Marduk - Wormwood
September 18 2009 at 06:57:18 AM
One of Marduk’s illustrious insiders, modestly described
Wormwood as “better than
Rom 5:12, but not quite as good as
Master of Reality.” What do I come away with from this? I’m guessing – hoping – said insider is employing a bit of tongue-in-cheek. I’m guessing he or she is also gilled on one-sheet Kool-Aid. I’m guessing banking on selling yet another Swedish “Black Metal” act’s cult-of-personality to the kids is quite easy now, as long as the right bands are invoked via ad blitz, and the tees and patches remain relatively easy to access. I’m guessing they’re also still very much stoked to have netted Mr. Daniel Rosten, a/k/a Mortuus, a/k/a Arioch; I’m just surprised
Wormwood isn’t festooned with a big black circular sticker screaming: “WORMWOOD, MARDUK’S NEW ALBUM, FEAT MORTUUS OF FUNERAL MIST!”
As interesting and off-putting as Rosten’s
Maranatha was
Wormwood is as uninteresting and off-putting as anything ever released by Marduk. The non-sequitur noise intros and outros and what my pal and AQ Warlord Andee Connors calls Rosten’s “Popeye vocals” return in force, leading me to believe
Wormwood and
Maranatha were either recorded simultaneously – as in, Wormwood is a collection of outtakes “fattened up” via Morgan, Magnus, and Lars, or Rosten has simply assumed total control of Marduk’s songwriting and “conceptual” apparatus. Too bad, I say, ‘cause this Black Metal parody serves only to further weaken a genre that’s been dead as the wasteland of blogs dedicated to maintaining its lithe and bogus spirit in perpetuum. That Black Metal bands can, and do, continue to release music bereft of substance or content is nothing but testament to the genre’s shelf appeal. I suppose apologists can – and will – argue Marduk has rested on its laurels before, and why wouldn’t it continue to do so? When those “laurels” are records released in the early ‘90s, one’s only recourse is to call for justified mercy killing.
Perhaps Rosten will shout out from on high via MySpace and dispel his critics again – as he did when the grumbling grew legs of discontent with Funeral Mist’s
Maranatha. Perhaps he will rebound, regroup with Necromorbus and unleash something smacking vaguely of
Salvation, maybe even
Devilry. But, as Lester Bangs wrote in a Clovis era BOC review, having the formula down better than most bands in recent memory doesn’t necessarily equal art; it may just equal success, however. For us old farts that grew up on this shit, the sort of synthetic “Black Rock ‘n’ Roll,” nee Black Metal, typified by
Wormwood is yet another reason to itch that festering problem I’ve got with “the kids.” It also means the potential audience for Marduk is about to get fuckin’ exponential. Rosten will have plenty of time to twirl his Sai daggers and sectional staff while pondering his next step. He just may publicize said step via “micro-zine” or other forms of “Elite Black Metal Skripture.” That’s fine. Just as long as the multi-named man realizes he’s become the sort of cartoon simulacra he railed against for so long. “I’m strong to the fin-ish, cuz I eats me spinach, I’m Daniel, the Black Metal Man. Toot! Toot!”
[Stewart Voegtlin]
Marduk
Wormwood
2009
Regain Records
RSS FEEDS
TWITTER
print
email
list
big
small
It took a few spins to fully digest, but IMO, this is Marduk's best release since Those of the Unlight and Opus. After Devo and Jocke departed, my interest in their output quickly waned, as Tagtren production coupled with incessant blasting just gave me a headache. Plague Angel and ROM 512 had their moments, but taken as a whole...
I might be in the minority on this (and it took me awhile to fully appreciate), but I think Maranatha is about as near-perfect an orthodox BM record as I could hope for (I'll take it over any of the other FM releases), and that Daniel's vox are beyond sick. That said, comparing Maranatha to Wormwood is like comparing Tiamtu to Death Holy Death. At times, you could think you were listening to the other band.
There are some stellar songs on Wormwood, and great production and instrumentation (I dig the bass playing).
I've yet to read an interview w/ Daniel, so can't comment on anything related to his stance on BM or affinity to daggers and martial arts....
A strong release!
I'm a bit surprised you didn't like considering your reaction to FM and the past two Marduk releases...
Dogfish? Only New Englanders drink that liquified bread. I am a Schlitz man, man.
Good call on the Schlitz, tho. That's been my official beer of summer 2009 - criminally underrated. That said, Dogfish has a bit more of a punch than the Schlitz.
So what was this "cartoon simulacra" Mr. Rosten was railing against?
Maybe I just wanted more FM than Marantha in one year, so that's why it won't leave my player. Maybe it'll grow on you...
After reading this review, though, I'm even more curious to read an interview w/ the man of many names.
Mayhem, too.
your claim is still bs.
Speaking of which, when will we get a review of Yoga - Megafauna? I'd like to hear your guy's take on that one.
Hello. So, it is nice of you to quote from Oaken Throne 1's header in your Marduk review and refer to my "micro zine" Rape&Honey, but I do not understand the snide dig? Care to explain?
Sincerely,
John Mincemoyer
I've always enjoyed the "mystery" inherent in letting the writing speak for itself.
Further justification or delineation is just a boor.
Doesn't anyone remember laughter?!
its obvious that they want to change their sound in every release, for the purists this can be bad but this record is good in its context, they just slowd down the machine and i agree that maranatha was dissapointing but in this case its not, marduk its not a band that puts out bad shit
I find Black Metal fans tend to constantly defy the notion they are insular, intolerant, knuckle-dragging weenies. Just like you did here.
Suggesting this record demonstrates said facets either nakedly demonstrates your limited experience with "Black Metal," or an egregious dependence on cough syrup.
There`s a lot of self-important, faux intellectual sneering at most of the music you guys cover and profess to love around here. It's pretty telling that you site Lester Bangs in yer little article here - another elitist, armchair commentator sniping at his betters.
cough syrup is nice, btw - wouldn`t consider it a "dependence" per say...
What I love is when I'm accused of belligerent ad hominem attacks and, in turn, am the object of belligerent ad hominem attacks.
It's a warming, loving moment, where the world is ruled under Orwellian aegis and polar opposites become synonymous.
Now I am the "hipster douche" because you are supporting terrible music by Marduk. No way out of that wormhole.
And no, me supporting marduk isn't what makes you a hipster douche...
Furthermore, it's kind of odd to be an outsider to all of this shit/scene/whatever and appreciate Marduk's late and early works, particularly under the influence of psychedelic compounds, and meanwhile see all this vitriolic hatred and deconstruction of the band from all segments of this pasty white subculture/genre/whatever and since so many people seem to hate Marduk, that seems to further attract me to them since I'm a true contrarian at heart.