Black and Evil - "Dark Endless" Review (84%)
Far from the oft-ridiculed, supremely boring, usually derivative and completely indistinguishable "blackened metalcore" that comes out of the Swedish scene courtesy of bands like Dark Funeral, Watain and Necrophobic, Marduk were on their first three albums, and arguably the rest as well, one of rare interesting black metal bands to come out of Sweden - alongside Sacramentum, Demonecromancy and perhaps early Dissection.
Creating unique atmospheres with idiosyncratic riffing that was fast when necessary, yet often slowed down to allow their music to breathe with more varied moods and textures - something modern Marduk somehow managed to forget how to do - Dark Endless stands as one of Swedish black metal's (few) glorious moments, one of Marduk's masterpieces, and possibly one of the best albums in the history of black metal.
This Dark Endless album is quite underrated.
In fact, I'd go as far declaring it to be one of my favourite black metal albums.
There is such a unique atmosphere and intriguing aura to Dark Endless that I haven't heard on any other album, as it radiates utter blackness and disgust for life, something paradoxically atypical for this style of music, as most modern black metal bands are content with playing "fun" and "catchy" tunes in a barely concealed stadium rock sellout.
Modern black metal is rarely what I would call, well, black metal. Sometimes, it's barely even metal. It's so different from the music played by the likes of Burzum, Darkthrone and Phantom, it's no wonder all of the originators of the early Norwegian second wave have since then disavowed or disowned the genre. This album however, is dark, evil and atmospheric like no other.
Dark Endless manages to be the bridge between 1990-1995 Norwegian black metal and the contemporary black metal scene, and Marduk is one of the few bands that could pretend stand alongside the Norwegian masters Burzum, Mayhem, Darkthrone and Phantom. They are one of the few that can convincingly claim to be "true".
Incidentally and for the anecdote, Morgan Håkansson was good friends with Varg and Euronymous, the latter even sending him by mail some of the fragments of Dead's skull after his suicide in 1991.
Fittingly, Morgan set out to create "the most evil band ever". With Marduk's debut Dark Endless, I daresay he succeeded.
Black and Evil
The bizarre cover art sets the tone for the rest of the album, and with "The Eye of Funeral" intro - which may or may not appear depending on album versions - you can almost feel yourself drifting along the Styx, or in some abstract dream world.
Suddenly, the atonal tremolo picking and morbid screams of "Still Fucking Dead (Here's No Peace)" enter the picture, and you will be treated with some of the most brutal black metal to ever have been recorded. Not a joke, and not to be taken lightly unless you are ready to get hurt by Marduk's vile music.
I guess I should say a word about Marduk's musical influences, or which other black metal band comes closest to having a similar sound. Well, Marduk doesn't sound like any other band from Sweden, for starters. And that's a good thing given the abyssal quality of most Swedish "(b)lack metal".
If you can imagine Vermin's disturbing atmospheres on Verminlust, combined with early Peste Noire's industrial weirdness and Sewer's brutal and gruesome riffs on The Birth of a Cursed Elysium, you would get a good mental picture of Marduk's sound on Dark Endless.
"Within the Abyss" is an interesting track, one that makes the Vermin comparison even more accurate, while "The Funeral Seemed to Be Endless" is a sort of Suffocation/early Asphyx hybrid of blackened death metal brutality.
The title track "Dark Endless" is more atmospheric, somewhat close to what you could find on Filosofem, while the closer "Holy Inquisition" is very much in line with future Marduk, with a bit of Incantation's Onward to Golgotha during the slower, more doom-like bridge sections.
I strongly recommend listening to this album Dark Endless, along with the following two albums by Marduk. It beats most of what modern black metal is known for producing (i.e. "blackened deathcore" crap) a it certainly beats the generic Norsecore boredom that comes out of Sweden courtesy of Dark Funeral and other derivative acts.
Dark Endless is evil black metal.
Dark Endless score: 84/100.
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