The Marduk machine is back in action.
Founded in Sweden in 1990, the band has been led since the beginning by Morgan (guitar, Abruptum, Death Wolf), now accompanied by Mortuus (vocals, Funeral Mist, DomJord, Triumphator) and Simon « Bloodhammer » Schilling (drums, At the Grave, Eucharist, ex-Belphegor, ex-Panzerchrist), and is releasing Memento Mori, its fifteenth album, on Century Media Records.
The bass parts were recorded by Mortuus, along with Devo Andersson (Overflash) and Joel Lindholm (In Aeternum, Stålvargar, ex-Ondskapt, ex-Undergång), the band’s previous bassists. The latter was expelled from the band for his behavior.
A warlike sample introduces Memento Mori, letting the uncompromising rhythm gradually come to us before crushing us in due form. Morbid howls soon accompany the Old School assault, which slows down only to lead into the short explosive Heart of the Funeral, which redoubles its fury to molest us with jerky heartfelt riffs. A few sharp leads underneath the frantic rhythm, and then Blood of the Funeral digs a trench before dragging us in with a devastating sound and tortured guitar. Everything about this track smells of death and devastation, starting with the nearly uninterrupted blast leading us to Shovel Beats Sceptre, allowing us a brief respite embodied by the motivational introductory screams. Slower and more haunting, the surge emerges, taking us along with it, accompanied by regular bells that punctuate the march under the vocalist’s vociferations, before the band returns to its belligerent energy on Charlatan, which ignites without further ado. A calmer, extremely dissonant section tempers the wave of pure violence with a throbbing bass, and Coffin Carol follows with an equally destructive fast-paced approach. The impenetrable riffs still offer a few sharper leads, but the band revives the machine with a clean cut and reprise before Marching Bones brings another moment’s respite with its introductory cries of pain, closely followed by a powerful, catchy sound. The unifying chorus is reminiscent of the band’s best-known tracks, as is Year of the Maggot, which sets up an ominous haze before rushing to our throats, led by a sometimes quite driving drumbeat, which also pours out its rage on Red Tree of Blood, the following track, whose composition is quite similar and which will please fans of pure violence from start to finish. As We Are once again offers a more ethereal sound, leaving more room for leads and oppression, and closes the album with a terrifying sampled laugh, followed by a final explosion.
Marduk stays true to its roots on Memento Mori, offering up compositions filled with hatred, violence and fury that the band plays at full speed, mercilessly rolling over you. It goes without saying that fans will be won over.
90/100