Chapel Of Disease - ...And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye review
| Band: | Chapel Of Disease |
| Album: | ...And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye |
| Style: | Melodic death metal, Heavy metal, Progressive rock |
| Release date: | November 23, 2018 |
| A review by: | RaduP |
01. Void Of Words
02. Oblivious - Obnoxious - Defiant
03. Song Of The Gods
04. Null
05. 1000 Different Paths
06. The Sound Of Shallow Grey
Moving away from an old-school death metal sound is a hit or miss, but I guess Chapel Of Disease never miss, huh?
Chapel Of Disease turned some heads in the death metal community with their previous two albums, which were some very doomy and esoteric old-school death metal albums, but, after all, cut-above-the-rest riff-fests are still not that innovative or forward-thinking. Three years afterwards, comes ...And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye, which completely turns what they did on its head. But considering how some of the biggest melodeath names started out as usual death metal bands (think Hypocrisy, Unleashed or At The Gates), it shouldn't be something unseen before. A lot of death metal nods to the '80s often just feature nods to thrash metal, but never too much hard rock, and even when they do, death 'n' roll doesn't have such a good reputation.
It's quite fucking clear that Chapel Of Disease are no longer afraid to make their music lighter and... dare I say... happier and more confident? It's such a strange combination that it keeps bugging me that I don't know whether I like it or not. It certainly feels like it could be more polished, but the way it sounds really shouldn't work but it does. The band keeps a bit of their trademark sound, mostly in the vocals and some of the sections feel like they "should", but other than that, it's really, really weird. I can't really call it death 'n' roll but it's not melodic death metal either, and that really hits my music-forum-user OCD. This feels like hard rock for people who don't like hard rock and death metal for people who don't like death metal, though I'm sure there will be fans of both who will just not like this at all.
Even though I'm not sure I actually enjoy the mix, I can't deny that it's really engaging and fun to listen to in a slightly challenging way. The music feels like arena rock sometimes, like psychedelic jam rock sometimes; some songs have vocals reminiscent of gothic rock, and one of the songs even has a solo that feels straight-up taken from a live version of Dire Straits "Sultans Of Swing". Who would've thought that that would ever go together with cavernous death growls? It's maddening. I love it, even if I may not enjoy it.
Sure, there's some tweaks here and there to be made, like I'd love it to be a bit more focused and polished, but at this point I'd rather have an imperfect ambitious record than a perfect safe one. If there's any way to leave your trademark genre for a rockier sound, this is the way to do it, unlike... you know.
So give it a shot.
 | Written on 05.12.2018 by Doesn't matter that much to me if you agree with me, as long as you checked the album out. |
Comments
Comments: 15
Visited by: 195 users
| nikarg Staff Posts: 7351  |
Last year it was Venenum, this year it's Chapel Of Disease. Divine album. Mark Knopfler-loving leads, Andrew Eldritch-reminiscent vocals in "1.000 Different Paths" are just some of the unexpected treats of one fucking awesome death metal record that I can't praise enough. Don't just give it a shot. Listen again and again and again!
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| MetalManic Posts: 653  |
Written by nikarg on 05.12.2018 at 22:49 Thanks for the additional nudge. I'll be sure to give it a few more playthroughs.
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| MetalManic Posts: 653 |
This is awesome. Vocally, I get a blend of Wayfarer and Cormorant. Germany is slaying this year. Alkaloid, Long Distance Calling, The Ocean and these guys.
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| Malignar Posts: 285 |
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| tea[m]ster Au Pays Natal Contributor Posts: 5266  |
Written by MetalManic on 06.12.2018 at 04:06 Cormorant's album from last year is the shit. May check this because of your comment.
---- rekt
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| -Morbid- Posts: 241  |
I really really liked this at first while listening to it while doing other things, but after a closer more dedicated listen where I could give it pretty much all of my attention, there is a lot of needless repetition on it that really hurts it for me. Some of the sections just drag on, and while it's never quite enough to make me push the "next track" button, it does leave me going "okay we get it, move on" and tempt me to go push the button. Aside from the repetition though, I enjoy the blend of sounds and as a guitar solo nerd there are some great ones here. If it had the fat trimmed it would be an AotY contender for me, but as it is it's just an interesting album that will be relegated to background music for when my attention is too divided to notice the the repetition.
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| Sentenced Odiin gothic.moorion@gmail.com Posts: 260  |
I am a big fan of OSDM, but this is beyond epic. Hard rock vibing death metal with atmospheric elements. In my top5!
---- Life has given me much, maybe taken more...
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| Netzach Planewalker Posts: 1761  |
"hard rock for people who don't like hard rock and death metal for people who don't like death metal" So... Amok by Sentenced? Checking this out later today, sounds promising.
---- My "blackened synth metal" solo project: maladomini.bandcamp.com. Whenever I write something funny, weird, or pretentious... I learned English by playing Baldur's Gate, okay?
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62020  |
Old School dm, you can tell it, see it and hear it. Good my type song titles and img
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| MetalManic Posts: 653 |
Written by -Morbid- on 09.12.2018 at 02:53 I agree with you. It's tolerable but it's also acceptable. I say this with no negative undertones (somehow). That being said, I feel that the album length compensates for the threat of monotony. Any longer and these said moments would be a tragic drag.
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| MetalManic Posts: 653 |
Written by tea[m]ster on 08.12.2018 at 14:59 Had the chance to listen yet? I'm curious to read in your thoughts.
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| Starvynth i c deaf people Staff Posts: 3168  |
Written by nikarg on 05.12.2018 at 22:49 It's funny reading your advice now, because a couple of weeks ago, I gave it a quick but complete listen and wasn't impressed at all. Not that it bugged me, but I just couldn't spot the pure excellence I expected heaving read the review and all those promising comments. I was hoping to hear something like Sentenced's Amok or at least an homage or clone of Tribulation's last two albums - but that was not the case. It was okay, that's all. I came back to this by accident, I found a lonesome copy in a local record store while searching for something completely different. In fact, this was the first time ever I saw anything from Ván Records in a rather small shop. That rose my curiosity and I gave it a second listen right there. And then the magic happened. I clearly remembered the intros of the songs and some riffs and refrains. With the headphones on, I even caught myself whistling some of the melodies. And I liked what I heard. I instantly bought the CD and since then, it's one of my most favorite discoveries of 2018. Usually, albums never grow on me. If I don't like anything right from the beginning chances are high I will dislike it even more when I happen to hear it again. This is a rare exception.
---- signatures = SPAM
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by Starvynth on 04.02.2019 at 13:42 The same applies for me. Quote: The exception for me was Chapel Of Disease's previous album The Mysterious Ways Of Repetitive Art
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Starvynth i c deaf people Staff Posts: 3168 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.02.2019 at 15:12 I already listened to The Mysterious Ways Of Repetitive Art - but only once and all I do remember is it didn't bug me, either.  So this story could very well close with an happy ending, too - many thanks for your recommendation!
---- signatures = SPAM
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| nikarg Staff Posts: 7351 |
Written by Starvynth on 04.02.2019 at 13:42 I'm pleased you gave it another chance. I am like you most of the time, albums do not grow on me often if I dislike them after the first listen. I knew I was in love with this album from the first few minutes. Haven't given many chances to the band's previous two releases though.
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