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Marduk: Plague angel

20/12/07 || theProphet

Say what you want about Dark Funeral, Watain or Nifelheim, but in Sweden there’s no black metal band that even comes close to rival Marduk in terms of utter black metal domination.

When Marduk really decides to dominate, that is…

We all now Marduk has released a lot of mediocre (at best) albums. But still, we must acknowledge that when Marduk is good, they are the fucking best. Most recently this took the form of the awefantabulous 2007 release “Rom 5:12”. But that album probably wouldn’t have been so great if they hadn’t released “Plague Angel” first.

Back in 2004 when “Plague Angel” was recorded, Marduk had undergone some serious line up changes, most notably losing singer Eric Legion. To replace him they chose Arioch of Funeral Mist, who decided to change his name to Mortuus, just for Marduk. How’s this for background information? Perhaps I’ll just tell you the story of Marduk year 2004 and let you read the review on Metal Observer…

Nah.

Anyways, the reason I’m turning this review into a biography is that, to me, “Plague Angel” is the unexperienced virgin where “Rom 5:12” is the nymphomaniac harlot. The start of the path that would lead up to “Rom 5:12”, or something. That said, “Plague Angel” is nothing but a great effort in itself.

The thing that rejuvenated Marduk for me is Mortuus vocals. They are delivered with pure conviction and are truly unique, something that is not too common in black metal these days. They are also really versatile. Listen to the “So say me noble stranger…” part in “Life’s Emblem”, that is some badass vocalwork right there, bitches.

The production has to be mentioned as well: it’s handled by the band itself and mixed at the hands of bass player Devo. The dominating element is the guitars, and their razor sharp tone fits the music like tits in a porno movie. The bass isn’t drowned, however, making the slower parts (such as album highlight “Seven Angels, Seven Trumpets”) as heavy as a sumo wrestler in a battle tank.

Musically, the songwriting is not yet as dynamic as it would be on “Rom 5:12”, and the band focuses mostly on breakneck speed. Seriously, this album probably contains more snare hits than AC/DC’s entire discography, and they have released like slightly more than 200 albums. However, it feels like more thought has been put into the riffs on this one, instead of just playing the same power chord at lightning speed, Marduk makes good use of melodies that are never in danger of sounding even remotely gay.

Another thing that always make Marduk stand out is the amazing lyrics. They have a really serious approach and you can tell a lot of research has been put into the writing process. “Plague Angel” is no exception. The lyrics tend to deal with war, death and religion, but they are always rich with metaphors and a very colorful language. I also like that instead of singing something along the lines of “HAIL SATAN I LOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU GRAAAAAAAAAAAAHRAGRGAHGGRAGHRH” they draw much inspiration from for example the bible, using God’s words against him. To greater effect, I might add.

So what we got here is:

Good production.
Good songwriting and performances.
Great lyrics.

That gives us

7 Angels and trumpets out of 10.

Information
Released: 2004
Label: Blooddawn
Website: www.marduk.nu
Band
Mortuus: vocals
Morgan: guitars
Devo: bass
Emil: drums

Tracklist
01. The Hangman of Prague
02. Throne of Rats
03. Seven Angels, Seven Trumpets
04. Life’s Emblem
05. Steel Inferno
06. Perish In Flames
07. Holy Blood, Holy Grail
08. Warschau
09. Deathmarch
10. Everything Bleeds
11. Blutrache

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