Marduk - Wormwood

September 14, 2009

Reviewer: Matt

Marduk peaked fifteen years ago, but in spite of the overwhelming banality of their Legion-era material, is here releasing their eleventh studio album and is more popular than ever.  As much as I criticize less prominent black metal bands for their mainstream aspirations, a criticism most relevant to a band like Marduk, I can’t help but like them, even more so since they recruited Arioch/Mortuus.  His range is not fully utilized as it was on Funeral Mist’s Salvation, but Marduk have tightened up their songwriting enough since he joined to arouse moderate interest on my part.

Ultimately, however, Wormwood is predictable in that it’s simply another Marduk album.  If you hate Marduk, you’ll hate Wormwood, and if you like Marduk you’ll like Wormwood.  For all intents and purposes, Wormwood is identical to Rom 5:12.  Marduk stays contemporary, so they add in a few post-rock quirks, but otherwise it’s the same of trademark Marduk melodies, with tempo divided between sprints and marches in roughly the same proportion they’ve been using since World Funeral.  The production is, of course, a flawless studio production, and the only real noticeable difference from Rom 5:12 is that Wormwood doesn’t have cool guest spots.

Wormwood is Marduk’s next opportunity to embark on a world tour. They’ve commendably made a successful career out of traveling the globe playing black metal.  To their credit, Marduk have always been unpretentious.  They don’t try to impress with their philosophical depth; they make simple, fun, energetic music, and in that regard, Wormwood is successful.  We don’t expect Marduk to break the mold, indeed we don’t want them to, because their inherent charm is their immediacy and listenability.  Ordinarily I’d be inclined to say that no serious black metal fan should listen to a band like Marduk, but we don’t have to be serious all the time, and Marduk remains a welcome respite from so many more ambitious acts that, for all their attempts at profundity, don’t have half Marduk’s staying power.

Release Date: September 24, 2009
Label: Regain Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Nowhere, No-One, Nothing
2.  Funeral Dawn
3.  This Fleshly Void
4.  Unclosing The Curse
5.  Into Utter Madness
6.  Phosphorous Redeemer
7.  To Redirect Perdition
8.  Whorecrown
9.  Chorus Of Cracking Necks
10.  As A Garment

Total playing time:  45:56

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