Marduk: Panzer Division Marduk (1999)

Over the next few days I am going to be covering some classic black metal albums that have only recently found their way into my music collection.  This is the first of those posts.

Black metal captured a lot of attention in the early 1990's.  There were two major scenes that produced a large number of the bands that are now considered legendary in the genre.  Norway's black metal bands were primarily interested in showcasing atmosphere.  On the other hand, there are the Swedish black metal bands who were aggressive and intense and more concerned with making as much unholy noise as possible.  There were exceptions on both sides.  Immortal from Norway would have fit in well with the Swedish groups.  From Sweden, Dissection's Storm of the Light's Bane is the best of both worlds and is considered by yours truly to be the greatest black metal album of all time.  Marduk is a Swedish black metal band and is probably the best example of the Swedish take on the genre.

This is Marduk's sixth studio album and it is an uncompromising, full-on assault on Christianity, with collateral damage to any listener's ears.  It is some of the most hateful, extreme and aggressive black metal out there.  There is nothing pretty here, no atmospheric moments, no interludes, no clean singing.  It is 100% intensity.  The songs are all short, none lasting even four and a half minutes, and are just a barrage of riffs and blast-beat-driven drumming. 

There is no subtlety here.  Marduk expresses exactly how they feel and they are extremely pissed off and full of hatred.  The lyrics border on the silly with song titles like "Christraping Black Metal" and "Fistfucking God's Planet".  Of course none of that is a surprise from the band whose first release was called Fuck Me Jesus.  

It likely does not come off as much of a surprise to long-time readers that I like this quite a bit.  Marduk has never been a particular favorite band of mine, though I have always enjoyed their stuff.  I just tend to like the more extreme, blasting black metal.  Sure some atmosphere is nice and this wall of sound definitely does not provide much above all of the blasting.  It takes some time to get into an album like this, at least for new listeners.  It is simply a brutal listening experience.