ALBUM REVIEW: Teitanblood – The Baneful Choir

In the world of War Metal, TEITANBLOOD are one of those bands that seems universally loved, after two astonishing albums they are now back with a third full length. Out on October 18th via Norma Evangelium Diaboli. This is sure to be one of 2019’s most extreme albums.

Estranged sampling opens the album with ambience and a feeling of certain dread that looms ever closer is definitely present. Perhaps Teitanblood will continue their trajectory of becoming even weirder with each release. The stench of slowly grinding Blackened-Death Metal comes in with intensity and a precision that crawls along the gutter with gnarly drudging chords and glistening cymbal work, only adding to the feeling of foreboding set by the introduction. The doomy touches before slithering tremolo picked filth comes in makes for a killer transition, bellowing odious riffs over unsettling drums with vocals vomited into the soundscape alongside lead work that is both melodic and stunning, contrasting the lurching rhythmic sections gorgeously. It is very prevalent that this is not going to be an easy listen, but it will be very satisfying and cathartic, delivering onslaughts and pungent blows of classic Teitanblood that has evolved into a disturbing and morbid creature. The developed Doom Metal influences have been perfected to add monolithic atmospherics to a searing cascade of Black/Death extremities with a really unique sound that is as piercingly cultish as it is cavernous and crushing. As per usual, Teitanblood offer an album that flows with lucidity while each track stands alone as a huge slab of obliteration in its own right, just how an album should be. This album did exactly what I hoped for by mixing the scathing extremity of “Seven Chalices” and the unforgettably dark, twisted nature of “Death” into a devastating opus of truly magnificent, original and vicious material that will leave even the most seasoned Extreme Metal fans feeling intimated and unsettled. This cacophony of rot will fill your entire being with the disgusting stench of bloodlust in a manner of pure sonic hellfire that is delivered with haste, precision, ambience and skill like no other. While some may turn away from an album of this type with such a long running length, I think all Teitanblood fans will agree that these guys can keep things volatile and unpredictable enough never to dull the cutting edge of their musical diabolism. With plenty of ambience to lull you into hypnosis before the scolding fury of the bands unrelenting extremity is dropped onto your skull, you will never find the catatonic state this can produce will last before something deviates into a barrage of Black-Death putridity. Three albums, each unique and brilliant in their own right, this was one-hundred percent worth the wait and goes to show that Extreme Metal can be as terrifying to the masses as it was thirty years ago. Total malicious delightfulness for the depraved and those wishing to disturb themselves with an unending stream of killer riffs, glorious drum fills and rancid vocals. -9/10