Moonchapel - Three Faced Trinity for a Two-Faced Existence

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Moonchapel is a black/death metal band from Maryland who formed in 2024.  Their latest album, “Three Faced Trinity for a Two-Faced Existence," is their third full-length album.

Oh man, this album is bestial.  It’s raw, depressive and full of aggression.  The atmosphere and production work together, creating an album so dark that it seems like nighttime when I listen to it in daylight.  It’s frightening in the best way possible and is straight up one of those albums that will be hard for anyone outside of the understanding of the genre to get into.  But if you know, you know—and you’ll definitely want to check this out. 


The riffs are groovy, grinding, and suffocating all at the same time.  The layer of evil grim that lays heavily over the music doesn’t hurt it but instead enhances it.  “Three Faced Trinity….” is an album that absolutely does not need shiny, happy production.  It needs hell itself and it has arrived—and burns hard for 8 songs and 38 minutes.  Honestly, that is the perfect length for an album like this because I’m not sure I would have survived any longer.  But then again, I kept going back to it so I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.


The first song, “Ominous and Omniscient,” is a banger from the first second to the last. The riffs and drums bull doze their way through while the quite maddening vocals crush a path to dust.  The middle passage is hypnotic with the crushing riffs just pounding down over and over again until a moment of blazing speed rips opens a portal to another dimension. 


The album isn’t always about beating you to death— “Burden of Shadows, This Harrowing,” is heavy on the atmosphere in a subtle way even while the band itself doesn’t know what subtle means.  It is a sterling concoction and what that left me unnerved and frightened.  The latter half drops massive grooves, unburied and pulled up from the fires below to the forefront of madness.


“Demonic Froth Behind the Frontal Lobe,” is a truly crazy song and one of my favorites on the album. The beginning is like some kind of force coming from the unknown: fast, deadly, and not moving out of the shadows because it IS the shadows. But at the 2:39 mark, the song enters a zone that is hard to write about because I was left broken.  The unrelenting nature of the riffs and drums just. Don’t. Stop. By the time the song was over, I felt out of breath.  


The last song (and title track) is surprising, but in a good way.  The buildup is a little longer and laced with unique keys and vibe.  The bass arrives with an oddly flavoring style and then the riffs descended like the shades of night.  The vocals are the most potent they have been, inhuman for sure. This song ends the album on an apocalyptic, hopeless note and I can’t think of a better way than that. 


A lot of raw extreme metal isn’t nearly as engaging as Moonchapel’s “Three Faced Trinity for a Two-Faced Existence,” and I’ve heard few albums this year so far that come close to even matching the type of atmosphere and mood this album provides.  If rawness is your style, this is your album. 


Rating: Great













Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 22, 2026 at 12:43 PM

    Thank you so much…I am truly humbled and honored.

    ReplyDelete

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