Review Summary: An all out assault on the senses, it’s over before you know it and will leave your head spinning.
The sixth offering by Swedish black metal band Marduk, well they call themselves a black metal band and although their subject matter would be considered “black,” they’re sound is clearly more death metal influenced. Panzer Division Marduk is a war-themed album as evidenced by the album’s artwork which along with the World War II themes caused the band to be accused of being Nazi sympathizers, something that they were quick to deny.
The album starts out with sounds of bombs and several tracks start off with similar sounds, keeping with the war theme. Starting things off is the title track and it gives an indication of what’s to come: very fast guitar riffs and blazing drum work that at times sounds like one constant blast beat. Not a whole lot of variety, that’s obviously not the goal here, this is a band whose aim was to be “the most blasphemous band in the world” so it would stand to reason that they would not try to make something that’s even remotely accessible. Black or extreme metal is a genre that prides itself in being anti-commercial and one-dimensional and that’s exactly what this is.
Although war-themed, Marduk’s favorite subject matter is also ever-present and on full display here that of course being Satanism and attacking religion, with subtle song titles like “Christraping Black Metal” and “Fist***ing God's Planet,” clearly making their point. The goal of this album is to simply pummel the listener into submission and it does that with it’s raspy vocals, constant blast beats and blindingly fast riffing. The production is surprisingly good for an album of this genre, not perfect but again, that’s not the intent, it fit’s the style of music well.
This is extreme metal at it’s best(worst?), unlike the tank on the album cover, this is more of a sonic carpet bombing by fighter jets flying by at high speeds, doing what they need to do and quickly moving on(about 30 minutes long), leaving the listeners in a daze, trying to dig themselves out of the rubble.
Legion – vocals
Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson – guitar
B. War – bass
Fredrik Andersson – drums
