Kev Rowland In some ways Marduk have been incredibly stable in that founder guitarist Evil (Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson) has been at the helm for more than 20 years while singer Mortuus (Daniel Rostén) joined all the way back in 2004 but in other areas not so much. Drummer Bloodhammer (Simon Schilling) only joined in 2019, after the last album, while long-term bassist Devo (Magnus Andersson) left in 2019 to concentrate on session work (although he has guested on this album, while Mortuus and ex-bassist Joel Lindholm also contribute). One always knows what to expect with Marduk, and with their fifteenth studio album they have not disappointed.

When asked about ‘Memento Mori’ Daniel Rostén said, “Memento Mori is, all at once, a bold leap forward, a calculated sidestep, and a wistful backward glance. Meaning, we have broken new ground without forgetting our legacy or the journey that brought us to this point.” This actually makes sense as while there are obvious links back to the last album, ‘Viktoria’, and others going all the way back to the Nineties, the band are still attempting to progress within the black metal scene while never moving out of it. There are times, such as on “Charlatan”, where the drums, vocals and guitar are all moving in one direction while the bass is very much in another, which creates some space within the music and then when the bass aligns itself again it feels quite dramatic and more forceful. The use of micro breaks of space allows the music to reset and come back hard again while drummer Simon Schilling is a real find and it is no surprise that he is in so much demand (At the Grave, Eucharist, Hate Manifesto, Nervecell (live), ex-Belphegor, ex-Panzerchrist, ex-Paragon Belial, ex-Streams of Blood, ex-As Stormclouds Gather (live), ex-Der Weg einer Freiheit (live), ex-Fleshcrawl (live), ex-Infestus (live), ex-Kaoteon (live), ex-Monument of Misanthropy (live), ex-Nargaroth (live)) as he is a force to be reckoned with, providing an over the top dynamic attack yet he also knows when to pull back and provide more space.

More than 30 years since their inception, Marduk show no sign at all of slowing down yet.

siLLy puPPy It’s always a good day for kvlt second wave black metalheads as well as owners of stock for face paint when a new MARDUK album is released. Staunchly stuck in the 90s and all the better for it, this is probably the one Scandinavian band (with the obvious exception of Immortal) that has really stuck it through despite the trends that have ebbed and flowed in the black metal world since the genre was declared independent and scored its own council at the Disunited Demonic Federation. And for anyone who thinks that black metal has become nothing but wimped out drizzle since Dimmu Borgir, a fine day indeed that they can raise their fists and scream at the top of their lungs, “yeah, now that’s fucking black metal!”

Yep, MARDUK are still going strong with their 14th album VIKTORIA which pretty much follows in the theme and approach of 2015’s “Frontschwein.” Once again we’re treated to a no nonsense blackened brutality bash that finds buzzsaw guitars blazings, blastbeats bantering and Mortus’ recognizable demented vocal style preaching the by now familiarity of Satanism, death, blasphemy and a morbid fascination with World War II and the Third Reich. Graced with a modern production, VIKTORIA allows the second wave black metal to shine through in, well, stereophonic lo-fi wonder! Seriously, it sounds authentically retro but not shitty retro. Somehow all the sounds are balanced into kvlt-o-phonic perfection.

Despite the numerous lineup changes over their almost three decade career, once MARDUK got past their death metal infancy, the black metal sound that they’ve so vehemently latched onto for over twenty years has remained amazingly consistent and on VIKTORIA they pummel out nine tracks of pure in-yer-face no nonsense black metal, 90s style! You know, the kind Darkthrone, Emperor and Ulver ditched so very long ago in order to get all snooty on us! MARDUK remain the working man’s black metal. No silly tricks and trinkets to distract from the raw filth and grime that is dripping from each and every sizzling hot riff as well as every member’s unkempt hair.

With nine tracks that are just shy of the 33 minute mark, VIKTORIA is balls to the wall and gets the job done quick. Starting out with a siren and instant bombastic riffing, the album instantly delivers MARDUK’s promise of remaining the stationary guide of the second wavers while almost everyone else went to a different party. Think of them as the preeminent dark candles that have burned for 25 years while even bands like Immortal went out to play in the rain before coming full circle. While it’s often difficult to gauge a MARDUK album because of the sameness that exhibits their canon, each album has slightly different personalities that emerge through the din.

VIKTORIA, while musically competent as always, seems to capture me a tad less than many of their recent albums. While starting out with a little variation between tracks, all tends to sound a bit repetitive by the end, possibly due to the less than flattering fact that Immortal’s return to second wave glory eclipses MARDUK’s humble origins with their outstanding “Northern Chaos Gods” also released in 2018. While i find VIKTORIA to be a tad less enthralling than “Frontschwein,” this is yet another wild romp in this Babylonian god’s namesake within the metal universe and as far as i’m concerned MARDUK can do no wrong even when they don’t blow away the competition or even themselves.

Vim Fuego A black metal album with a fucking big tank on the front? Finally, someone gets it!

Actually, there’s two versions of this album, but both have a fucking big tank on them. One’s a Swedish Stridsvagn 104 main battle tank and the other is a German Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger heavy tank used in the Battle of Kursk in July 1943. But let’s not get hung up on tanks. This is still about the music.

Marduk is one of those black metal bands, like Immortal and Impaled Nazarene, which metal fans can get into without having to swallow the whole black metal schtick. Yes, it’s fast and anti-Christian, but there’s no deeper pretence about the music being anything but metal. Forget atmosphere, melody, and non-metal instruments, just write some evil fucking tunes, and play ‘em fast as fuck until yer balls are hanging out! That is what black metal should be.

So, what we have here is a 30 minute album full of war themed songs. Some are describing real events, which others are repurposing the theme for a blitzkrieg on Christianity. The first song and title track best illustrates this with the line “Panzer division Marduk continues its triumphant crusade/Against Christianity and your worthless humanity”. Glad we cleared that up...

Run through the rest of the songs and you get “Baptism By Fire” which uses bombing raid imagery as an attack by Satan on Christianity. “Christraping Black Metal” taunts Christ on the cross. “Scorched Earth” describes tanks racing back and forth through the Losheim Gap, the main invasion route into France and Belgium for the Germans during both World Wars, and the location of a famous tank battle during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. “Beast of Prey” and “Blooddawn” further explore the war/anti-Christianity theme.

"502" refers to the 502nd Heavy Tank Battalion, which was involved in the Siege of Leningrad. While the rolling Panzers must have been an awe inspiring (or dread inspiring, point of view is important here) sight, history has recorded what happened to this force. Despite destroying 2000 enemy tanks (according to the song - official figures put the number at 1400, plus 2000 guns destroyed) during the infamous 900 day siege, Russian forces eventually prevailed, and the Germans were sent into full retreat. The 502nd was eventually redesignated the 511th in early 1945, and continued to fight up until April 27, and finally surrendered on May 9.

The final track has the gloriously offensive title “Fistfucking God's Planet”. And as you can probably guess by now, it’s anti-Christian/pro-Satan. There’s nothing new about it, the music is still breakneck speed fast, but it’s still fun to listen to.

And that is the lasting impression of this album. It’s got bits about tanks and wars. It’s got bits about Satanism and how Christianity is bad. It’s heavy. It’s loud. It’s metal. Full fucking stop.

siLLy puPPy MARDUK released their dirty full-length debut “DARK ENDLESS” in1992 after their blasphemous demo “Fuck Me Jesus” the previous year and continued with their feet in both the black and death metal worlds much like other early black metal bands like Darkthrone. Black metal elements include Andreas Axelsson shouted and screamed anguished vocal style, blasphemous anti-Christian lyrical content as well as the black metal fashion statements of spiky leather things and corpse paint and while the music itself is more remnant of old school death metal, it also exhibits at this early stage some of the transitions of becoming black metal with buzzsaw guitar frenzies and blastbeat drumming madness. On the composition side of things though this does indeed sound a lot like old school death metal of the early 90s with heavy distorted riffing and the stylistic meanderings throughout the album. The band added a second guitarist in the form of Magnus Andersson as well.

This debut album by MARDUK is a mixed bag for me as it seems that the two styles of metal are more of a hindrance for a cohesive whole sound than one would hear on more developed blackened death metal as heard by bands like Behemoth. After a rather sinister sounding piano piece that sounds super creepy and twisted, “DARK ENDLESS” seems to fall in a stale rut fairly quickly but still manages to pack enough punch to keep the album from totally falling into the abyss. While the compositions seem to be more sophisticated than some of the contemporary black metal bands of the era, unfortunately the musicianship is a little lackluster at times with Joakin Grave’s percussion standing out as the weakest link.

While MARDUK has never been one of the most original bands in the black metal world, they have persevered for their tight wickedly evil black metal style that has come to perfect the old school black metal sound that they would adopt after this debut album. However, on this one things just sound off as the their fusion prowess was clearly not firing on all cylinders. “DARK ENDLESS” in the end comes off as a decent raw and filthy early blackened death metal album with all the shock and awe one would expect but ultimately fails to deliver the goods in an ultimately satisfying way. Despite the lack of perfection on this one, it’s a decent listen and i simply love the album cover! Wisely they would abandon the death metal side of their equation and ultimately master the black metal side quite well.

Kev Rowland World Funeral’ was the follow-up to ‘La Grande Danse Macabre’, and has also been reissued by Nuclear Blast with additional material (including a rehearsal featuring many of the songs that were on the album), a new cover, and remastered sound. This was the first album to feature Emil Dragutinovic on drums, and the last to feature singer Erik "Legion" Hagstedt and bassist B. War (Roger "Bogge" Svensson) so is quite a transitional album in many ways (founder guitarist Morgan "Evil" Steinmeyer Håkansson is still there to this day). In many ways, it is a companion album to the previous one, yet again there was a mix of different speeds and not such a straight-out attack as on ‘Panzer Division Marduk’.

Those who say that Black Metal bands don’t know what they’re doing should listen to “Blackcrowned”, which is an adaptation of “Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary” by English Baroque composer Henry Purcell! Not many can say that they have been influenced by a composer who was born in the Seventeenth Century. This is tight, powerful, heavy and dramatic, all things I want in a Black Metal band, and although this album may not be revered as some of their other albums it is well worth discovering, especially as it is available at mid-price.