(In June of this year the Japanese doom band Church of Misery released their latest album through Rise Above Records  in a career that began almost 30 years ago. What you’ll find below is Comrade Aleks‘ extensive interview of the band’s founder and still the Church maestro, Tatsu Mikami.)

Being formed back in 1995 Church of Misery remains one of most important Japanese doom metal bands. Twenty-one musicians have passed through the band, and only its founder and ideologist Tatsu Mikami stays in his position of music and lyrics writer as well as bass player.

Church of Misery is known for its tendency to hard rocking and damn heavy doom metal as well as its reputation as a band with songs dedicated to serial killers and maniacs. Their new album Born Under a Mad Sign isn’t an exception, as its songs tell stories of such sick bastards as John Allen Muhammed, Fritz Harmann, Randy Kraft, and so on. It’s the integral part of Church of Misery‘s image, and we were lucky to learn more about Tatsu’s motivation and the new material.

(This interview was originally published in the September issue of the Spanish magazine This Is Metal.) Continue reading »