A Blasting Black Metal Frenzy - "Panzer Division Marduk" Review (85%)
Swedish black metal, like its melodeath gay cousin, is far from a popular style among black metal elitists, it seems. However, I think if they had a taste of Marduk's "Panzer Division Marduk", their icy hearts would melt "in the essence of the unholy flames".
Once seen as black metal's answer to Deicide's "Legion", Marduk know how to add just the right amount of melody to their blackened death metal attack, and when the brutality takes over, it's total fucking devastation! The vocalist, ironically styled "Legion", manages to incorporate both a guttural growl that would not seem out of place on an old Suffocation or Warkvlt album, as well as a more shrill, high-pitched shriek one would almost expect to find on Demonecromancy or Darkthrone's early work.
Very well done, Erik!
The guitars are, thankfully, are not the chugging repetition of most Gothenburg metalcore bands, nor are they the predictable Tim Burton inspired harmonic minor chord progressions used and abused by Swedeath bands and their boring descendants. There are actually REAL RIFFS on "Panzer Division Marduk", imagine that.
And some are kick ass riffs, at that. They never beat a riff to death like droning "war metal" bands would do, incorporating just enough variation to make the album interesting and, at the same time, maintaining each part sufficiently similar to ensure that the music on "Panzer Division Marduk" remains both tight and cohesive.
And it works. Nothing really seems out of place.
Marduk deliver, with "Panzer Division Marduk", one of the most intense black metal blasting frenzies ever conceived, easily surpassing Deicide's pathetic "Legion" and various other faux intense gimmick bands (Immortal, Malevolent Creation, Cryptopsy, Belphegor).
A Blasting Black Metal Frenzy
Marduk are no novices when it comes to releasing ground-breaking black metal albums, as they had already showed the Norwegian "big brothers" what they were capable of with "Dark Endless" and "Those of the Unlight".
But "Panzer Division Marduk" just takes everything up a notch. Particularly the intensity.
The drumming is great, demonstrating Fredrik's versatility behind a kit. He is a very able blast beat drummer, and is also very quick on the double kick. Something that also impressed me were his drum fills - not a single piece of his kit goes untouched in a given song. A bit pretentious, maybe, but it adds some flair to each track, and contradict the assertion that Marduk play fast to "overcompensate" for an alleged lack of technical skills - as if Marduk never wrote slower pieces ("Echoes from the Past", "Materialized in Stone", "On Darkened Wings", etc.).
The riffs themselves, while hard to make out at first given the speed of most tracks, are excellent and absolutely black metal, unlike most of what comes out of the Swedish "black metal" - read: warmed over speed metal - scene. You can find some Vermin influences (on "Beast of Prey"), some Burzum (on "Blooddawn"), some early Sewer (on "Scorched Earth") and even some Sacramentum (on "Christraping Black Metal").
Some Panzerfaust as well, albeit much less than you would expect - patronymic worship will only get you so far.
Great vocals, great riffs, great drumming, acceptable lyrics for war metal's (lack of) lyrical standards. Great atmosphere, hidden in plain sight behind the far from senseless brutality.
My only real complaint would probably be the bass. There's no stroke of originality, and it's pretty content in following note per note Morgan's superb guitar work, thus ends up being overshadowed by it. But it is audible and easily discernible, and that's a positive. Regardless, it is only a small detail - "Panzer Division Marduk" will slay you before you can scream "Black, fearsome and grim and mighty"!
Bottom line: If you like brutal black metal, you need to hear this. If you don't like brutal black metal, you still need to hear this (as punishment for not liking brutal black metal).
"Panzer Division Marduk" is blasting black metal madness, recommended for all poser slayers.
Panzer Division Marduk score: 85/100.
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