Wormwood is Marduk’s11th studio album and is of the black metal genre (some may consider this Brutal Black or Pure/Raw Black Metal). This album was released in October 2009 by Regain Records. This is the latest stuff from Swedish Black Metal band Marduk and it’s a mixture between super fast and super slow black metal.
Firstly this album’s tempo fluctuates between very fast and very slow many times. You have fast songs such as Whorecrown and This Fleshy Void,you have the slow songs such as Funeral Dawn and To Redirect Perdition and finally you have the songs that like to have both such as the opening song No Where, No-One, Nothing andalso Into Utter Madness. This is a good thing about this album because it is never boring unlike some other bands that try too hard to be brutal all the time or the ones that are too slow all the time. This album has music for any kind of Black Metal fan but not so much for the atmospheric fans. The vocals are still great and still sound like classic Marduk. This album not only is brutally fast but it has some emotion to it such as the song Whorecrown. The part near the end where there is a guitar solo (kind of) that has a little atmosphere to it and sounds a little scary. To top it all off they also put some scary alien voice at the end of the song Whorecrown to have the listener leave with shivers down their spine. This Album is not something you should try to fall asleep with mainly because there are parts it where goes from 0 to 100 decibels in less than a second. The music is very tight in this album and can change mood without any notice such as in the song Phosphorous Redeemer. This is probably the best thing about this album and that it is not in monotone and therefore not boring.
This is an excellent album but some fans may be a little disappointed by this album. The main thing people will realise this that there is no song in this entire album that is all out brutal and there is nothing that compares to the song World Funeral for example. For anyone who is looking for 100% brutality you won’t find here. Sure there are tracks such as Whorecrown but even that song many not even compare to the pace of some of Marduk’s older work. They focus more on melody rather than speed on a few of their tracks which don’t exactly turn out as good as people may have hoped. Also the vocals are a bit different than their older stuff. It seems to be a little more distorted, this may be good for some listeners and bad for some. It depends what you like. Also the track Unclosing The Curse is a little odd.
Overall this album is still very good. It still has music that will send you speakers at 100mph but there are also tracks that are slower. There are 2 main moods in this album, fast and slow. I would recommend this album to anyone who likes older Marduk or Brutal, Pure/Raw black metal fans. I definitely do not recommend this to any fans of Ambient or Atmospheric Black metal fans. I also recommend the song Into Utter Madness for people who are new to this band, and the song Whorecrown to people who like Marduk’s sheer brutality. I give this album a 17/20.
Satanic Black Devotion is Sargeist’s debut album and was released in 2003 by Moribund Records. This album is of the black metal genre but some may call it raw black metal. Sargeist is renowned to be one of the best Black metal bands out there that have only come onto the scene within the last decade. Their sound is very unique because although they are a raw black band, their music has a certain feeling to it. It’s almost upbeat or even happy.
Sargeist is a great band that started out as a solo project, although this is the case it is now a three piece bands with members from Behexen and Horna. Although these two bands have a fairly generic black metal sound. Sargeist has a totally different approach to their music, they have taken the raw sound of early Darkthrone and combined with a pagany feel to it. The result of this is a dark yet happy sound. This album is really good because unlike other black metal bands that sound monotone and just straight up boring, this album has a mixture of moods, atmosphere and tempo. This is great because it what keeps this album from getting boring. That is what really makes Sargiest standout from the rest and is the very root of their success. Although they have members from other well know bands, it is very unclear where their influences of their sound has come from.
The best thing about this, is the sheer variety of sounds this album contains. There are parts where its just straight up raw black metal and there are other parts where they bring out the pagan elements and incorporate them into their music. Also they are played at different speeds with that have a different atmosphere. It’s this that really makes this album have some serious replay value that you can listen to what ever mood you are in.
Musically they have incorporated many different moods into a nice little package. They are very tight and well rounded. Also the recording quality if just right for a black metal band as well, it’s not too good that it wrecks the atmosphere and dark feeling but not so bad they it sounds like harsh sounds. Also the instruments are vell balanced, nothing is too over powering and nothing is drowned out. Not even the vocals are over powering. The pitch of the vocals are just right as well. It really fits in well with the intended mood of the music. Also the vocals have a sort of echo after each line, this makes the music seem even more dark and scary. Just like a raw black metal band should be.
The drumming is very good, it really guides the music’s tempo really well. Also it guides the music through the transitions without disrupting the momentum or atmosphere of the song. There is definitely a strong dark atmosphere in this album and the drumming doesn’t affect it one bit. Usually bands try to drown out or slow the pace of the drumming to keep the music sounding dark but Sargiest seems to continue to play at some high speeds and still have almost perfectly balanced both dark and pagan feelings in the music. This is really good because it doesn’t overpower the rest of the music and doesn’t seem out of place at all.
The guitar work in this album sounds fast paced at times and almost symphonic at times. Also the distortion they have used combined with the recoding quality has a folky sound to it. Surprisingly the recoding quality of the guitars are very high, this is really good because you can really hear their distinctive sounds. Also they have chosen not to make them sound high pitch like other raw black metal artists. This is really good because it keeps the music sounding balanced and smooth throughout the album. Not only that but they seem to have a more classic sound to their music. It sounds a lot like something that may have been written and recorded in the early to mid 90s.
Each track on this album has its own mood and atmosphere. This is really good because it gives the album as a whole higher replay value. There is also a mixture of happy feelings and darker feelings. Some sound happier than others, some sound darker and a lot scarier than the others. But the best songs have a balance of both in their music. The opening track Preludium is an intro. It sounds very scary, a mixture of echoing screams and humming which really sets the scene for the rest of the album. The next track and the opening song is the title track Satanic Black Devotion. It is one of tracks that have a mixture of good folk music and raw black metal. It keeps a fairly even pace throughout the whole song and is very smooth. Although it does sounds dark, the folk/pagan elements in the music give it a almost happy feeling to it. The track Black Fucking Murder is one of the darker tracks in the album. Although the majority of it is dark there is a short part at the start where it sounds happy and melodious. The track Glorification would have to be the standout track in the album. It combines everything these guys have to offer and puts it into a single track. It has great melodies, it constantly changes tempo throughout the song with smooth transitions and mixes the tow moods.
Although this is a really good album, it is not the perfect album. Firstly, the album sounds very plain. Even though there are a mixture of sounds, they all seem to be evenly weighted. This could be due to the type of recording they have used to create a darker affect. Even though they have different ways of bringing out the music, all the songs sound like they have the same sounds but they are just played in a different order. Also, the vocals sound exactly the same all the way throughout the whole album. Excecpt maybe in the track Frowning, Existing.On Frowning, Existing the vocals sound very different. It is a totally different style to their usual vocals they are higher pitched. They sound more like Burzum’s vocals. It’s more of a high pitch shriek rather than a scream.
Overall this is a very good album. Not many people like bands that have appeared in the last decade but bands like Sargeist goes to show that there are still some people out there that are trying to recreate the older style of black metal and they are succeeding and it goes to show that people shouldn’t give up on finding something new. Most of the tracks sound very similar to each other but some standout more than the others. For people whole like the rawer and depressing kind of stuff I recommend the track Returning to Misery & Comfort, it has seems to be a little darker than the others, but it still has a really good feeling behind it. The track Black Fucking Murder also has this. But the standout track in the whole album would have to be Glorification. It mixes everything good about this band into a single song. Overall I give Satanic Black Devotion a 16/20. It’s not bad, it’s just that its seems to still be very generic.
Terrorfront is Infernal War’s debut album and it was released in 2005 by Agonia Records. This album is of the brutal black metal genre and it really has taken black metal to a whole new level when it comes of modern day bands. There aren’t many bands out there even today that can match the sheer pace and brutality of Infernal War. The only thing that would give these guys a run for their money would probably have to be Marduk.
Terrorfront is an insanely brutal album. It has thrown the atmosphere and emotions out the window and replaced it with speed. The best thing about this album is that it is brutal but it still has evidence of song structure, melody and a little bit of planning before creating a track. The transitions are nice and smooth and each song usually has a slow part and a fast part in it. There is nothing that is in between, it is either insanely fast or quite slow. This is good because it keeps a particular track from being really boring. Also this is a classic example of what modern day brutal black metal sounds like. They have given no evidence of trying to combine their music with other genres. It’s just straight up brutal black.
The main thing that this band wants to emphasise in their music is how brutal they are. This is a great example of what a modern black metal band should sound like. The mistake that many modern black metal bands do is try and rip off the old bands. Infernal War have really created their own sound here. Although some people might consider it to be a rip off of Marduk, they have the same pace but with a different sound. Although the riffs might sound a little similar to Marduk, the rest of the music is very different.
The vocalist has that classic black metal style of vocals. It is done hard enough so it still sounds like a scream but not so much that they sound very distorted and hard to understand. Surprisingly the vocalist has matched the pace of the music very well, he can talk fast enough to keep up and not sound like he is trying to scream a rap song that doesn’t make sense. Also he seems to sing in a very uniform pattern. When he starts a line he screams at a medium register, as he gets towards the last two words of each line he shifts to a higher register. This suits their musical style really well.
The drumming in this album is definitely one of the highlights of this album, it is extremely fast and I don’t mean that lightly. Everything the drummer does is fast, from the patterns he plays to his double kick. It really gives that extra boost to the sheer pace of the album. Also what a lot of bands seem to do is drum faster that what they should. Since they are insanely fast to begin with there is practically no speed limit. Also it sounds like they are using a metal skin on their drums, this really keeps the music sounding very tight and adds a little bit of technicality to their music. Also it is very high pitched. It sounds almost like hitting on the bottom of tin cans really fast, that’s how high pitched it sounds. Also many other bands tend to drown out their drums because they are probably scared that it might over power the rest of the music. Since the drumming is one of the best bits of this band they are not ashamed to go all out with it. The drumming is definitely not drowned out and definitely doesn’t over power any of the other instruments. Also the double kick is nice and fast and sounds very deep. It sounds almost like a humming sound when it’s done.
The other major highlight on of this album is the guitar work. They have really done well with this, the recording of them are almost perfect and also they have matched the pace of the music. The lead guitar and the rhythm guitar are very balanced with each other and the distortion of them seems to really suit their style of music. It’s not just the guitar work that highlights the album but it’s the guitar solos in particular which really bring the music alive. They have probably the best guitar solos I have heard in black metal, they go at 100 miles per hours and he seems to play so fast that it almost sounds like he is shredding the music into pieces. The distortion of the guitars combined with the way they are plays creates some of the most superb guitar work ever.
There are a few good tracks in this album. Most of them sound very similar though. They all have the same riffs, the same drumming and the same vocal style across the whole album. The first actual song, Crushing Impure Idolatry is probably the most outstanding track on the album. It has everything and sums up what this band is all in just one song. It ranges from mid to high speed tempos, it has 2 awesome guitar solos and drumming that goes extremely fast. Yep it definitely has everything. But there is a more insane track on this album and it is called The Grand Intolerance Manifestation, the whole song is just pure speed and energy. There is no slowing down at all during the time course of the track. Although it sounds like it is just all brutality, there is just one track on the whole album when it seems that speed is no object. This is a saviour, because without it the entire thing would sound plain and boring after a while. The track is Salvation, it seems to be the only track that has an element of emotion or atmosphere. The drums sound very different as well, that track sounds like it’s playing a really fast track but in slow motion and is decomposing the music.
Although this is definitely an outstanding album it is not perfect. The main thing that really lets this album down is the repetitiveness of it. It sounds almost exactly the same all the way through. The drumming is the same, the vocals are the same and even the guitar solos sound very similar to each other. I sounds like they have started recording the album but ran out of ideas half way through. The only exception to this is the song Salvation. It literally saves this album from being unbearably boring. Also they have gone for the technicality as well, and just like many bands out there. They sound very hollow at times and it seems that something is missing. This is quite bad because with a band like Infernal War, they cannot afford to lose the momentum of each track. But the drumming does keep it from sounding too hollow, because somehow. The drummer has managed to drum insanely quick pace with his hands and play an insanely quick double bass. Also it sounds like there is a lot of starting and stopping throughout the album as well but that doesn’t seem to have a huge impact on the music though, Surprisingly.
Overall this is an excellent debut album by an excellent brutal black metal band. These guys should be able to stand tall against the masters of brutal black metal Marduk. They are equally as fast and sound just like them except with a modern twist to the music. For people who like to go all out brutality and like the sheer speed of black metal, look no further. The track The Grand Intolerance Manifestation is an insanely fast track and I do not say that lightly. It will definitely suit anyone’s need for speed. For people who prefer the slower stuff, there is nothing that is dead slow but the track Salvation seems to be a more melodic track and gives me a break from all the chaos around it. It is the only song in the album that seems to have some kind of atmosphere or emotion. Lastly, for people who would prefer a balance of both. The track Crushing Impure Idolatry has both and it is definitely the standout song. It has an excellent intro and 2 really good guitar solos in it. Overall this is a very good album and I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes extreme metal in general. It’s not bad but it’s the sheer repetitiveness that really lets this album down. If I were to give out a rating to the tracks individually, it would come close to getting a 17 or and 18. But as a whole, Terrorfront gets a 15/20.
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