Spanish black/death metal outfit Teitanblood returns with their long awaited 3rd album The Baneful Choir released via Norma Evangelium Diaboli. The Spanish quartet made a massive accomplishment on the previous album “Death” which was released in 2014 and made a name for themselves. The Baneful Choir is a monstrous conglomeration of brutal death/black metal. Formed in Madrid, Spain in 2003 by drummer J and vocalist/guitarist/bass NSK. Teitanblood falls under the category of war metal, their style is similar to Archgoat, Blasphemy, Triumvir Foul etc….

Teitanblood’s brutality isn’t the only trait that makes them original, the cacophonous quality can be extinguished by the use of samples, eerie synth that generates a horrific soundscapes. The Baneful Choir includes 11 tracks of obscure and extreme war metal of total run time of 52 minutes long. The latest album is structured over claustrophobic atmosphere of primitive and grinding death metal assault. The album is launched by eerie samples forming a horrific atmosphere when the guitars segues into the next track Black Vertebrae. Spewing forth powerful and buzzing riffs, along with the crushing drums creating a thematic feel of macabre. Leprous Fire suddenly breaks into blistering blast beats where the band takes a barbarous approach with the bass guitar pulsating heavy thick sound of cacophony.

Teitanblood is an advanced model of modern war metal style, and the Spanish quartet are very captivating in creating a chaotic atmosphere overall. Ungodly Others is relentlessly brutal delivered straightforwardly in your face, the vocals performs a variety of grunts that reverberates out of hell. The latest album is extremely violent as mentioned above the samples are inserted to form a sonic and frightening soundscapes that evoke a soundtrack to the apocalypse. These samples are also intersected and backed by a brutal guitar riffage, and with every release the band seems to preserve their primitive roots of war metal. The Baneful Choir contains many rapid tracks and there are plenty of booming riffs. The 3rd album has a grimy production which complements the general sound therefore the outburst of violent riffs and blast beats comes into full concentration.

Inhuman Utterings continues into the same savage pummeling mixing brutality and dissonance altogether. The Baneful Choir is a dark and oppressive black/death metal, the album is a massive mixture of cacophonous of jarring riffs and nightmarish grunts. Amid the chaotic noise and the never ending series of blast beats the grunts are followed by thick bass guitar and tremolo pickings. The Spanish quartet has successfully established their sound of cacophony, regardless of the chaotic manifestation of primitive death metal. There are some elements which exposes their influence to Incantation. In some parts Teitanblood sounds comparable to the bands like Portal and Altarage. The complex craft and songwriting skills are fulfilling. 

Their genuine and modern take on war metal is employed through the rapid tempo and amount of tremolo pickings, even though there aren’t many elements of black metal on the album except for those. Compared to Blasphemy’s debut album the approach here is more violent and modernized. Teitanblood injects the slow eerie samples on the album title track which begins slowly before the grinding drums blast into a continuous fast tempo. The guitar arrangements on this track sound low and down tuned, the latest album incorporates many styles from doom metal, to death and black metal.

The Baneful Choir isn’t an easy listen either, the album is lengthy and requires time to unlock its riddles. The drum performance is outstanding, the guitars on the other hand supply enough tremolo pickings and caustic riffs. Apart from the ambient tracks there are other memorable moments on the ninth track Sunken Stars, which abruptly flows into a fast tempo. Over the course of 16 years the band has evolved and the influences of old school death/black metal are still coursing through their DNA. The final three tracks Sunken Stars, Verdict of the Dead and Charnel Above grow more intense and violent. This is to say that the album has some sort of a balance between the ambient sections and the straight forward barbarity of death metal. The Spanish quartet are building an intense discography including split albums with bands like Proclamation and Necros Christos. Thus the process of evolving can be witnessed in the band’s latest album.

Release Date: October 18th, 2019
Label: Norma Evangelium Diaboli
Track list:

1. Rapture Below
2. Black Vertebrae
3. Leprous Fire
4. Ungodly Others
5. Inhuman Utterings
6. Insight
7. …of the Mad Men
8. The Baneful Choir
9. Sunken Stars
10. Verdict of the Dead
11. Charnel Above