If you’re familiar with my taste in metal, you’ve seen me go on and on forever about how I simply ooze over acts that accomplish the Herculean task of taking multiple different styles to create an amalgamation that’s simultaneously mesmerizing and intense. Acts like Inter Arma, Whispered, YOB, and most recently A Flock Named Murder have been some real constants for me in this small crossover for all of metal, and tonight I found another glorious addition. Starting out as death metal in their small beginning, Chapel of Disease has quickly evolved into so much more that’s everything I didn’t know we needed.

That cover art alone is not nearly enough to prepare you for what Chapel of Disease has created with the massive record that is “…And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye”, and trying to put it into words is a challenge that I shall attempt to tackle for you. At first, it’s very easy to think these six tracks will be some death metal we’ve all heard before with how the album starts off but very quickly do we find out that Chapel of Disease is going for the throat in a completely different fashion. Across all of “…And As We Have Seen The Storm”, we’re given a true array of different styles that come at us head-on with very little room to adjust until we’re already being thrown into a completely different sound. Death metal, black metal, 70s-esque rock, and 80s-like riffage adorn Chapel of Disease left and right as this German group delivers us something that boldly and proudly stands on its own in the underground. “…And As We Have Seen The Storm” is such a diverse record that’s bewildering to sit through on the first spin and it really takes multiple goes to really wrap your mind around what Chapel of Disease has done here as it’s simply so much in six tracks that it’s something we very rarely get in such high quality. And then by the time you reach this end of this marathon, you’re only left wanting more has this group has created a one of a kind spell that gripped you right from the beginning and you immediately go into withdrawal come the last note.

Utterly unique: those are two words that sum up “…And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye” perfectly and I would fiercely argue to defend that claim. There’s no arguing about it, Chapel of Disease has truly created something else entirely about this record and I do truly hope that this masterwork finds a worthy audience who can see the time, talent, love, and attention that has gone into this grand work of metal.

LISTEN to “…And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Chapel of Disease on Facebook here.