Marduk - Rom 5:12
March 23 2008 at 09:33:22 AM
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." And so it goes… The addition of vocalist Mortuus, née Arioch, has allowed Sweden's Marduk to do something it had not done since '99's
Panzer Division Marduk: record a decent album. 2004's Plague Angel saw the quartet back in fighting shape; guitars as shredders, Gatling drums, preternaturally evil vocalization—Black Metal
in nuce.
Mortuus' influence is highly prevalent on Rom 5:12; songs dissolve in warbled dissonance or some hymn torn from the ghost of Imperial Deutschland. Lyrical themes are redolent of Funeral Mist and its malign obsession with subverting Christianity, and ultimately transliterating its iconography for Satanic or nihilistic means. There are nods given to Bessoni, the Gregorian calendar and the region known for its "Palace of the Popes." The sonic tone is appropriate: precise and rhapsodizing guitars, thudding bass, propulsive and muscular drumming. "Imago Mortis," even with its "Suzie-Q" drum intro, acts as a showcase for some of Mortuus' more emotive vocals, which fluctuate from his usual blood gargle to impassioned shrieks and tormented cries.
The ambitious "1651" pairs church organ and orchestra, providing adequate backing for Mortuus' recitation re: prophecy—"this and more than this will come to be; not even your bones the end of time will see, since time chose of nothing it to make." The slower—or flawed—moments are quickly forgotten; "Limbs of Worship," "Vanity of Vanities," "Voices from Avignon," and "Cold Mouth Prayer," all flail forth with the selfsame prejudicial speed that Marduk wielded remarkably well in Plague Angel. But the diversity is welcome here, and despite its unevenness, Rom 5:12 succeeds in ways that newcomers can only hope to aspire. Recommended.
[Stewart Voegtlin]
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