Church of Misery steals the stoner metal crown with "Houses of the Unholy". This selection of seven horrifying tracks, all about serial killers and the metal bands that love them, rips into the ether with groove and terror. The list of lyrical influences reads like a guest list for Charles Manson's birthday party, while the music slams with the abrasion of fuzz and fury one can only pray for.

'El Padrino', an eerie piece about Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo, sets a creepy tone for the rest of the album. It begins with huge sustained guitars over a steady, menacing kick drum. Underneath this we hear what appears to be a news broadcast describing a grizzly crime scene. "Police exhume thirteen mutilated bodies just miles from the Texas border. One of the victims is American college student Mark J. Kilroy. His brain has been removed..." etc. It grabs and shakes the spinal cord in horror. Try listening to this track walking home late at night. Scary shit for sure.

'Houses of the Unholy' ranges from the sludge metal of 'El Padrino', to the up tempo rockers like 'Shotgun Boogie', or 'Born to Raise Hell'. Named after the tattoo of Richard Speck's that eventually led to his capture, 'Born to Raise Hell' sways with the soul of a number one bar thumper turned evil.

Malevolence drips from every inch of Fukasawa's voice on 'Houses of the Unholy'. How could anyone say Church of Misery's influences stop short of 1980? There's so much more brutality, so much more heaviness and mayhem than was ever conceived by the BOC's or Sabbath's of yore.

Marijuana, or Taima, wasn't an illegal substance in Japan until 1948. It was, in fact, the occupational government of General Macarthur, worried about GI's developing drug habits, that created the Hemp Control Act. Before 1948, there had never been any restriction on Taima, it was widely known for it's medical purposes, and it grew prevalently on all of the islands. Since then, laws have become more restrictive, and a small possession charge can bring a sentence of life imprisonment. With this in mind, it becomes easy to understand the emergence of Stoner Metal/Rock with the Japanese. Easy to see the stance of rebellion associated with substance abuse that would create this hardcore counter-culture. A movement reflected by bands like Green Milk From The Planet Orange, Boris, DMBQ, and Church of Misery.

Of these, Church of Misery is holding top spot for hardcore stoner metal madmen.