Marduk - Serpent Sermon

Published May 14 2012

*=Staff's pick	Serpent Sermon* Messianic Pestilence Souls For Belial Into Second Death* Temple Of Decay Damnation's Gold Hail Mary (Piss-soaked Genuflexion) M.A.M.M.O.N Gospel Of The Worm World Of Blades*

Genre	Black Metal	Daniel "Mortuus" Rostén	Vocals
Tracks	10	Morgan "Evil" Håkansson	Guitar
Running time	46 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Century Media	Magnus "Devo" Andersson	Bass
Release	28 May 2012	Lars Broddesson	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboard
Producer	Marduk
Similar artists	Dark Funeral, 1349, Funeral Mist

Serpent Sermon is the twelfth album from Swedish black metal masters Marduk. I always look forward to their releases and so far they've failed to disappoint. Naturally my expectations were sky high as the two preceding albums, Rom 5:12 and Wormwood, are among their best work to date.

While Rom 5:12 redefined Marduk's sound and Wormwood continued in that spirit, this album takes these new elements and mixes them up with more straightforward song constructions, reminiscing of albums such as Plague Angel and La Grande Danse Macabre. It all makes for a very intense listening experience, although songs such as Temple Of Decay and World Of Blades lower the tempo a bit, the latter one being perhaps the most interesting song on the album.

Other songs that deserve honorary mentions are the title track with its crushing chorus, the epic Into Second Death and the adrenaline kick known as Messianic Pestilence. As always, there is an undeniable quality here and Mortuus cements his position as one of the best, if not the single best, black metal vocalist of today - his twisted, guttural screams of torment are unmatched.

However, I do think that Serpent Sermon is a weaker album than Rom 5:12 and Wormwood. I would easily score both those albums as 9 out of 10 and with that in mind Serpent Sermon feels like a 7 -which still is a really good grade, just not up to that sky-high standard I've grown used to.

See also review of: Frontschwein , Rom 5:12 , Plague Angel , Iron Dawn

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	7	7	10	6

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Bjorn