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Marduk - World Funeral Audio CD

A fair review of the Marduk "World Funeral" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Marduk reviews here, or go back to the Marduk tabs.

Marduk Band: Marduk
Title: World Funeral
Rating:
Release Date: 2003-03-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: With Satan and Victorious Weapons 2: Bleached Bones 3: Cloven Hoof 4: World Funeral 5: To the Death's Head True 6: Castrum Doloris 7: Hearse 8: Night of the Long Knives 9: Bloodletting 10: Blessed Unholy 11: Blackcrowned

MARDUK NOT AS USUAL !!!
The first one featuring drummer Frederik Anderssen's replacement, serbian Emil Dragutinovic, who doesn't dissapoint in the skins department.
This is a cd that left me with mixed emotions.

It starts out with 2 instant live classics like the paint-peeling ¨With Satan And Victorious Weapons¨ and the slower, crunchier ¨Bleached Bones¨ with its 7-string guitar ultra-low and heavy riffs and ominous melodic lines and solos, which BTW are scattered throught the whole album more than ever before. From there on the album has its moments but a lot of filler material predominates unfortunately and the IMO successfully formula used on the excellent ¨La Grande Dance Macabre¨ -blast-beat-happy songs interspersed with slower ones- turns out dull on this album. Mind you, I'm a fan and don't regret my purchase, any band has its weak albums especially those who, like Marduk, have an prolific discography.

The sound, on the other hand, almost makes up for the uneveness of the album. Never have the drums been mixed so well and dinamically before, with bass-drums well defined but resembling an earthquake at the same time, like restrained explosions. Guitar tone is fuller than ever before but shredding at the same time. Legion lays out THE best vocal performance ever and is pleasantly higher in the mix than on previous efforts. The only thing I can criticize is the cymbal sound, tinny and unnatural, but hey, perfection is not of this world, is it ?

A must for completists like me and worth for the better tracks but I think this band is at its best live, as their 2 terrific live dvds prove it.
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For Marduk Enthusiasts
Especially Rom 5:12 and La Grande Danse Macabre. First off, I'm a huge fan of Marduk. I also love their live stuff, Infernal Eternal comes to mind. Not to mention the numerous limited editions they release. One of the things I like most about Marduk is the chord progressions that manage to slip through the distortion. In my opinion they are one of the most talented metal bands out there. With that said, let's get to the review.

World Funeral falls short in my opinion. The mix is really clean and polished. At times the songs are too melodic, and the vocals relatively easy to decipher. Not that audible vocals are bad, but in this case, I think it takes away from the whole Marduk persona. World Funeral seems to lack the intensity of other Marduk albums, it's not nearly as raw sounding as Rom 5:12. If you've never heard Marduk, this is not a good place to start. I'd start with La Grande Danse Macabre or Rom 5:12. Just my opinion though.

Bottom Line: For a Marduk enthusiast, this is a must. But if you're hung up on raw, heavy, gritty sounding metal, I think this will disappoint. The clean mix, and some of the slower songs will probably turn you away.
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Good music coupled with violently retarded lyrics
Powerful and sufficiently evil to suit my jones for black metal. Yeah I like the music: aggressive and dark. However these guys just never get above a middle school intelligence in terms of lyrical worth. They make Cannibal Corpse seem like poets. For example:

"Loving the dead
A torso, a hand or a severed head
The cemetery girls don't say no to their fate
When their bodies gets too rotten
Their skeletons do great"

LOL, and these guys have been around since 1992?!? Simply stunning. I wonder what it's like to be thirty somethings singing the musings of a disaffected 15 year old? Much to Markuk's chagrin their lyrics are more humorous than evil. I would hope that's what they were going for, but I know it's not. Why this gets a two rather than a 1 star? You can't understand the lyrics most of the time.


For Fans Of The Genre Only
I personally don't much care for what I think is the corniness of the genre, but I can easily put that aside as a big fan of metal in general (and death metal in particular) if the music and riffs are cool. Marduk is probably one of the more popular of the many "euro-black metal" bands out there, with a slew of albums. Unfortunately that simply isn't the case with Marduk.

First of all, where is the almighty riff; the very basis of all that is metal? Marduk's style seems to be to play super-fast, but rather dull-sounding harmonies and blastbeats, without ever really sounding ominous or heavy, and I found that after about four songs my attention simply wasn't there. It just isn't particularly dynamic or interesting metal, at all. Pretty bland stuff, for all the "hail Satan" posturing. No thanks.


Highly Underated Black Metal
This is one of the best Black Metal albums out there. I don't see why this album doesn't get more recognition than it deserves because this album is freakin awesome. This cd is very brutal and has great melodic memorable riffs that make you proud to be a Metal fan. With fast pounding tracks like Hearse, With Satan And Vitorious Weapons and the title track to the slow crunching riffs of To The Death's Head True and Bleached Bones any Metal fan will not be disappointed.


You can see a complete list of all Marduk discography, or go back to the Marduk tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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