Chapel of Disease - The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art

CHAPEL OF DISEASE - The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art (F.D.A. Records - LP 2015)

It feels like yesterday, when I first heard Chapel of Disease back in 2012, when they unleashed split with Lifeless first. And then "Summoning Black Gods" blew me away. Chapel quickly became one of my favourite new death metal bands and I was so looking forward for their next albums. Finally "The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art". At first I wasn’t so sure what should I think about this record, it wasn’t an instant winner. But when it finally clicked... oh man, it absolutely won my support. 

And what can I say... "The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art" is an absolutely fantastic and fascinating album. It's one of those records, which do not let you walk away, but demands your focus and attention to every sound and details it brings. And it's a fascinating and very impressive take on the old school death metal, as along the traditional characteristics of the genre, Chapel of Disease was not afraid to come up with some other influences as well, which come from either thrash and even heavy metal, what in the end gives a spectacular, slightly progressive death metal \album. I think that in some aspects "The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art" reminds me what bands such as Tribulation or Horrendous started doing on their second albums. They're all quite different stylistically, of course, but definitely they share the passion for creating something original in the old school death metal niche, with unique song structures, arrangements, riffs, as well as need for bringing some astonishing harmonies that make their music so memorable and impressive at the same time. Brutality or aggression has secondary role here, it's more important to create the dark atmosphere. As such, I think that "The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art" is an absolute success. 

It's almost impossible to even compare this album to "Summoning Black Gods". Chapel of Disease did an enormous step forward, but also walked away from many aspects, which made their debut so good as an old school death metal record. As such, it can feel like a different band, almost. So, if you like this vicious, aggressive, nasty harsh death metal from the debut and you're quite narrow minded in this aspect, there's a chance that "The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art" will not speak to you. On this album Chapel just sounds different, even if they kept some characteristics from the debut untouched (like their fascination for the old gothic horror novels). But the songwriting here is in different league. Such a fantastic riffing, so many impressive arrangements, melodies, which give me goose skin... "The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art" sounds special from the very first second. I love how they play with song structures, that it's not your typical death metal anymore, but in some ways it reminds me bands such as old Metallica! Yes! And I mean, not only they have these great instrumental passages, but there are even some riffs, which are clearly influenced by classic thrash and even heavy metal. Of course, here it sounds much darker, harsher, more aggressive. But the influence is obvious, in my opinion. And this is just wonderful how these two different genres can be glued into old school death metal. Take such "Symbolic Realms" as one of the examples for what I have just written. What an excellent song full of classic metal playing. On the other hand, there's "...of Repetitive Art", which has killer eerie, horroresque melodies, which remind me Tribulation for instance. But even the opening instrumental piece “The Mysterious Ways...” sounds bloody awesome here, everything is just right and the balance between all characteristics of this album is perfect. Which is why this record is such a good listen and doesn’t bore even if I play it for the tenth time in a row. And I did that more than few times, you know? 

So, as you can see Chapel of Disease is not your common death metal band, but something way more special. And "The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art" is a special and unique album, full of excellent songwriting, performance and with amazing, dark atmosphere. Check out also the visual side of the record, especially that huge booklet, where every song has its own artwork based on the lyrics. And yes, these lyrics are inspired by some old novels such as "Melmoth the Wanderer", which is something I like a lot as well. For me, this is probably the best release from F.D.A. Records. 

Standout tracks: “Masquerade in Red”, "Symbolic Realms", "...of Repetitive Art" 

Verdict: 93/100