The haunt of their chthonian devotion lingers in the shadowed remnants of an ancient subterranean thermopolis, its walls and pillars hand carved into dwelling along the deepest path to Hades. Still stained and streaked with vapor oxidized blood all columns endure a crimson-footed stance, marks of desperation and covenant alike left by those enduring horrifying sacrificial rites, countless hands grasping along the path down to the sanguine wards. Our traverse of the abyss beyond the temple demands an impermeable guide, the daimonian clawed grip of Madrid, Spain-based black/death metal quartet TEITANBLOOD who return with a fourth unfathomable scripture detailing their braving of the vortex in order to record the terrifying emanations from below. ‘From the Visceral Abyss‘ is the churn of the lifesblood in seven dictum, the callous mill of life and death translated into bestial uproar enough to fill the temple’s cella with sounds worthy of death’s supremacy.

Teitanblood were possessed to create death noise circa 2003, channeled through the veins of one Iniquitous Templar of Iron Black Faith and Deathrapist Redemption aka NSK who’d directed an initial trio featuring Defernos of local Tolkien-themed black metal bands alongside Proclamation maestro Usurper. That formation lasted a demo and a couple of split releases before enduring drummer J. was included in 2007 and dark ambiance was provided by dread summoner CG Santos (as a guest) for their celebrated debut LP (‘Seven Chalices‘, 2009). This was the big reveal of their multi-dimensional vision of a largely one-dimensional feat, often lumping their approach in with the general “war metal” hype, wherein a gritted-up and demented vision of death metal focused on the riffcraft and atmospheric potentiate of blackened/bestial spheres. There were two paths initiated on that debut, one of shorter grinding death metal pieces and another which sought longform immerse… the way I viewed this at the time was via a blend of most exaggerative Katharsis mania with straight-to-the-gut attack of Proclamation (alt: Archgoat). Beloved and highly praised, their follow-up ‘Death‘ (2014) embraced both longform immerse and chaotic furor unto deserved infamy. Revisiting these two formative extremes is always an important reminder of what makes this band worthy in their disastrous, violent voice but also how vital Javier Félez‘ (who is now their lead guitarist) sound design and the aesthetic mark of Timo Ketola were to creating the choice aura of the band, both collaborations which still count toward the distinction of their work today.

Since I’d found ‘Death‘ to be the defining crux of Teitanblood‘s maniac form and its amorphous movement upon returning to their discography via the review process for ‘The Baneful Choir‘ (2019) much of my commentary revolved around the shift in shape of their gear. It was a longer album with a higher riff count, more pieces split into shorter statements. In hindsight, and after many hours with ‘From the Visceral Abyss‘ most of my reaction at the time seems to have been withdrawal from the immersive weight of their second album given to the more chaotic ‘Seven Chalices‘-esque arrange of album number three and the patience it demanded. This was more a commentary on the maze of their body of work rather than an true absorption of that record and today I can appreciate the deeper blackened, hellish shade of blood that’d fed that third LP into true excess. Part of that new found reverence for the previous album comes from enjoying my time with this new album and the ways it expounds and contorts chaotic, difficult to predict rhythms into disorientation. There is no safe space illustrated within this lowest-set temple of morbid offering.

Our first steps taken underground echo with the grit of footsteps along an eroded path, a huge and ugliest guitar tone roaring out with bestial temperament as if built on the excitable grindcore bones of thrashing ancient death metal as “Enter the Hypogeum” wheels us into an almost ‘Clandestine‘-worthy lead and a roar that moves from the cave mouth through the flesh of the entrant. Scaling and whammy-yanking leads continue to outline the fray in jagged strikes as we feel the full tumult of Teitanblood pulsing from the mouth as if an entire lung of congealed gore were extruded within a slow struggling retch. The furor of this opener is one of the more stunning beatings they’ve served in introduction to date and I’d found myself pulling a rare hit of the rewind button to crawl back into it right out the gates.

In between some of the first several pieces we find atmosphere briefly stepping away from the cacophony and reinforcing setting via dripping water, echoing steps and wailing souls. I’d particularly enjoyed the transition from the opener into “Sepulchral Carrion God” which’d otherwise been the droning death-metallic tirade I’d gone in looking for, a piece which is wildly enhanced by its escalating drum performances and high-set echoing narrative accost. From there the brain-scrambling rawness of the title track (“From the Visceral Abyss”) doesn’t escape its the larger chaotic thrust developing within the full listen thus far and (to my ear) recalls the madness one’d associate with ‘Death‘ to some degree. Side A naturally hits as a follow-up to ‘The Baneful Choir‘ from a slightly more chaos prone angle and generally reinforces the Teitanblood assault as still mayhemic but also deliberately writ blackened death muse, that is to say there are riffs here which are easily parsed but ruptured from a high-rate point of volley.

The inclusion of lead guitars into the scrambling and wailing walk of “Strangling Visions” is not the first but one of many rock/death metal apropos lead guitar whorls found on the album (re: “Tomb Corpse Haruspex”, title track) and the longest hit of shredding on the record overall. The song itself carries the same level of barrage found on the opener, a piece which becomes more caustic as it throttles along a la Ascended Dead‘s most echoing maniac moments; Otherwise closer “Tomb Corpse Haruspex” is the longest piece here, double the average piece on ‘From the Visceral Abyss‘ and naturally it is tasked with slower, broadened atmospheric venture if only for a brief minute or two before the full weight of their hammer is loosed upon this infernal endpoint. The final ~5 minutes or so of the closer land upon an ominous curse and dwindling light which feed brilliantly back into the starting point. I’m not sure how many folks will simply leave a ~52 minute LP on repeat but considering the shared immersive qualities of this album and its parity with ‘The Baneful Choir‘ a repeat listen wouldn’t be unheard of in terms of my own weekend rituals.

As we are given a prompt of fuming, smoking suffering from the bodies of humans marching ashore phlegethon it is worth emphasizing the aesthetic of ‘From the Visceral Abyss‘ remaining consistent with past releases that’d featured the work of artist Timo Ketola including esoteric inner artwork. For this album Dávid Glomba‘s own style is of course active throughout but for the gatefold/front and back cover artwork he’s clearly channeled or tributed the realm Ketola illustrated specifically for Teitanblood in the past. In fact I took to social media to double-check and confirm the cover artist because the effect had been so impressive. Either way the continuity and spirit of the band’s aesthetic is upheld here in a way which goes above and beyond the usual fare and if nothing else it speaks to some serious care put into this work; As was the case with the previous LP from these folks this’ll be the sort of record that needs to writhe in mind for its full effect to become known but per the time spent thus far Teitanblood remain one of the more profound, serpentine voices in the bestial death metal realm via ‘From the Visceral Abyss‘. A high recommendation.

https://teitanblood.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-visceral-abyss?label=2917334927&tab=music

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