Alright, you guys know I’m not much for “news bits,” but Sacramento’s Church are a band I’ve been super-duper excited about ever since seeing them open for Dispirit late last year, and now that their debut recordings are finally available on ye olde interwebs in the form of Unanswered Hymns, I wanted to make sure THKD readers had the scoop before all the big online metal outlets get a hold of this great band.
Church plays monolithic, atmospheric doom that recalls the likes of West Coast masters of slow ‘n’ low such as Thorr’s Hammer and Burning Witch. It’s as hypnotic as it is crushing; the band is as much about taking you on a journey to the center of the mind as they are about pulverizing said mind into space dust. But for as glacial and methodical as the music is, it is also impressively dynamic, Church never gets stuck on any one part for too long, they’re seemingly always looking to push their colossal songs onward to total oblivion.
Unanswered Hymns is currently available digitally from Oakland’s Transylvanian Tapes, with a physical release soon to follow. You can also catch the band live here in Sacramento at their upcoming gig w/ 16, Brainoil and Kowloon Walled City at Starlite Lounge on 4/25; they’re also set to tour the Pacific Northwest in June, including a kickoff show w/ Ufomammut + another set of dates in August w/ Primitive Man and Northless. Consider yourselves warned.
THKD 