Marduk - Panzer Division Marduk

Marduk - Panzer Division Marduk

Panzer Division Marduk is Marduk’s sixth studio album and it is considered to be one of the albums that were in Marduk’s glory days. Released in 1999, at the time there was not many bands around then that could match the pace of Marduk and they opened up a whole new world of black metal which is  beyond extreme. Everything is fairly balanced and the instruments are insanely tight and technical.

The first thing to hit you about this album is the overwhelming barrage sounds that resinate with so much force that you might fall out of your seat. Yep, this is what many people consider to be the real Marduk. The sheer tightness and speed is definitely the main highlights in this album. Awesome blast beats that rip your ear drums to shreds, guitar riffs that actually match the pace of the music and vocals that don’t sound like shrieks of despair but sounds like, well… words.  There is one work that really summarises what this album is all about, “extreme”. When it comes to black metal, this is as extreme as you can make it and it still has evidence of song structure and planning. It seems that they have put a lot of thought into their music because everything fits in musically and even lyrically, and what better way to support such extreme music with some extreme “war” lyrics.

After the shock of hearing this album for the first time, you being to pick up the finer details about the album and begin to realise there is much more to this album than just speed and brutality. The main thing to realise is that even though they are incredibly technical and speedy with their music. They have in no way thrown melody out the window, in fact they seemed to embrace it and have really incorporated it into their sound very well. Even though they have successfully created an insanely fast album it’s not their primary aim, I think they have chosen to deliver their extreme sense in many other different directions than just the music. Unlike other bands, their brutality is not only skin deep they have successfully made an album that still has the basic traits of black metal. The main thing is that this album still sounds quite dark and a somewhat sinister feeling behind it. This really fits with the back drop and judging from the album cover and titles, without even looking at the lyrics I can tell that it’s about war and because of the religious implications as well I’m guessing it’s from the realms of world war two.

The last thing to mention about this is that even though everything about this album is pointing at war, hate and anti-Semitism they have chosen to use a high quality recording rather than poor recording to create an illusion of darkness and a raw atmosphere. Many other bands do this but Marduk has a totally different approach to the music. Other bands tend to try and recreate all the death and despair which is usually accompanied with world war two within their music, rather than doing this Marduk have done the opposite. The music feels a lot more energized and a lot more projected, it’s almost like they want you to feel like you are actually in the warzone experiencing bullets whizzing past you and mortar shells falling next to you but at the same time still having a black metal atmosphere. By replacing the raw element with a more sinister feeling has still managed to keep the album sounding dark but lets them tinker with different styles. I think they have made the right choice with this.  They have also backed all this up with actual sounds of war, this is evident at the beginning of some of the tracks.

From start to finish this album is 99% energetic brutality with the 1% being its small traces of melody. As soon as the first track “Baptism By Fire” opens you aren’t automatically introduced with a wall of black metal but by the sounds of primitive fighter planes dropping bombs in a warzone, then the music hits you. That track is a great way to introduce what this album is all about and what you can expect. Also once the opening track has finished, the music doesn’t get any slower in anyway. They have really tried to keep the same pace throughout the entire album rather than just one or two songs. Although each song sounds similar to the last one, they have made very minute alterations which change the entire feeling without compromising the energy of the song and because this album is only eight tracks long, it doesn’t seem to get boring at all.

Overall Panzer Division Marduk is one of the best black metal releases out there to date and I don’t expect anything out there today or the near future that will beat Marduk at their own game which is a combination of brutality and melodies. Some bands like Infernal War and Tsjuder might come close in terms of brutality but they don’t usually incorporate melodies very much into their sound. This is a great album because it one of the few black metal albums that I have heard where the intended mood is fast and energetic  but they have recorded it in high quality which got rid of the raw feeling. This is great because they seem to get their messages across far easier, and the fact that this album was recorded in 1999 when bands were still experimenting with how raw sounding they can get make this feat even more amazing.

I don’t think there are any imperfections when it comes to music in general, the only thing is that the listener should note that it might sound highly repetitive at times. But at least they only made this album eight tracks long rather than dragging it for eleven or more. I would highly recommend this album to anyone who likes extreme metal and above all black metal fans who are into the brutal stuff. This album is definitely at the upper end of the scale when it comes to sheer brutality. Furthermore, for people who are wondering what to listen to, just put the CD in the player and just hit play. Everything seems to be evenly balanced when it comes to the songs also there is none of those dead slow tracks that some of the other Marduk albums feature. Everything is highly energetic you can count on it, that being said, people who like the rawer and darker side of black metal should keep away from this.  Overall Panzer Division Marduk is one of Marduk’s greatest albums and I give it a 19/20.

Marduk - Wormwood

Marduk - Wormwood

Wormwood is Marduk’s  11^th 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 and  also 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.

Infernal War - Terrorfront

Infernal War - Terrorfront

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.