TEITAN

Teitan biography
Hailing from Schiedam, Teitan is a one-man Dutch progressive black metal project, led by multi-instrumentalist Devi Hisgen. Teitan began in 2008 as the vision of Hisgen (aka Marquis) and his friend Damon (aka Berith), both 18 and 15 respectively, seeking to play raw black metal inspired by Marduk, Dark Funeral, Gorgoroth and Mayhem. The result was 2009's Dark Ritual, a demo the duo self-released on CD and on cassette through Zwaertgevegt the following year. Teitan ceased to exist in 2010, with Hisgen and Damon remaining friends but exploring different musical paths.

The next decade saw Hisgen experimenting with psychedelics while diving into stoner rock, folk, psytrance and the more out-there strains of black metal, co-founding the progressive doom band Cthuluminati in 2015. Three years later, Damon proposed Hisgen release a full-length to coincide with Teitan's ten-year anniversary. Now Hisgen's personal vehicle to explore existential philosophy, theoretical physics and psychedelic experiences, Teitan reactivated in 2018, with Hisgen handling guitar, bass, vocals, drum programming and synthesizers.

Its debut LP, Weight of the Void, was issued once more through Zwaertgevegt in 2019, self-recorded and produced in Hisgen's home studio and bearing a completely new musical style informed by Deathspell Omega, Svartidauði, Dødheimsgard and his evergreen influence Mayhem. Teitan later signed to Void Wanderer Productions, through which he released the Vákuum EP in 2021, written while the global coronavirus crisis forced Cthuluminati to lie low. While Teitan's debut details the story of a psychiatric patient who believes he's at war with the Anunnaki in ancient Sumer, Vákuum muses on the death of the universe and different ways it could end. 2023's sophomore LP, In Oculus Abyss, is a collection of paeans to Plato, Camus, Dostoevsky and Diogenes.

Teitan's avant-garde black metal will be welcomed by fans of Dødheimsgard, Virus, Hail Spirit Noir, Fleurety, Code and Manes.


- Gordy, October 2023