Chow-fronted lineup debuted on the band's very first full-length album in 2001, Master of Brutality, which was issued on the U.S. label Southern Lord. The group released its sophomore LP, Second Coming, in 2004, followed by a two-volume/triple-LP collection of early recordings called Early Works Compilation, which was put out in Japan via Leaf Hound Records. A trio of split EPs, two with North Carolina-based doom metallers Sourvein and one with Colorado-based sludge rockers Deer Creek, followed shortly after that, and in 2009 the band released its third full-length outing, Houses of the Unholy, via Rise Above. In 2012 Church of Misery embarked on their first tour of the United States in anticipation of their fourth studio long-player, Thy Kingdom Scum, which arrived in 2013. That same year saw the departures of vocalist Hideki Fukasawa, guitarist Ikuma Kawabe, and drummer Junji Narita, which left Tatsu Mikami as the only remaining member of the group. The re-jiggered Mikami-led iteration of the band released a new album, the aptly named And Then There Were None..., in early 2016. Mikami and co. continued to pair extreme heaviness and horror on 2023's unrelenting Born Under a Mad Sign. ~ Greg Prato & James Christopher Monger, Rovi