In returning to the graven edge of the battlefield, where the blood and burnt-off napalm stew into a carbonized iron-stinking pool Norrköping, Sweden-based black metal trio Marduk position themselves in mourning as their fifteenth full-length album cauterizes old wounds and delivers due last rites. Presented as a step forward without losing sight of the trail of destruction left in the past ‘Memento Mori‘ offers one of the more charged and broadly representative showings from atop their three plus decade point of leadership to date. In taking deep stabs at new sounds their knack for harried, mayhemic blazon is reinforced through a record which only seems to intensify its thrashing brutality as their procession marches on.

Borne southeast of Stockholm circa 1990 the earliest legacy of Marduk was vaguely relevant to what bands like Necrophobic were doing around the same time in the sense that their evolution began with a charged, riff-driven vision of dark death metal and eventually began to transform drastically as they’d helped define Scandinavian black metal beyond. Early versions of the band were legendary in their own right including members of Edge of Sanity, Darkified, Allegiance and Abruptum with guitarist Morgan Håkansson eventually being seen as the visionary for the band. Approaching their debut ‘Dark Endless‘ (1992) today should feature as a missing link in many fan’s exploration of death ’til black metal transitional work which is too often left out of serious conversations. As a longtime fan there are a many clear points of greatness in their fifteen full-length, 30+ year career and since I’ve not written much about the band I’d just as well indulge in suggesting ‘Those of the Unlight‘ (1993) as one of the best records to come out of Sweden (eh, long list) thanks to its ancient yet inventive guitar voicing and still thrashing ‘old school’ black metal feeling. Of course the band would change drastically from that point, defining Swedish black metal in the mid-to-late 90’s as they nabbed Allegiance drummer Fredrik Andersson and Opthalamia vocalist Legion for a string of career defining records with ‘Nightwing‘ (1998) being the most underrated, ‘Heaven Shall Burn​.​.​. When We Are Gathered‘ (1996) being the deserved elite fan favorite and ‘Panzer Division Marduk‘ (1999) being the album to define Marduk for the masses as a unique entity.

Of course I am preaching to the old man choir here, they’d been an interesting band throughout the 90’s but it was that sixth album that’d positioned the group as leadership heading toward the brutality of the future. Looking at a zine back in 1999/2000, hitting that Osmose Productions advertisement and seeing peak Angelcorpse, Immortal and Marduk records (among other notable releases) I wouldn’t have guessed that those records would’ve been as influential as they were or that that’d be about as high as the bar would get for many as the digital proxy wars of the new millennium would cinch up standards. ‘La Grand Danse Macabre‘ (2001) was underrated because it wasn’t as brutal as it’s predecessor but gave us a first glimpse of Marduk thinking holistically within the new realm of possibilities, a new spark that would include the brutality of ‘Panzer Division Marduk‘ but not depend upon it for pointless spectacle, for my taste the feeling had drained back into the flesh on ‘World Funeral‘ (2003) but reached a new point of interest with ‘Rom 5:12‘ (2007) when Mortuus (aka Arioch) of Funeral Mist joined the band. The tone of the band’s work changed, their details enriched and the performative nature of the group began to take more chances with dark ambiance. With all of that in mind I’d lost my fixation on the band after ‘Wormwood‘ (2009), probably the jump to a bigger label and not being in touch with that side of things at the time.

The old, undying war needs its chief propagandist. — In revisiting the 2010’s era of Marduk with a closer ear I’d felt the restless, defiant and sometimes avant-garde minded spiritus of the band was intact but with the most deviations taken within the otherwise stripped-down to elemental black metal of ‘Viktoria‘ (2018). Of course the name of the band has its expected associations, the uniquely twisted style of Morgan‘s rhythm guitar work and a brutal, harried pace but it’d almost begin to feel like the 2010’s were spent deforming those expectations, cutting around the old rot without losing their voice. From my point of view the situation didn’t necessarily call for an ‘identity check’ but any reasonable propagandist could see that the pulpit needed some reinforcement, the base needed rallying and the best way to do that is violence. In some sense a record like ‘Memento Mori‘ comes expected in that it must look backward, revert down some rotten veins with new insight and reframe the moderne blister of Marduk into something that inspires the creatives behind it.

Of course this call to mayhem means that this umpteenth album requires fresh blood on the kit per Simon Schilling, a proven live drummer who likewise stood tall on recent records from Ofermod, Hate Manifesto, and Eucharist. His presence is classic in its birth as the first three pieces on ‘Memento Mori‘ are neck-whipping typhon in pace. The title track/opener is thrashing, gnarled and anthemic in a way which we’ve come to expect from Marduk yet we’ve gotten something slightly less stripped down in terms of dark industrial ambiance leading into the piece and the directive from Mortuus being completely mad for the two minutes he commands atop the riff-after-riff cut of the opener. This bleeds right into the accessible yet wholly morbid guitar progressions of “Heart of the Funeral” and the arabesque black-thrashing wheeling of “Blood of the Funeral” which uses keyboard/synth in an inventive way, framing the rush of the guitar work which hits this ‘Tara‘-level of speed that’d successfully convinced me I’d like this new Marduk record more than the last few based on those first three pieces alone. We’ve only just opened the gates, eh.

Splitting the first two singles between the fiery, high rate riffcraft of “Blood of the Funeral” and the slowly blackening skies and open graves of “Shovel Beats Sceptre” should at least somewhat perk the ears of Funeral Mist fandom and certainly anyone who’d paid attention to the narrative we’d gotten from Mortuus on the latest Deathspell Omega release. They’ve done a fine job of providing a compelling payoff beyond the firestorm opening but really if you are athirst of black metal riffs and’ve shown up for ’em the machine gunning doesn’t really clip into gear and heat up until we’re about “Charlatan” deep into ‘Memento Mori‘; As I’d remarked earlier ‘Nightwing‘ is perhaps one of the most underrated records from Marduk and the remainder of the album feels like it tows the line between the thoughtful yet cutting mid-to-late 90’s side of Morgan‘s guitar work and the maniac violence innovated just beyond, “Coffin Carol” specifically appears as a steeling moment for the record where the dance between ranting and fuming-out is straightforward yet cinematic in its noxious, harassing burn.

A gasping quietus, horror-filled eyes. — In simplest terms, melody and brutality are squarely matched within the signature of the band and they’ve done a fine job of writing pieces that are singular yet consistent in intensity of statement. The most thrashing mad feats, such as the riffs which spark in the middle of “Year of the Maggot” and the aforementioned “Blood of the Funeral” are just as often met with eerie, cold industrial touches in their vast periphery. Of course there is some overindulgence here as “Red Tree of Blood” overstates the furor of the record before “As We Are” closes it on a second point of reverence, a piece which sounds as if it were primarily composed by Mortuus and which also features vocals from the late L.G. Petrov.

Taking stock of the full listen should prick the mind with at least a few stray thoughts: That Marduk have been accused of being just as subtly self-referential or introspective in the past, that they’ve dealt with more elaborate/interesting lyrical themes than this since ‘Rom 5:12‘, and that some of the inventive interactions with Frederik Widigs‘ drumming on the last two records (esp. ‘Frontschwein‘) is missed. Overall I don’t think the longtime fan of the band will see these as real criticisms and instead appreciate the memorable stature of the album up front and the no-less aggressive second half, all of it landing as an invigorated work. If I had one criticism it wouldn’t be for the sound design or performances, these folks have every bit of their ship nailed down, but I’d definitely wanted the dark ambient/industrial edge of their sound to be more prominent and space out the density of attack more often… even if it meant cutting one song or extending the full listen artificially. A high recommendation.

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