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Marduk - La Grande Danse Macabre
Marduk - La Grande Danse Macabre
Century Media - 2001
By Rodrigo
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After a very long time, the first studio album by Marduk has been released in the USA courtesy of Century Media! Thanks to a licensing deal with Regain Records La Grande Danse Macabre has hit the shores of the US and now fans won’t have to pay import prices to hear one of the best black metal bands. This new release by Marduk is no-holds barred black metal. La Grande Danse Macabre is the perfect album for those people who like their black metal to be raw, crushing and loud. You will hear none of the exploration or evolution that other black metal bands have employed in this album.
La Grande Danse Macabre combines the brutal elements of Panzer Division Marduk with some of the melodic characteristics of some of their earlier albums like Those of the Unlight. The two songs that take the best from both worlds are "Bonds of Unholy Matrimony" and "La Grande Danse Macabre". These are long songs, both over 7 minutes, and they are very impressive. The title track features a slower tempo than the majority of the album but that is definitely not a problem for me, there is still plenty of great music found in this song as well as in "Bond of Unholy Matrimony". This song features plenty of tempo changes and there are great musical passages. But do not worry the rest of the album feature the speedy and crushing music we all have come to love from Marduk.
"Azrael" and "Obedience Unto Death" are two excellent songs that feature the same style of music. Both feature unbelievable powerful drumming by Fredrik Andersson (this guy is just a machine, he is an excellent drummer), brutal and unrelenting guitars courtesy of Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson, the great bass lines of B. War and the extreme harsh singing of Legion.
Now, it is not a Marduk album unless some religious blasphemy is present and one of the songs to feature this aspect is "Jesus Christ…Sodomized". This is the last song of the album and it ends La Grande Danse Macabre in a resounding fashion. It has an anthem-like chorus and it is just as brutal as anything that Marduk has ever written.
I highly recommend this album to all fans of black metal. Things are moving forward in the right direction for Marduk here in the US. They are in the midst of a tour with Deicide right now and Century Media will release the double-live album Inferanl Eternal and Obedience EP in May. Hopefully, in the future their other releases will come our way as well but for now we have plenty of Marduk material to enjoy beginning with La Grande Danse Macabre.
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