Lista de Bandas Brutal Black Marduk Iron Dawn

Marduk has taken a break from their normal anti-Christian themes and is heading more into the area of brutal combat. Depending on how you look at it, this either a teaser or something to tide black metal fans over until their next full-length is ready to be released. The music is more than promising, with lightning fast riffing, furious blast beats and abrasive vocals.

Opening up with blasting sirens and gunfire on “Warschau II: Headhunter Halfmoon”, Mortuus comes in with his trademark screams that make him sound absolutely inhuman followed by complex drumming and unrelenting guitar riffs. Even with the changes of speed that slows down to a more trudging rhythm in between the ferocity of Mortuus’s vocals alongside the shredding guitar and drums; “Wacht am Rhein: Drumbeats of Death” still becomes repetitious and is carried on for too long. “Prochorovka: : Blood and Sunflowers” closes out the EP with some warped music from the 40’s that gives way to a churning rhythm with Mortuus’s blood-soaked vocals.

If you’re new to Marduk, there are several other albums by them that you need to pick before this EP. But if you are a long time fan that needs their fix until their next release comes out, then “Iron Dawn” is definitely worth checking out!

Marduk is a one of the oldest black metal bands to come out of Sweden. Anyone who has been through their discography knows that Marduk is one of the most brutal black metal bands ever to hit the scene. They were known for their killer blast beats and speed and pace of their music as well as the World War II themes in their music and there wasn’t a band that could come close to these guys. This was during the era where Legion took care of the vocals, but when he left, everything just turned a little weird. The music had to change to suit Marduk’s new vocalist, and this was probably the first time when Marduk started to go downhill and the worst thing is that things didn't get any better. Out of Marduk’s entire discography, their last album Wormwood had to be the weirdest of them all, the vocals and musical structure was abrasive but kept together nicely. But now, they have just turned so weird.

If people thought that Wormwood was a little weirder than everything else in their discography, you obviously haven’t heard this ep yet. Literally everything about Marduk has just gotten weird and things have undergone many dramatic changes since Wormwood. As much as fans will hate for me for saying this, but it was for worse and not for the better. But I guess line-up changes are unavoidable so I commend them for trying to hold things together but the fact is that it doesn't make their music any better. I think the weirdest part of their new sound is definitely the vocals, I don’t understand why anyone (and I mean anyone) would try and sing like this. Just imagine a 90 year old black metal vocalist trying to rap his lyrics, the number of people who would say “oh, I caaaan’t image that”, well you don’t have to, because it’s right here in this album. I think that the vocals have literally killed their sound beyond repair. It has made everything else in their music not worth listening to because it is that bad. I feel sort of sorry for the rest of the band members though because all of their hard work is being blocked by terrible vocals.

For some reason, the music is terribly loose now because before, their albums were technical masterpieces. It seems that they have tried to go way too fast and too hard than they can handle. As a result of this, it seems like the whole infrastructure of their music has just collapsed in on itself, just leaving this pile of rubble. I honestly think that there were absolutely no beats that were in time on this whole 3 track ep, from the drumming to the guitar work…nothing, not even in the dead slow parts.

But, like every veteran band out there, they still have kept some of their key traits. The first one to mention is obviously the blast beats. Thank god the blast beats are still here because if they weren’t you know something is terribly wrong with these guys. The drumming is still going at 100kmph but even they have problems that kind of wreck the music. The first problem or change for the worse they have is the tone of the drums. The drumming back in Panzer Division Marduk were killer because of the speed and tone. Now the speed is still there but the tone isn’t, it just seems like it doesn’t have the same impact as before. The second thing is that the drumming isn’t consistent. Now I’m not exactly sure if this was an attempt to try and get some variety going throughout their music or what, but I think it just wrecks the whole purpose and feeling of the blast beats which defeats the purpose of them in the first place. Well at least its fast, isn’t it?

Its releases like this that makes people not want to listen to bands any longer. Yeah I think Marduk has had a tremendous run creating some of the most brutal black metal money could buy and some memories of some of the best black metal I’ve ever heard. Now I’m not making any predictions that are set in stone but I just can’t see them gaining a larger fan base if they keep making music like this. Their music is loose and untidy and all the components of their music have just gone belly up, this is not something I want to hear. Although they are heading downhill fast, they still have the World War II themes and their music is still fairly brutal, so there is a vision of old Marduk which is contained in this 3 track ep. I recommend the track Warschau 2: Headhunter Halfmoon because it will show you what I mean about their music changing. Although this isn’t the worst thing in the world, its definitely not the best thing in the world either. I give Marduk’s Iron Dawn an 11/20.

Despite having many fans welcoming Mortuus' entry into Marduk in 2004, the influences that he has brought with him into the songwriting of the band has been rather a bit of a bittersweet experience personally. While I like the increased intensity that he has brought in, with his powerful vocals, the band also seemed to take a slightly altered route, with albums like Rom 5:12 and Wormwood containing some of the band's slowest songs to date, which could have been intended to display the band's growth, only ended up boring me. So when the band announced the release of a new EP in 2011, I didn't have much high expectations, fearing the inclusion of yet another 3 boring tracks, but looking at the short track lengths gave me some sense of hope, with any fears of a boring song being limited to at most a short 5 minute.

Fortunately though, Iron Dawn does not disappoint. Warschau 2: Headhunter Halfmoon opens with sounds of a war siren, in line with the band's constant themes of death and war throughout their discography, and marks a step in the right direction. And it does not take long for the song to begin proper, and the listener is thrown into a myriad of chaos and destruction, as Marduk batters the listener relentlessly, showing the listener what classic Marduk should sound like, with the large sounding guitar tone of Evil and the hard-hitting blast beats of drummer Lars. Mortuus' vocals here is more tortured than ever, and unlike previous releases, Mortuus' vocals register a slightly higher pitch over here, and this helps in making the music all the more impactful as it hits the listeners hard in the guts. The constantly wailing siren at the background also helps to keep up the destructive atmosphere and mood that the band has conjured, and further brings out and emphasises the violence in Marduk's music. Second track Wacht Am Rhein: Drumbeats of Death certainly lives up to its name, with Lars hitting the skins relentlessly, at an almost inhuman speed.

The first 2 tracks on this 3-track EP are no-nonsense, straightforward blasting black metal tracks that gives listeners little time to breathe, while the third and final track, Prochorovka: Blood and Sunflowers sees the band taking a slowdown (just like the slower material on the previous 2 albums), Don't be fooled by the somewhat slightly optimistic songtitle though, as the song presents an even darker side of Marduk, with the band opting to crush the listeners under the ominous and heavy atmosphere on this track. And while I would have loved to complain about how this track bored me out, it is hard to deny the impact and damage that the first 2 tracks have caused, making this third, slow track a somewhat welcome one, driven by slow and heavy riffing. The slight disappointment after the album ends then, would come in the form of the band releasing a statement mentioning how the upcoming full length will be of a different concept from the material on Iron Dawn. Until then, one can only hope that this does not mean further disappointment.