After his thrash metal band SALEM disbanded, Mikami Tatsu started his doom metal project which he named Church of Misery. Officially, the band started their activities in February 1996, but Tatsu began his work about half a year earlier. For the other positions he recruited Asaeda Kazuhiro, Nishimura Tomohiro and Shimizu Hideki. After their first gig on February 18th, the band went to the studio to work on their first album that they wanted to create on their own but for unknown reasons, the band became inactive and disappeared for a short period of time.
In 1997 their recorded songs appeared in America under the name Volume 1, which was titled as an official release. But very soon, it was revealed that the album, released by Doom Records, was a bootleg copy. A year later, the band reappeared and offered their fans four records, which were released throughout the year by different labels all around the world. They used international labels because of the expensive cost of production in Japan. One of these four records was a live tape recorded during their two-man with Millarca, another Japanese doom metal band. During the long break, they gained new singer, Chou Nobukazu.
In 1999 they made a split album with their British colleagues Iron Monkey, which was released by US label Mans Ruin Records. Thanks to their worldwide cooperation with the different labels they also managed to appear on a few Italian omnibus albums. Though growing more and more popular they were forced to pause once again to search for a new vocalist and drummer. Narita Junji became the successor of Shimizu behind the drums. The new member behind the microphone was Negishi Yoshiaki who first sang on the Master of Brutality EP, which like a lot of Church of Misery's CDs, was pressed in the USA and could only be bought as an import in Japan.
For their next release, which was done by a Finnish label, the line-up changed again. Guitarist Nishimura left the band and was replaced by Takenori Hoshi. Again, this new formation didn't even last a year; in January 2003 the band spread the news about vocalist Negishi leaving the group. They knew that it would take a lot of time to find a new singer, so they went on hiatus again. Tatsu used these months to start several projects like Sonic Flower or The G.A.T.E.S., which Church of Misery's former singer Negishi was also part of. The last project, The G.A.T.E.S, disbanded after only one live which took place in spring 2003. In the same year, they released a split album together with Acrimony that contained several tracks from the the band's very early years, recorded when Asaeda was still singer of Church of Misery.
In August the band found a new vocalist, Fukazawa Hideki, former singer of punk band Bleed for Pain. He showed his skills on their album The Second Coming which was their first Japanese release, hitting the stores in 2004. The same year a best-of was distributed, containing nearly 100 minutes of tracks that were previously released only overseas. In 2005 they made their first tour in Europe, visiting Germany, France and the UK and playing four concerts in each of the three countries. Back in Japan Tatsu re-animated his project Sonic Flower and reunited The G.A.T.E.S.. Hideki started a side-project called S.c.U.M., in which he played drums. Despite the creation of several side projects Church of Misery did not stop their activities and were looking forward to another European tour.
In spring of 2006 the band announced over their label DiwPhalanx that Hoshi would leave the band after their lives in April. Australian guitarist, Tom "Satan" Sutton, replaced Hoshi. In December the Live in Red, Euro Tour 2005 video was released. Following the tour and video release, UK doom metal magazine, Bad Acid, featured the band in their March issue, including interviews conducted during the 2005 European tour. The band announced their second European tour with fellow Japanese metal band, Gonga, but it was cancelled shortly after when Gonga pulled out of the tour for unknown reasons. Church of Misery promised almost immediately to return again soon and in March 2008 they were able to play in Germany and Roadburn Festival 2008 in Holland.
After their short Europe tour in March, they entered a studio in Den Haag, the Netherlands, citing the vintage equipment in the foreign studio as their reason for recording there. The equipment was from the 50s, 60s and 70s and created records, not CDs. The following October, they released a limited edition seven inch LP, recorded on the authentic vintage equipment. The album was sold out in a single week.
In January 2009, their vocalist Hideki left the band. The original vocalist, Negishi, returned as a temporary singer to complete the Japan tour and upcoming European tour which started in April. That summer, the band announced a search for a new vocalist and by November added the need for a guitarist. At that time, there was no given reason for the guitarist search. On December 9th, Negishi, fondly referred to as Neggy by the members on their official website, announced his official comeback. He was once again to be the full-time vocalist for Church of Misery.
The new year brought the announcement of yet another European tour, but 2010 also brought sad news when, in March, Tom announced that he would be leaving the band after the tour. He claimed that the constant European tours have made him nostalgic for the West and he wished to return, therefore wanting to move to England after the tour. In November, new guitarist Suto joined Church of Misery, replacing Tom "Satan" Sutton.
Church of Misery will likely continue to tour Japan and Europe. With the loss, gain and regaining of members over their many years as a band they have managed to retain their special flavor of doom metal.
