Nightfly The Mysterious Ways Of Repetitive Art is the second album from German death metal band Chapel Of Disease. Whilst not being overly familiar with their debut album, Summoning Black Gods, it does seem the band have shown considerable growth in delivery and songwriting.

The seven tracks are bookended by the title track effectively split into two, the latter,…Of Repetitive Art breaking the ten minute barrier. The Mysterious Ways… starts as a slow atmospheric instrumental before picking up the pace somewhat and sets the album up effectively. If you hadn’t realised already as soon as The Dreaming Of The Flame kicks in there’s no doubt that this is death metal done the old school way. Whilst it may lack some of the precision that modern productions often have, which often sound a little clinical, I prefer the warmth and atmospheric sound that TMWORA has. Don’t take that to mean the playing is sloppy here, which is far from the truth as each player turns in a solid performance.

Whilst there’s no shortage of faster parts, the songs benefit from good use of dynamics, sometimes slowing to doom metal pace and quieter atmospheric sections add to the interest, much more so than a continuous barrage of blast beats. Lord Of All Death is one of the highlights as well as being one of the longer tracks (over eight minutes) and the band make good use of the time shifting through numerous sections, including plenty of instrumental workouts easily maintaining the listeners interest. The same can be said of ten minute closer … Of Repetitive Art, an impressive way to end. Brutal stuff indeed.

Overall Chapel Of Disease have come back with a really strong second album. If you enjoy fellow German death metal band Morgoth or old school death metal in general, then these guys could be the band for you. As it’s only their second album I’m sure even greater stuff is going to come from them in the future though this’ll do very nicely for now.