Band:	Teitanblood
Album:	The Baneful Choir
Style:	Black metal, Death metal
Release date:	October 18, 2019
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

01. Rapture Below
02. Black Vertebrae
03. Leprous Fire
04. Ungodly Others
05. Inhuman Utterings
06. Insight
07. ...Of The Mad Men
08. The Baneful Choir
09. Sunken Stars
10. Verdict Of The Dead
11. Charnel Above

Teitanblood create music so hellish that they might as well write the next DOOM soundtrack.

It's been a while since the monstrous Spanish duo that is Teitanblood blipped up on my radar, but having greatly enjoyed their last full length, 2014's Death, it's quite the treat to have them back in town. 2019's The Baneful Choir doesn't show any sign of these conquistadors letting up on the ferocity of their sound anytime soon. As with their prior releases, here pounding, meaty death metal riffs doused with black metal undercurrents shred away any traces of calm, creating a downright vicious formula that paints a nightmarish, apocalyptic vision in the mind of the listener. The production is suitably murky and gritty, creating an almost suffocating feeling of impending, inescapable chaos and dread.

While it doesn't deviate too much from the formula Teitanblood have employed on their previous albums, what The Baneful Choir really has going for it is the overall cohesiveness of its songwriting. Here tracks blend into each other almost seamlessly, to the point that it can become easy to lose track of which one you're on if you're not paying close attention. While this could be construed as the music being overly monotonous and lacking variety, it's actually the exact opposite, as Teitanblood effectively transition between their thunderous blackened death sound and more eerie, dark ambient interludes, demonstrating not only that they aren't a one trick pony, but that they've learned to bridge these two styles together perhaps better than ever before.

With The Baneful Choir Teitanblood further prove themselves as being a bit more nuanced in their songwriting than many other of their contemporaries in the blackened death metal realm. Far from being a "riffs riffs riffs, blasts blasts blasts" album, here Teitanblood manage to weave more intriguing moments of dense, ominous atmosphere into the bulk of their relentless songwriting, giving the composition a greater sense of dynamism and diversity than it may have previously had. Vile, filthy, and just altogether evil-sounding, this is a must listen for 2019 in the "nasty jamz" department.

Blast it loud on a fine pair of headphones.