Over the past twenty-two years Teitanblood has been creating incredibly dense and violent music that blurred the lines between death and black metal. Each of their efforts has emphasized something different, as some went for more harrowing atmosphere and interludes in between the churning riffs and blasting, while 2014’s Death was so dense that it felt like it was suffocating you. For their fourth full-length From the Visceral Abyss the group has once again tweaked their approach, cleaning up the production ever so slightly to let the nuances become a bit more apparent while also making the vocals more deranged. Some of the rawness of the band’s earlier efforts may have subsided, but that doesn’t make From the Visceral Abyss any softer in how it batters the listener, ensuring this is another wild ride from beginning to end.
Seven Chalices and Death had a murkiness to their production that made the wall of guitar, bass, and drums fuse together into a noisy and downright hostile mix. Compared to some of their peers Teitanblood’s style was even more inapproachable to those unprepared for the chaos, but if you dug deeper specific riffs and sections stood out. By 2019’s The Baneful Choir the core sound had once again been tweaked, as there were a few more slower sections that changed the flow of the attack alongside a bottom-heavy sound that felt like it was dragging you beneath the Earth’s surface. With this in mind, From the Visceral Abyss offers some of the biggest changes to the recording itself compared to its predecessors as the murkiness has been peeled back in favor of a more direct and aggressive tone. Opener “Enter the Hypogeum” has a familiar ebb and flow to its instrumentation, as the shift between crushing mid-tempo sections and blasting is abrupt and keeps the tension and aggression at a high for its entire run. But you’ll immediately notice that the leads and specific details of each passage are a bit easier to make out on the first listen, and that clarity makes the individual songs stand out a bit more. The build-ups in particular are some of the best in the group’s discography, as the slower section that kicks off “Sepulchral Carrion God” gets under your skin with its pounding drums and noisier guitar work and effects, but just before the three-minute mark it whips back into a whirlwind. There’s a precision to the attack that’s unmatched by others out there, as the drumming often starts off at a fast tempo and seems to only speed up to near inhuman levels as the songs reach their peaks. “And Darkness Was All” and “Tomb Corpse Haruspex” play around with the tone, bringing in some black metal forward guitar work compared to the more death metal foundation that drives a lot of the album. My favorite moments are on the title track, where the guitars seem to get wilder the further in you get while a haunting ambiance hovers over the air. Even the interludes are smartly integrated and don’t overstay their welcome, giving listeners a more foreboding and ominous break in the action while keeping the tension at a high.
NSK has always had an abrasive scream/growl that contributed to the intensity of Teitanblood’s material, but it has often been buried beneath the layers of noise and blended in as another element of that soundscape. From the Visceral Abyss shifts the vocals to the front, and with this change NSK has also delivered one of his most unhinged performances to date. Songs like “Sepulchral Carrion God” start off with some of the typical ranges, but the pitch gets more maniacal with each minute. Like the instrumentation, the breathing room in the production makes it easier to pick out the details of the vocals and take in every scream, howl, and inhuman pitch the album has to offer. There are also some distorted chants on the title track alongside some unnerving dog barking on the appropriately named “Sevenhundreddogsfromhell” that adds to the sense of dread. Some of these tweaks are subtle, but they enhance Teitanblood’s sound to be even sharper.
Teitanblood’s extremity isn’t for everyone, but those who have looked to their music in the past for the sheer amount of force and intensity won’t be disappointed with this latest effort. Some of the rawness and murk have been reduced in favor of a slight bit of clarity, but this allows the precision and details to stand out in ways that weren’t as apparent in the past. When it comes to this type of black/death metal, this band remains at the top and shows no signs of letting up after two decades. From the Visceral Abyss is available from NoEvDia.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg