I can't tell you how long I've waited for Church of Misery to make it to Boston. Growing up learning blues guitar felt like a drag until I heard how insanely heavy and psychedelic these guys made it. I couldn't have asked for a better lineup too with support from the rock n roll trio, The Atomic Bitchwax, and up and coming stoner heavyweights Toke. Stoners rejoice! This one's for you!
Toke
Genre: Stoner/Sludge Metal FFO: Dopelord, BelzeBong, YOB
I am new to Toke as most seem to be. I gave a few releases a listen and just thought "heavy". Personally, I thought they may have stuck out the most in this lineup due to their more sludge metal sound.
The moment those lights were as green as the weed everyone smoked before the show, I knew it was gonna be good. I could feel the bass drum in my bones, and those riffs were loud and heavy, best way to start the night. While I do prefer my stoner metal to be psychedelic, these guys did do the heavy right.
One big thing I noticed was some emphasized tempo changes, similar to Primitive Man the other night, but not death metal style i.e. blast beats. Toke remain a slow band but kept me guessing with their drum patterns. Not too mention those vocals. Very hoarse to the point where he sounded sick...I mean that in a good way. Toke were even joined on the mic by the current vocalist of Church of Misery for a song. Just seeing his attitude, energy and movement for this one song not even by his own band, let's just call it a taste of what was to come. For an old man he grabbed that mic and made it his bitch like an old school rock n roll machine.
The Atomic Bitchwax
Genre: Stoner/Southern Metal/Grunge/Punk FFO: Corrosion of Conformity, Fu Manchu, Kyuss
The Atomic Bitchwax is a band I love to skate to. Some sick rock n roll riffs with a punk attitude that adds in some southern stoner background thats a good time for anyone. The speed of this band was a good unwinding from the gravity put on from Toke. Quite a change of pace.
First off, Bitchwax's timing is absolutely impeccable. Of course I've seen my fair share of odd time signatures with bands, but the thing about these guys is all the rock n roll made them really get into it with some classic "WOO!" and "OOWW!" and maybe even a few "BAAAYBAAAYY!"'s when these parts happened the whole band stopped for it, then continued on. I fucking love it. Nothing is more rock n roll than that!
I was also pretty surprised to find out that there were two vocalist, considering you really can't tell the difference between them. I honestly can't think of a better definition of rock n roll than The Atomic Bitchwax, a 20 year old band with a mostly similar lineup and also featuring members of Monster Magnet with a balance of the south, stoner, and grunge. Rock n fucking rollll.
Church of Misery
Genre: Psychedelic Stoner/Doom Metal FFO: Black Sabbath, Blood Ceremony, Electric Wizard
Now we're talking. You see festival lineups all the time and you see that one band that you're like "Wow they never play, maybe I should fly out and see them" and then you remember you're broke and have responsibilities and its the same night as a show you already have tickets for. For years I have been seeing CoM on festival lineups in the US and only festivals. I thought I would pull the trigger and see them at Psycho Las Vegas but it didn't happen. Church of Misery is a bucket list band for me and I can now scratch it off.
The room went dark as one bass note droned out. all of a sudden you hear noise from a fucking theremin (google it). These wavy crystal pattern light begin to shine the stage as the band begins. the vocalist makes a sinister face while showing a Japanese character tattoed on the palm of his hand. I wish I could translate what it represented. Those psychedelic riffs could summon every serail killers spirit from hell. In this case it felt like it did and they all possessed the vocalist at once. I swear this guys had to be at lease in his forties and the way he was moving was like a spazzy 20 year old who just got fired from his job and lit the facitility on fire. Well worth the wait.
The one thing I couldn't look away from was not only the vocalists energy, or the palm of his hand that he kept showing, but the bassist. Tatsu, is the only original member of the band and he plays his bass hanging inches away from the floor. Like he was literally picking it from the neck. I'm not a bass player but I'm pretty sure this is as close to classical position as you can get standing up.
Surprisingly this set did get pretty ignorant. Born to raise hell had a pretty ignant pit as well as crowd surfers. Even mic rushes. With all this their vocalist never lost his energy. He only spoke in between songs, and it was the only time he was out of breath. I couldn't tell if I couldn't understand him because of his exhaustion or his lack of being fluent in English but the moment the next song started, he was immediately back to full energy and continuously playing the theremin.
Overall I would say go see Church of Misery. I couldn't believe this performance and I would put it neck and neck with Ufomammut as the best stoner doom set I've seen. I knew learning blues guitar would pay off as a kid, and Church of misery definitely prove it.
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