‘Master of Brutality’ was Church of Misery’s first album proper, but followed a string of singles, E.P.’s and even a bootlegged full album which many regard as their first long player. The latest re-mastered version of the album has 3 additional bonus tracks to the original 6 tracks featured on the 2001 release.
It’s very easy to compare a band you are reviewing to another band from the past to give an idea of sound. This can sometimes be unfair to the band in question and be a lazy interpretation of a groups sound. With Church of Misery however, it’s pretty safe to assume that they are indeed trying to sound like Black Sabbath, and don’t mind wearing their influence on their sleeves; and indeed their album covers. This version of the album comes complete with Sabbath’s ‘Master of Reality’ artwork with the appropriate words changed.
What you get from ‘Master of Brutality’ is 70’s inspired doom, straight from the book of Black Sabbath. The Japanese mob are perhaps a bit looser in approach, less technically gifted than Mr Iommi and the sound is quite sludgy, which gives it that stoner vibe throughout. Essentially it is Sabbath worship as far as the music goes. Vocally, Yoshiaki Negishi is a hyper aggressive vocalist, barking the lyrics to the serial killer inspired songs. Oh yeah, they like serial killers… a lot.
All of the tracks on the album have some association with mass murderers and serial killers with most mentioned in the title. Opening track’ Killfornia (Ed Kemper)’ is based on the serial killer who murdered his own grandparents and mother among others. The Yorkshire Ripper has his own song too; ‘Ripping into Pieces (Peter Sutcliffe)’ is second up on the album. These are not cheap shock-tactic titles though, the song lyrics are directly inspired by the subjects of the titles. For instance Sutcliffe’s song contains the lines “It commands me to kill whore…prey on the streets, ripping into pieces”.
Fourth track ‘Green River’ is a break from the killer biographies. It’s an instrumental jam that would not sound out of place on Sabbath’s ‘Vol. 4’ if you had never heard it before. A standout track is certainly the title track which starts with a riff direct from Aston, Birmingham. The cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s ‘Cities on Flame’ is made very much their own. Of the bonus tracks, you get two more serial killers for your dollar, both of which have appeared on previous releases in the past and an epic 17 minute slog through ‘Lucifer Rising’, almost certainly inspired by the 1973 short film by the same name.
‘Master of Brutality’ is slow, heavy, aggressive and undeniably Killer!
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