Marduk's "Serpent Sermon" Review

Icy screeds of tremolo-ridden guitars, rapid-fire percussion, and distorted vocals lay at the foundation of Serpent Sermon. "Into Second Death," "Gospel of the Worm" and "Hail Mary…" are replete with the atonality and darkened insanity of quintessential Scandinavian black metal. However, although Marduk draw from a familiar battery, the arrangement of said armaments ensures their firepower decimates rather than debilitates. The streaks of churning death metal and putrid crust inject the all-important animus—giving the band an impact radius well outside that of many of their brethren.

The opening martial beat of the title track is smothered by a swarm of obsidian riffs. Easing back for a few mid-tempo passages and adding a rousing, albeit feverish chorus ups the sinister ante. Slower creeping riffs launch into ferocious assaultive sections and are used to great effect on the doom-smeared "Temple of Decay" and "Damnation’s Gold"—a tried and true tactic for Marduk. Many of Serpent Sermon's songs mix frenzied riffing with an often decelerating and feedbacking cadence, adding plenty of coloration. Although, don't panic, it's still all varying shades of black.

Once again, vocalist Mortuus flawlessly poisons the atmosphere. His wraithlike screeches and gnarrs are as crucial to the band's sound as any instrument (as they are on his blisteringly evil and venom-dripping side-project, Funeral Mist). On Serpent Sermon, his malevolence and villainy is in bone-chilling form. "Messianic Pestilence" kicks off with one of his patented croaks. On the album’s finest track, "Souls for Belial", feculent riffs are counterpointed by a hellishly rasping spoken word section, and he gleefully spits out noxious tirades on "M.A.M.M.O.N."

Serpent Sermon shows Marduk aren't likely to go quietly into the night anytime soon. The new album is a vomitus purge of satanic morent henchmen.nomania, its homilies delivered with diabolic fervor. However, for all Marduk's fiendishness, it's worth noting the coherent sense of determined artistry that’s at work. Buried under layers of devilment, corruption and filth, Marduk are working hard to avoid stagnation, and are still in the leading ranks of black metal's most bellige