Band:	Marduk
Album:	Frontschwein
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	January 19, 2015
A review by:	Ilham

01. Frontschwein
02. The Blond Beast
03. Afrika
04. Wartheland
05. Rope Of Regret
06. Between The Wolf-Packs
07. Nebelwerfer
08. Falaise: Cauldron Of Blood
09. Doomsday Elite
10. 503
11. Thousand-Fold Death
12. Warschau III: Necropolis [limited Mediabook bonus]

♪ Spiderschwein, Spiderschwein, does whatever a Spiderschwein does ♫ Can he swing from a web? No he can't, he's a Schwein ♪ Look out, he is a Spiderschwein ♫





Look out indeed, Frontschwein is exactly what it looks like, which means for the least imaginative of you that Marduk still plays WWII-themed black metal. And that is exactly my problem: I have nothing to say that hasn't been said before. Nevertheless, I'll try to muster a few sentences together to make this worth your while.

After five albums without Legion, even the fan that I am is really getting tired of the "new" Marduk formula. If it weren't for Mortuus' unique vomity vocals, I don't even think I would be listening to them that much in the first place. If Rom 5:12 hadn't stolen my heart with its perfect balance between atmosphere, bassy groove and sheer madness, I would have given up on the whole band - Mortuus aficionada or not. Since then, after each new album announcement, I've found myself addressing the following prayer to the invisible being in charge of black metal: "please let this one be Rom 5:13". In vain.

So what does Spiderschwein really do? More or less the same thing as Serpent Sermon. You can imagine the Swedish formation being the veterans that they are, I am left with very little room for criticism in the technical department. In fact, somewhat melodic riffs are everywhere, the bassist and the new guy on the drums don't do much to get noticed in neither a good nor bad fashion. However, I could predict that most of you who might be disappointed will put forward arguments focusing on the artistic direction and songwriting. I would justify my foresight by saying that the whole album, albeit being coherent and well constructed, loses the little momentum it managed to accumulate during the first half in the later long and plodding tracks such as "Doomsday Elite" and "Nebelwerfer" - you know, that thing that werfs nebels. Frontpig feels longer than it actually is, on account of the succession of too slowly accelerating tracks that fail to develop the substance and atmosphere to serve as a basis for the presto tempo songs. Morover, I find the aforementioned fast songs a bit too redolent of their old sound for my taste. At least the guys were nice enough to include a really short and crazy-fast final track to remind you of their existence.

For a while I tried to write a witty conclusion that puts the weaker tracks of this effort in parallel with the disposable nature of the poor soldiers that were sent to die on the many fronts of WWII - yes that's what "Frontschwein" means - but you get the gist of it. This latest opus might be for you If you really needed some new Marduk to play in the car, and if you're new to the band, this isn't such a bad place to start. I'll just personally wait until they send a general to fight for their name, rather than cannon fodder.