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Teitanblood - Death

Published April 19 2014


*
=Staff's pick

Anteinfierno
Sleeping Throats of the Antichrist*
Plagues of Forgiveness*
Cadaver Synod
Unearthed Veins
Burning in Damnation Fires*
Silence of the Great Martyrs


Genre Black/Death Metal
NSK
Vocals
Tracks 7
NSK
Guitar
Running time 68 Min.
-
Guitar
Label Norma Evangelium Diaboli
NSK
Bass
Release 13 March 2014
J
Drums
Country Spain
-
Keyboard
Producer ---
Similar artists Blasphemy, Proclamation, Archgoat

In the early 90's Blasphemy founded a very special branch on the tree of extreme metal. Their chaotic relentless sound spawned a horde of followers such as Conqueror, Archgoat, Proclamation and of course Teitanblood. To the uninitiated the sound of black/death, death/black, raw black, chaotic black, war metal, or whatever you want to call it, may sound like utter chaos with no control or direction. What separates the mediocre and brilliant bands of this genre though is the ability to control the chaos conjured by their music.

Teitanblood's sophomore disc 'Death' firmly rests on a base of up-tempo chaotic Slayer-esque guitar work backed up by thundering drums and screaming growls. More seldom than often the guitars on 'Death' conjures more conventional riffs or lines, most of the time they appear simply chaotic. To bring order to the chaos Teitanblood use a number of cunning tricks. Like Archgoat they sometimes drop to mid-tempo or doomy regions to give the audial attack a slight rest. Higher screams and deeper growls mixes with the main vocal style to points where three or four vocalists seem to be combating each other in their mission to be the first to achieve total destruction.

The most efficient stunt from Teitanblood's bag of tricks is however the use of the rhythm section. Despite the guitars continuously playing there are points on 'Death' where the base takes over and takes the leading riff rather than being part of a rhythm section. Sometimes the drums are used in a similar fashion giving the feeling of being trapped on a slave galley. There are other parts where the rhythm section works together and fights the guitars for the direction of the music with short temporary changes in tempo and intentionally misplaced drum strokes while the guitars keep up their own work. By gradually building up the use of these tricks they keep renewing the listener's interest.

For most other acts these tricks would rather invoke chaos than bring order to it. For Teitanblood the opposite happens much due to the well-focused mix and production. There is no standard balance between the instruments and they alternate taking the lead in the mix. The details needed to bring order are brought forward with enough subtlety to give the desired effect. Still the production never goes sterile but keeps its rough edges giving a vital and vibrant sound.

Spain has historically been a cultural melting pot bearing influences from Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Muslims and Christians. These influences were quite vibrant on the debut 'Seven Chalices' in its numerous interludes which partly hampered the flow of that otherwise great album. The aim of 'Seven Chalices' seemed to be the mission to smash all the idols gathered in the veritable Spanish melting pot and bring utter destruction on the doctrines of religion.

On 'Death' the chanting quires and haunting grinding interlude sections are used only to bring some rest to the listener. With the exception of the last two-thirds of closing track 'Silence of the Great Martyrs' their sparse use gives 'Death' a better flow and rather seems to be set for bringing down everyone and all into damnation rather than simply smash religious idolatry and doctrines. In combination with improved composing skills, on 'Death' the melting pot becomes a pure meltdown.

With their second full-length Teitanblood has taken another step in their development and surpassed their excellent debut. The flow, the improved songwriting and the skilfulness in bringing subtle order into the audial chaos all comes together to bring the listener a veritable meltdown of mayhem and destruction. If you fear and shun the chaotic look the other way, if you embrace it this is a mandatory one.


Performance
Originality
Production
Vocals
Songwriting

8

7

9

7

8

 
Summary



8 chalices of 10 - Tengan


Related links:

www.teitanblood.com
www.facebook.com/pages/teitanblood