The T 666
"Panzer Division Marduk" is one of the most violent, noisy, relentless albums that have ever been recorded. If black metal has never been the mainstream media's dearest metal genre, this particular disc is problematic even for actual black metal fans.
The nature of the problem lies in the fact that MARDUK, when creating "Panzer Division Marduk", decided to play their songs at the fastest possible speeds, generating a record that, even for black metal standards, is quite difficult to listen. None of the typical atmosphere of the genre is here. The melody that tremolo riffs usually have has been put aside in favor of the simplest of attacks. What has emerged from MARDUK's rotten womb is an aberration of metal that, at some curious level, works.
Yes, at times, surprisingly, it works. This album requires the listener to be in a special mood to be enjoyed. This record can't just be picked and put to play in a stereo at any random moment. One has to feel ready to withstand the aggression. One has to be willing to suffer a little bit of ear hemorrhage in order to make the most out of "Panzer Division Marduk". The music is extremely violent, even insanely so. There's little of the melancholic darkness and the feel of isolation and longing that black metal usually portrays. Here, black metal has been stripped down to its very basics: unchanged rhythm (blast beats of hell, literally, played at tempos quite impossible to describe), crude, rudimentary harmony (where's the bass guitar anyway?), tremolo-riffs consisting of two-three notes with elementary intervals (at times it seems they're playing the same thing over and over again), and high-pitched guttural vocals screamed with no sense of timing other than the most basic one. If one's in a mood when these kind of things are inviting, when one feels like ready to have violence being painted in one's eardrums with the harshest and loudest of brushes, this album could be quite satisfying. Of course, such a moment won't occur too often. That's why this album is not for everyone, nor is it for every time.
This is certainly no EMPEROR, no IMMORTAL, no DARKTHRONE,this is not even the MARDUK of "Opus Nocturne" or "Those of the Unlight". This isn't typical black metal. This is its ugliest, most radical variation. This album cries for blood, like hordes of panzer tanks plodding over a desolated terrain before destroying, obliterating the enemy.
But from time to time, I repeat, this album works.
Just be careful. Hear at your own risk. Try it when you know you're ready.