Church of Misery & The Atomic Bitchwax played Saint Vitus twice (night 1 pics)

Japanese doom band Church of Misery have had a new lineup since releasing their 2016 album And Then There Were None with Repulsion's Scott Carlson on vocals (in studio only). With bassist Tatsu Mikami as the only constant member, they've continued on with live vocalist Hiroyuki Takano, guitarist Yasuto Muraki, and newer drummer Junichi Yamamura (who joined in 2017), and that lineup brought their tour to North America surrounding appearances at Maryland Deathfest and Austin Terror Fest. The leg with support from likeminded bands The Atomic Bitchwax and Toke just landed in NYC for two Saint Vitus shows: Friday (6/14) and Saturday (6/15).

We caught the Friday show, and this new lineup proved to be very strong and very entertaining. Photographer Greg Cristman, who took the photos in the gallery above, tells us:

This was one of the best metal shows that I’ve seen so far this year. Church of Misery continue to excel at doom metal with obvious Sabbath worship but putting their own spin on it. Tatsu as usual wears his bass strung so low it nearly touches his ankles at times yet he throttles that bass with insane doom riffage anchoring the band for the soaring guitar expertise of Yasuto whose face was barely seen buried under hair. Lead singer Hiroyuki was great up front engaging the crowd and really getting into it. If you love doom and you missed either Fri or Sat at Vitus you blew it big time!

The Atomic Bitchwax were also great as always on Friday, and unfortunately we missed Toke. Check out pictures above and videos below.

photos by Greg Cristman