Marduk - Plague Angel

*=Staff's pick	The Hangman of Prague* Throne of Rats Seven Angels, Seven Trumpets* Life's Emblem* Steel Inferno Perish in Flames* Holy Blood, Holy Grail* Warschau* Deathmarch* Everything Bleeds* Blutrache

Genre	Black Metal	Mortuus	Vocals
Tracks	11	Morgan Håkansson	Guitar
Runningtime	45 Min.	Morgan Håkansson	Guitar
Label	Regain Records	Devo	Bass
Release	22 Nov. 2004	Emil Dragutinovic	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	---

I guess that the task Marduk stood in front of when they had the Plague Angel album on the drawing board was monumental. It can never be simple to follow up an album such as World Funeral. An album that had, if you ask me, everything. And as that wasn't enough, the band parted ways with the singer Legion and the bass player Bogge. Two very important ingredients to the sound and identity of the band.

Marduk seems to be a band in a neverending struggle due to membership swifts. This time the bass were carried out by Devo ex. Sargatanas Reign, who in fact was in the band as guitarist in the early days, and the fierce voice of Legion was replaced by the even more fiendish guttural spells of Mortuus, the man who also is a part of the Funeral Mist.

Plague Angel was recorded at the Endarker Studio, and during the introduction hymn to the Hangman of Prague, I get the same feeling that the band seems to have captured and wielded since the Le Grande Dance Macabre album. The sound of perversion and melancholy. Musically I guess that they have remained and even excelled in speed, but their patented heavy melodies are still there.

It's hard to explain, but Marduk simply have it. They have gone from the Heaven Shall Burn era and the typical lyrics and themes, to something that now is better and far more interesting. It seems like the music and lyrics have developed hand in hand. Read the Hangman of Prague and Life's Emblem lyrics and you get the picture. The word mature is perhaps one of the most boring ones, but it's a representing word for the material of Plague Angel.

Marduk show that they are in the possession and control of both speed and heavy music craftsmanship. Excellent heavy songs like Seven Angel, Seven Trumpets and Perish In Flames work very well together with speed trips like Life's Emblem, Steel Inferno, Holy Blood Holy Grail and Warshau.

I must also mention the Deathmarch, contributed by the Swedish band Arditi. A slow instrumental song, or perhaps orchestral is a better word for it. Plague Angel is nothing but a really great album that gets better and better after each listening. The voice of Mortuus gives the music more depth, diversity and grace. Plague Angel is more than a worthy follower to the World Funeral album. A really, really good one.

See also review of: Frontschwein , Serpent Sermon , Rom 5:12 , Iron Dawn

Production	Vocals	Compositions
8	9	9

Summary
9 chalices of 10 - Tim