Established acts like Marduk don’t make bad albums, they never will but the question of whether one Marduk album is better than another is open for wide debate as Marduk fans spanning 20 years argue for their own particular choice, with mine being “Heaven Shall Burn…When We Are Gathered” from 1996. Most people would divide Marduk’s discography into those with Legion on vocals (five albums) and those with Mortuus on vocals (four albums thus far including “Serpent Sermon”). This is not to demean the vocalists on the early releases at all just a categorisation of the bands main body of releases. I’ve followed Marduk since the release of “Dark Endless” but never got to see them until 1996 on said favourite album tour with Mysticum and Gehenna. During the time that Legion was fronting the band he commanded a considerable following but as time went on I felt his rock star approach to live shows was making the band become a parody instead of the all out savagery that black metal should be. When Legion was replaced by Mortuus the change was gigantic and injected a whole new level of blackened fury into Marduk that was epitomised on the monstrous “Plague Angel” released in 2004.

2012 sees Marduk showing no signs of fatigue with this their twelfth full length album in the form of “Serpent Sermon”, an album that follows on nicely from “Wormwood” and “Rom 5:12”. The former was in my top ten for 2009 and still stands as a phenomenal album in the whole of Marduk’s discography. Before writing this review I spent a whole day listening to every Marduk album and a few EPs to gauge the changes that have taken place over the last 20 years and it is fair to say that Marduk has put out some groundbreaking and awesome black metal albums and now we have the exceptional “Serpent Sermon” to add to Marduk’s impressive discography. The album starts with an echoing drum thump and guitar melody intro before the inevitable tornado riffing assault is unleashed on the title track. The vocals are rabid and delivered with deranged ferocity and alongside the pulverizing drum blasts the album begins marvelously. However the standout feature of the opener is the riff melody incorporated about half way in, it truly is infectious. There is little finesse on “Messianic Pestilence” a blitzing violent song that would sit comfortably on “Panzer Division Marduk”. The song really is like hells breath unleashed like fiery napalm on the listener.

After the first couple of tunes the album sounds like it is to be one of the bands most voracious and venomous albums to date, but as we all know Marduk always temper their albums with experimentation (Ok except for “Panzer Division Marduk”) and “Souls For Belial” begins this schizoid side of Marduk with a slower start and croaking vocals. The blasting pops up quickly as the song begins to transform into a much creepier affair with a drop in pace and riff change. I fucking adore “Into Second Death” and is probably one of my favourite songs of this year as it has Marduk’s trademark death metal influences; the tune has a crushing double kick throughout and a riff so catchy you’ll be humming it for the rest of your life. The reduction in speed is great and only serves to intensify the song for the closing finale. The despairing start on “Temple Of Decay” follows “Into Second Death” excellently and is an area that some bands don’t give enough thought to; that is the actual flow of one song to another. The song is slower, more emotive but gradually builds up with drum fills and is almost like black doom.

One of the longest songs is “Damnation’s Gold” which possesses some of the crustiest black metal riffs I’ve heard in years. I expected the song to be slow but far from it, the tune is monstrously fast and reeks of bedlam. “Hails Mary (Piss Soaked Genuflexion)” follows, and as you’ve probably guessed I intend to describe every song here as they all deserve a mention, as this is also a barbaric beast of anarchic terror. Things change a tad on “M.A.M.M.O.N.” as this has big variations in pace and a slight vocal change from rasp to throaty croak. I was momentarily reminded of Dark Funeral’s debut on “Gospel Of The Worm” due to the punk and crust infused riff. The band even delves a little into black thrash with cymbal smash and accompanying riff break, the song is merciless and homicidal. Closing the album is the longest song “World Of Blades” which is far more deliberate and focused with vocal variations including a spoken style being used occasionally. The tune gets under way with some half acoustic like guitar work that morph into that black doom style I hinted at earlier, though the slight changes in pace add far more to it. As the song progresses it lapses into a haunting, almost Solefald progressive stature before returning to main body of the song and closing what really is a spectacular album from start to finish.

Marduk is going from strength to strength and without doubt “Serpent Sermon” is a terrific album that is sure to gain the band more accolades. As I said in my intro Marduk don’t do bad albums they do unbelievably fantastic ones and this is definitely going to feature in many black metallers top fives of the year without a shadow of doubt.

9/10 (Martin Harris) 

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