My introduction to Church of Disgust happened somewhere in 2014, when I picked up their full length ‘Unworldly Summoning’. A duo then, this band’s style of crawling, horror inspired old school doom / death metal hit me in all the right spots and Church of Disgust have been on my radar ever since.

Fast forward to 2016, they are now a full fledged four piece band and after an EP last year, the band is ready to unleash their second full length ‘Veneration of Filth’ through Memento Mori (CD) and Headsplit Records (Tape) on the 24th of October, with a vinyl release planned on No Posers Please. The result of a complete lineup shows on the output, as the band members are freed to explore more to produce a more dynamic sound.

Take a listen to the track Corpses of Dead Worlds for instance. The wailing lead guitars over the spiraling riffs creates the perfect feeling of falling into an abyss, just as the throaty, cavernous growls kick in. The short sprints in between the doom heavy main riff keep the listener hooked  and quite nicely paves the way for the frenzied final section of the song. Enough with the descriptions. Why don’t you stream the track below, right now?

We also managed to talk about the new release to Dustin James, the band’s guitarist and vocalist. Check out what the band has to say.

Transcending Obscurity (Shrivatsan R) : Hey guys, how’s it going? ‘Veneration of Filth’ is your first full length as a four piece band. How different was the creative process compared to your first full length?

Church of Disgust : Greetings! Things are great on this end. It was a much smoother process with a full lineup this time around. For the most part, Joshua or I usually bring new riffs to the table, then as a whole we bring the songs together, working out structure, transitions, etc. Plus with a full lineup, as opposed to Joshua and I pulling double-duty on recording, we were able to focus more on stuff like leads or anything else we think the song may need.

TO:  Apart from horror literature like H.P. Lovecraft, the songs also seem to have influence from horror films. What are some the films / film makers that inspire the music?

COD: I do get most of my inspiration from the writings of Brian Keene and Lovecraft, but there is a but of horror film inspiration in there as well. The song Plague of Punishment features a sample and some inspiration from the classick Messiah of Evil.

TO : The album features guest appearances from great death metal bands like Nocturnus AD, Sewercide and Disevered. Tell us about these collaborations and how they came to be.

COD: The guest appearances are something I had been wanting to do for a while.
On Jamie Stewart from Disevered / The Absence -Jamie is a good friend of ours, and myself and Dwayne have been playing with him in Disevered, so getting him to throw some of his sick vocals on there was kind of a no-brainer for me.
On Tobi from Sewercide – Tobi and I became fast friends after I got a parcel in the mail from him of Sewercide goodies all the way from Australia. Back in June they did their first US tour, and we did two shows in Florida with them while we were in the middle of recording the album. We were partying and jamming some of the new stuff we had recorded thus far, and I asked if he’d contribute a few lines, and luckily he was keen on it!
On getting THE Mike Browning of Nocturnus / Morbid Angel /Incubus – This was something I never thought would happen, but somehow it did. I’ve worshipped the guy’s work since high school, so i never imagined such an honor. But in 2015, we did a few shows with Nocturnus, and were pretty friendly with the guys after a while. So when I was writing Sunken Altar of Dagon I told him there was a part on it that would be perfect with his vocal style, and he agreed to it! He came over to where we were recording, and fucking nailed it!

TO: The artwork by Putrid Matt, reflects the horror / gore style of the music. Did Matt take inputs from the band and base the artwork around them?

COD: To a certain extent, yes. We’re huge fans of the guy’s art, so when he agreed to do the cover I wanted to give him a lot of freedom. I sent him a few rough tracks and told him I had a general idea….a total abomination in a swamp being worshiped, and that I wanted his morbid mind do the rest! What he came up with totally blew our minds and we couldn’t be more proud to put it on our album.

TO: Some of the tracks on the album like Abhorrent Cruelty and Supine in the Face of Total Death seem to carry a lot of punk overtones. Where does the punk influence in Church of Disgust’s music come from?

COD: Well, we’re are all fans of punk as well, and I feel that it comes through at times, whether it be the riffing, drumming, whatever. We grew up listening to bands like Poison Idea, Black Flag, The Accused, etc….and we also draw influence from death metal masters like Divine Eve, Master and Autopsy, who had plenty of their own filthy, punked out songs.

TO:  You released the ‘Dread Ritual’ Tapes last year. Did this EP make it easier to transition into a four piece, before Veneration of Filth?

COD: No doubt. Those were our first songs written as a full band, as opposed to when it was just Joshua and I doing everything before. It was a learning experience, but it was great having everyone contribute and bring ideas to the table. Although it shows that we were learning to write as a full band, I’m still really proud of the songs on that EP, and they seemed to be received well by fans.

TO:  Are there any tours planned to promote the new full length? How would you describe a typical live set for Church of Disgust?

COD: We have a lot in the works! We’re planning some shows in Texas, and have a festival appearance booked elsewhere…I can’t talk details just yet, but it’s going to be killer! We’d love to get over to Europe and Mexico next year, so any interested promoters get in touch! As for what to expect live, expect to be crushed by the weight of these new songs! We’ve been doing a few new tracks for a while live that went over really well, getting a few bodies flying.

We all are all huge fans of the mighty Nunslaughter and thought the name was a perfect fit for our filthy brand of death metal.

TO: I’ve been wondering about the band’s name ever since I got the Unworldly Summoning CD. Is it a reference to the NunSlaughter song?
COD: Yes, absolutely! We all are all huge fans of the mighty Nunslaughter and thought the name was a perfect fit for our filthy brand of death metal. Also, while we’re on the subject, we were all saddened by the loss of their key member Jim Konya, even doing a live tribute to him after his passing in the form of a rowdy cover of Raid the Convent.

TO: Are there any splits or EPs that are in the works?

COD: We are going to be putting out a split 7″ with German death fiends Cryptic Brood in the near future, but other than that, we are just focusing on promoting Veneration.

TO: Thanks for the time guys. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

COD: Thanks for the questions and promotion! Thanks to everyone reading, feel free to write to marchthehorde@gmail.com for any correspondence. Support the true underground, no support to the PC wimps infesting extreme metal. Death metal or die, you take up too much space!!!

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