Normally I’m not a fan of bands who change their lineup as often as their underwear, but for
Marduk I’m somehow willing to make the exception. I guess it might be the fact that these guys actually seem to be getting better as they go on. And it’s not just me who feels this way. When Marduk broke into the black metal scene reviews were less than favorable; Terrorizer charmingly called them ‘washing machine metal’. However, after 19 years of pumping out albums, relentlessly touring, and fine-tuning their lineup the bands most recent album,
Rom 5:12, got rated 9/10 from both Metal Hammer and Terrorizer magazines. And now it’s looking that their upcoming release,
Wormwood stands strong to do the same.
Just this past Saturday, August 15th, I got to spend a day with the guys and not only chat with founding member & guitarist, Morgan Håkanssons, but also give a listen to their upcoming album, Wormwood and catch one of only three live shows planned for the band’s current mini-tour. Here’s a breakdown of the day:
Part 1: Wormwood- Out 10/13/09 in the USA (Regain Records)
The day kicked off with a listening party held in Marduk’s bus for the new album, Wormwood. Me and ten other metal press dorks packed out the bus’ back lounge and got to enjoy an uninterrupted run through. Moments like this have the potential to go one of a few ways. A) the album sucks and this is unbearably awkward, B) the album is just okay and there’s nothing to discuss, or finally C) the album is actually good. Thankfully, the new album does not suck. In fact, it may actually rock. It’s a bit hard to form a full review after just one listen- it takes a few spins before everything is picked up on- but what I can tell you now is that Wormwood is a very diverse and in your face album. The opening track ‘Nowhere, No-One, Nothing’ hits hard but slow. It’s traditional black metal, but a bit more down-tempo and eerie. It’s certainly a change from some of Marduk’s past music which was consistently fast throughout entire albums. Instead Wormwood goes back and forth with speed, distortion and aggression. No two tracks are similar and the arrangement of the songs takes you on roller-coaster ride of tempos. Even after saying all that, old school fans will still be pleased to know that the new music does still reflect Marduk's sound. Even with such a leap forward taken, there remain moments reminiscent of Plague Angel.
It’s not that it doesn't sound like Marduk, it just that it sounds like new Marduk- and they are getting better. At moments you can hear vocalist Mortuus’ influence on the band as there is just a touch of Funeral Mist (Mortuus’ former band) influence thrown in. Overall, the album will be worth picking up and should translate well live.
Part 2: Chattin’ up the only founding member left, guitarist, Morgan "Evil" Steinmeyer Håkanssons. (Thankfully not so evil.)
After waiting for Marduk's meet and greet with VIP ticket holders to wrap up, I got to grab hold of Morgan and have a few words. He was pre-corpsepaint and post a few screwdrivers (or was that just OJ?), but either way he was polite and in as good spirits as one could imagine a member of Marduk being. The one bad thing during our chat was that we missed out on the tours opening band,
Tombs. Although I didn't see them play, they are consistently solid and I doubt they were any different tonight.
Holly: Recently you had to pull out of Blackenedfest [tour with Mayhem, Cephalic Carnage, Withered, Lair of the Minotaur] due to visa problems. This may have been a good thing for you since the the whole thing eventually fell to shit and became a Mayhem solo tour. Were there any other problems on your end or was it strictly based on acquiring visas?
Morgan: No, why should it be? We booked tickets, we paid for them ourselves. We prepared everything,we sent over merchandise, we sorted all the visa things out. So why shouldn’t we do it, if it worked out? We don’t have a management, so we would never have a problem with that. We book everything ourselves. We applied for visas 4 months before the tour, and 2 of us got it nearly the day after we applied. I got mine one month ago, and we called the office everyday to secure we would get it in time. They said ‘Oh no, it’s not going to be a problem.’ And we called them again and again because we were still waiting on the vocalist [Mortuus] to get his visa and the day before we were supposed to leave they just got back to him and said ‘We need the papers translated in English.’ Why did they not want this from anyone else? So we had to go to a special agency to get it translated and get it stamped and it took 3 or 4 days, missing out on a few shows in the beginning. But he got the visa and then there was only 3 days left of the tour.
H: So why come to the USA now with only 3 dates instead of a full tour?
M: ‘Cause we had a problem with doing 2 tours before this one. We had to cancel them, so therefore we just decided to just go over and do very few shows just to show people that we work with that we can get into the country. I think people hesitated that we would come over again. So therefore we just decided just to come over and do these few shows and then we have a full tour planned for November and December.
H: Who are you planning on touring with?
M: I don’t know exactly, it’s still under construction. In 10 days we settled all the dates and set up everything like that. The full lineup, I do not know myself.
H: I heard it might be a tour with Watain?
M: Right right, ahhh. Not right now, but maybe later on.
H: Do you have any favorite other Swedish bands that you would like to tour with?
M: We have toured with so many Swedish bands. I know most of them, and we get along with all of them.
H: Unleashed?
M: Ah, yes, we toured with Unleashed a few times, and I just met those guys one week ago. We played the same festival but different dates in Germany. Yea, so we talked to those guys. They are one of those great Swedish bands that’s a pleasure to tour with.
H: Is there anyone who was not a pleasure to tour with?
M: I mean we toured with so many bands, some you get along with fine, some you don’t.
H: Who are the assholes? [Come one, there's gotta be one..]
M: [Continues on with his polite, but overly serious and literal tone] I don’t think we ever toured with any 'assholes'. Those guys we share a bus with- most bands are really nice guys, so there’s never been any problems.
H: How was it when you went over to Australia? How do the fans there compare to the fans in other places in the world?
M: Australia is not the most metal continent. A lot of people ask ‘Where are the best fans?’, but it’s really hard to say because even if you play a really big country like Germany some places are really good, some are okay. There are crazy morbid dedicated people all across the world, I would say.
Usually when we come to Sweden it is a strange thing. For example in England, English bands are very popular in media. In Sweden, the media doesn’t like Swedish bands. I would still say the fans are very good. But, we don’t actually play very often in Sweden. I think the last time we toured there was in late 2007. We played with Unleashed, actually.
H: Marduk has been touring since day 1,unlike some black metal bands that wait to tour after putting out a few albums. How important do you feel the live show is?
M: I believe it is very important. The live show shows the power of the style of music. On the album of course you still get the power, but getting it live you get everything in your face.
H: And wearing the makeup on stage- was that a decision the band discussed?
M: No, it was just came very naturally. When we formed the band we knew which direction we wanted to go in, and what devotion we had.
H: Is this the same as your writing process?
M: It is the same for writing the songs. I’ve said it a thousand times before, but I guess it is a natural progression. You don’t sit down after you’ve done an album and work on the next and think ‘We need to have three songs that sound like this or that.’ I mean, you work on music and it turns out the way it does. We put a lot of energy to make the lyrics and the music come together as one. That they get along- they must form a unit. That is what I believe is really important. Because a lot of bands, they go into the studio and record the music and then they do the lyrics. That is not the way we work. I think the lyrics are just as important as the music. That it must come as a hard hitting power together.
H: Your lyrics have changed over the years- from earlier albums dealing with death and satanism, to some of the more recent being narratives of WWII and Nazi Germany. How do you feel about these subjects and why this lyrical shift in direction?
M: We have always been a satanic band. That is a ground base of what most of the lyrics have been dealing with throughout the years. I always had a big interest in some historical happenings. I just happen to create music and lyrics in my head and I will follow that inspiration and write about that as well. I would say it is like writing a soundtrack to a specific happening. It is more of an objective description of something that happened.
H: So you wouldn’t want to been seen as glorifying it?
M: No, no, but I wouldn’t say we are against it either. Being an artist it is not my problem to be pro or against anything, I just write about the historical happening. I write about the way I look upon it and how it happened.
H: Onto the new album. Wormwood switches from more traditional sounding Marduk fast tracks to down-tempo doomier songs and back. Would you say this was also just a natural progression? You must have made the decision somewhere to branch out like this musically?
M: Not really, but sometimes you do think ‘Does this really suit what we are doing?’ But if you do it in the right way it still reflects the spirit of the band. For example the last song on the album is probably the most different song we have done I would say.
H: And what about choosing the album title?
M: Wormwood the name comes from the herb. Also, the deal behind it is that wormwood is a name in the Book Of Revelations, for the star that falls from heaven and poisons 1/3 of the water and it brings forth the end of the world. So that’s the idea behind it. And if you translate it into Russian it is 'Chernobyl', which is where there was the big nuclear explosion. A lot of the Christians in the world reacted to that as the coming of the end of the world.
The album art represents everything that is sour and morbid and the coming of the end of the earth. It was done by our vocalist, Mortuus, who did the last two album covers before that.
But as for the songs, we write all the songs together, it’s not like one guy writes all the songs. We very much work together. Maybe not every member in the bands writes the lyrics, but we all take part in the arrangement and how it turns out in the end.
It is also the band that produces the album. But the mixing is actually done by our bass player [Devo] who does it in his own studio [Endarker Studio in Sweden].
H: So would you say the multiple lineup changes have affected the song writing in a positive way?
M: It sounds stupid to say because every band would say, ‘Oh, this is the best lineup’, but I also consider this the best lineup we have ever had. We work more like a unit. Everyone participates in the arrangements and does their work. It works very well and I am satisfied to play with everybody.
Magnus started as bassist and now is guitarist. He came back to the band in 2004 after ten years absent. He was still in contact with Devo so we spoke to him and he came back to the band as guitarist.
H: Did he get his name after the band, Devo?
M: Yea, that was one of those bands he got into when he was like 10 years old. I listen to all different types of music, too. What I like is music that has a certain dedication or spirit. I listen to a lot of black and death metal. Of course- what I consider to be the best of it. And I like a lot of industrial music, and classical music, hard rock, rock from the 60s and 70s, and whatever else. What I have been listening to a lot lately is the old Grotesque albums. There are many bands, but that is just one of them.
H: What about newer bands, like Shining?
M: Not my cup of tea. [His first glimpse of a smile]
H: Recently Machine Head complained about opening for Limp Bizkit at Sonisphere. Are there any bands you would refuse to play with?
M: I don’t think about that. If I am playing a festival I don’t care what other bands I play with. When I tour I could tour with a lot of bands that’s we wouldn’t even probably like, because I believe when we are there performing what we are doing and that is what matters to us. I wouldn’t mind touring with Metallica because we’d still be there bringing forth our message. I don’t see a problem with expanding.
H: When you first came out, some of your early reviews in Terrorizer and Metal Hammer magazine were less than positive to say the most, but your last album received high ratings from both of those same magazines. Do you think it had to do with the lineup changes? And do you agree that the band has improved?
M: People will always see changes as something strange, but I knew we were going for a better change, so I didn’t really care. I think all the albums we have done represent a period upon which we were standing on. They all represent something very special to me because of what we were doing at the time they were recorded. I can’t look back with criticism over them, and I mean- why should I? They all represent something that I still like.
I never really cared about magazines in that way. We do what we do and people can write what they want. It doesn’t really affect us. Whatever they write, we will still be here. We’ve been here for 19 years. We’ve seen a lot of magazines come and go, a lot of people in bands come and go, but we are still here.
Part 3: Showtime!
Well, after learning that Morgan will tour with anyone,including even Metallica (how nice of him!), and doesn't claim to be for or against Nazism, it was time to see what the band had in store for us on stage.
But first a I was able to catch
Black Anvil's set. Black Anvil are a NY band on Relapse that to me, for all intents and purposes are a black metal band. Killer set, very heavy. This trio was a good choice to add to the bill. After them was
Withered's set. Withered was meant to be on the Blackenedfest tour with Marduk, but since that Mortuus' denial onto US soil, this was their first tour together. It was interesting to see how Withered would hold up to Marduk's crowd seeing as they are way more sludgey and have roots in American doom. I'd say they held up well, although personally I found them boring at times. Technically proficient is not the same as interesting to me. I think for the most part the crowd disagreed with me, though. After their set I heard tons of positive feedback getting thrown around and even a few “That's the best I've ever seen them live”'s.
Marduk hit the stage dressed in black and covered in corpsepaint, but managing to avoid looking over the top. There was no wrist-armor of 7 inches nails like Gorgoroth uses, nor the elaborate stage props that would surround Mayhem and, to me, this less costume-y approach to black metal always comes off a bit more sincere. The crowd was chanting “Panzer Division Marduk”, but they had to wait a few songs in before they heard anything off of that. The set was a pretty decent mix of older and new songs. Vocalist, Mortuus, has been in the band for the last 5 years but sang the earlier material even better than Legion [vox man from 1995-2003] seemed to on the albums. Maybe it's not bullshit that this current lineup really is the best one, yet. Marduk held off from playing anything off of the upcoming album, but didn't play more than a few off of the recent
Rom 5:12. They closed out the set with a two song encore, including the “Panzer Division Marduk” that the corpse-paint wearing kids in the front row went absolutely apeshit over.
